Future Cities Forum's discussion panel report - University housing and development on the high street

Image courtesy of The University of Cambridge, showing the Eddington development which includes accommodation for post doctoral students and key workers

'Eddington was conceived as a way to attract and retain university talent within a competitive world.' - Matt Johnson, Head of Development, North West Cambridge, University of Cambridge Estates Division.

Future Cities Forum's housing panel included contributions from Matthew Johnson, Head of Development, North West Cambridge, University of Cambridge Estates Division, Jessie Turnbull, Associate, MICA Architects and Alex Solk, Partner, Sheppard Robson.

Themes discussed included water and power infrastructure provision for the building of new homes in university towns, design of university accommodation for diverse groups of students and the impact of university buildings on the high street.

The panel discussion paves the way for important debate at our ' Global Science Cities' forum this September at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, where further questions will be asked about the drive for expansion of homes across 'Silicon Fen'.

The University of Cambridge has developed a unique housing concept that has attracted global interest. Its aim is to provide homes for staff who work for the university and it describes the vision as creating:

'a place that is sustainable, long-lasting and ambitious, offering a high quality of life to enhance both the City and University of Cambridge....Eddington and the wider North West Cambridge Development seeks to secure the University’s long-term future and contribute to the City’s growth by providing homes for key workers, students and the public in a vibrant place to live.

Matt began the discussion by confirming this commitment:

'Eddington was conceived as a way to attract and retain university talent within a competitive world. It is for those post doctoral researchers who are taking their first steps into the world of work at the university. It is a young community, primarily not for students although we do have post graduate housing and this fills the gap that the colleges do not provide as they cater for undergraduates. We also provide housing for key workers which makes up fifty per cent. We want it to be seen as an urban extension to the city, not just for the university. We have turned our backs on closed courtyards and want to draw people in from the wider Cambridge area.

'The driver in design was the quality that could be provided. We are acting in a different way from the market housing developer and our aim in attracting and retaining staff needs to be long-lasting. Therefore we have a one hundred year design line and it is inspired by many places around the world. It is of itself however and an explicit message for the university and city.

'The population that we serve is very much 'fleet of foot' and so we offer rentals of five years maximum. In reality it turns out to be about three years, since researchers are usually off to their next post by then or they have chosen to settle elsewhere in the city. We like to get to re-use the housing and at the same time we are building three-hundred build to rent homes as well.

'Water is a concern but I think we are coming out of the back end of that conversation with interventions coming along. There has been failure to invest in infrastructure ahead of time in Cambridge but the Environment Agency has brought that issue to the fore. There are now intelligent planning interventions coming forward removing blockers and the idea of water credits is really interesting. Where we can make improvements in sustainability in our historic buildings at the university is helpful, in order to use those savings for innovations in our new stock.

'We need to house people in Cambridge - there is a crisis. Lots of workers move into the city to work in various industries, so we need housing to come forward rapidly. There has been so much interest in Eddington as a site and we are attracting people from around the world. The housing supply is key and we shouldn't be block that provision on subjective design ideas.'

Image above courtesy of MICA Architects showing Clive Booth Student Village at Oxford Brookes University

Jessie Turnbull commented on MICA Architects' student housing design - Clive Booth Village - at Headington Hill, part of the Oxford Brookes University campus. MICA describes the redevelopment of the Clive Booth Student Village (CBSV) as 'an exciting opportunity to create a unique ‘living and learning’ environment for Oxford Brookes University (OBU) students within a verdant woodland setting close to the main campus and Headington Hill Park. A large number of the existing buildings on the site are now 30 years old. There is a need to redevelop the accommodation so that living arrangements continue to be of a high quality for our students and we can improve and modernise the site.'

Jessie said:

'Oxford City Council has ruled that the campus has to be secure by design with big windows and the ability to create secure routes through the woodland by the ability for it to be overlooked at all times. Lighting plays a part in this but it has to be sympathetic to the setting. There are over one-thousand units but also five hundred square meters of social spaces for shared study activity. Beyond that there is a small shop and importantly a nursery. Brookes employees get preference for places in the nursery. There are different generations using the site for drop offs to the nursery and pick ups as well as dog walkers and allotments users, so it gives a nice mixed-age quality to the village. I think the nursery at Eddington was one of the first things to be built and shows in both places how important it is to get the social infrastructure right from the beginning.

Image above courtesy of MICA Architects showing the site of the proposed masterplan for Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, with a focus on Radcliffe Court facing onto the city's Market Square

How can universities influence the future shape of high streets and market squares sensitively to enable flexibility of retail? MICA has been working on both Jesus College, Oxford, and Project Agora, for Gonville and Caius College at The University of Cambridge. It describes the latter involving 'a rich and complex history, presenting unique redevelopment opportunities within its delightfully constrained site'.

MICA has embarked on a comprehensive programme of stakeholder engagement and will collaborate closely with the College to masterplan more suitable accommodation alongside other essential college facilities. It says this redevelopment will ensure seamless integration with the College’s existing central Cambridge sites, and reinforce Caius’ presence within the city centre, while maintaining the retail and commercial presence that makes Rose Crescent and Market Square one of the most charming areas of Cambridge. The first “listening” phase has included an extensive consultation exercise with the fellowship, staff, students and alumni of Gonville & Caius College. This initiative welcomed a wide array of ideas and suggestions regarding the potential features and requirements of the redeveloped building. Feedback from these consultations will play a vital role in shaping the masterplan.

Jessie explained:

'At Gonville and Caius in Cambridge we are at the early stages of envisioning the masterplan which involves grade two listed buildings as well as those from the 1960s facing onto the Market Square. It addresses the Guildhall and includes Green Street among others. There is a variety of types of retail in the city centre, where Rose Crescent is at the beating heart and we are through the designs attempting to save the level of rental income while future proofing the spaces. We do not want to look just at current retail trends but build in adaptability. Class E has been helpful here in allowing different uses for retail such as the development of lab spaces in Debenhams in Oxford. What was acceptable and specific in 2020 might not be in thirty years time. Flexibility might mean that the units can be divided into smaller spaces in the future.'

Jessie was asked about her reactions to some of the changes to planning rules that the new Labour government has brought in:

'It is certainly helpful that some of the red tape has been removed although local people might not like this promoting of change to their areas. But removing protests against off-shore wind is good. Power is a huge constraint on all developments and there is a need to upgrade the local power station for Gonville. It is necessary if the investment is being made into scores of new student accommodation spaces, which will be such a positive for Cambridge and potentially unlock other developments on the edge of the city. Power and water is a major constraint in all types of development if it is not allowed. Labour's commitment to hiring more planners is also worthwhile. It will help unlock the backlog of planning applications and I gather that introducing a four-day week has improved staff retention for some planning departments. It has all shown a big improvement already.'

Matt added:

'In my opinion, power is a much bigger threat to development than water in Cambridge. As I said, there is a plan for water, but lack of access to power can be a much bigger constraint, when you consider all that energy needed to power heat pumps for example.

Image above courtesy of Sheppard Robson showing Copperas Hill development in Liverpool

Sheppard Robson has been involved in numerous university-led projects for student residencies and teaching facilities in Liverpool, Manchester and York, among other locations such as the UCL East site in Stratford, London. The firm's work has spanned creating better public realm and walkways through university buildings for cities, as well as retrofitting and re-designing accommodation with wellbeing in mind for students.

Two new buildings at Copperas Hill, Sheppard Robson says make a civic contribution to central Liverpool as well as creating 21st Century educational spaces. The linked Student Life Building and Sports Building includes a range of learning, teaching, sports and student service facilities.

It states:

'Situated at the heart of Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), Copperas Hill forms the focal point of the estate’s masterplan and is the first development that people will encounter when approaching from the city centre and Liverpool Lime Street Station. The five-storey Student Life Building is a hub for students and a new civic ‘front door’ for LJMU. Arranged in an open-plan layout, areas including the learning commons, library and group teaching spaces are flexible and reconfigurable to suit current and changing needs. The overall effect of pods and booths in the large, double-height space is akin to a bustling market hall or ‘marketplace’. The Student Life Building relocates all administration, student advice and wellbeing, and careers into a single location, and provides a visible new home for JMSU.'

Alex added in the discussion:

'Six years ago we started work on Copperas Hill in Liverpool, which was a former Royal Mail depot with a massive fence around it, obstructing walkways through that part of the city. There had been a previous retrofit which turned out not to be technically possible and it represented a huge lump of a building. The site really represents a series of buildings. There are three already and more planned. The site is so large you could get eight buildings on there. To its credit Liverpool John Moores University did not want the site to become an inward facing campus but rather wanted a masterplan creating new routes through it to the (Roman Catholic) cathedral and competitive university buildings. There are now a series of public realms allowing people to move through it and out to Paddington Central, the new science quarter.

'In Manchester, the Fallowfield development is an undergraduate experience, where the university is committing to 3,000 student units and is about it owning their role in the city. Manchester is popular for private student rentals but the university wants to move more to a college type situation where pastoral care is increased. So they are developing the student accommodation with a real heart to each development and this is not a bar or pub type facility but shared study spaces, where there can be oversight of students and care. It has been the same in recent developments at York University where we have added two new colleges which involve a high level of pastoral care. I think this way of thinking among universities started to happen before Covid and for about the last fifteen years as private company accommodation just didn't offer sufficient pastoral care. There were definitely tensions in the Fallowfield area of Manchester with students privately renting amongst the local community, because students could pay for this private housing and that was stepping on local peoples' toes, so the university thought it should try to solve that.'

Sheppard Robson describes the project further:

'The project will provide much-needed student rooms in a development that prioritises sustainability, biodiversity and a sense of community, with enhanced connectivity for pedestrians and cyclists both throughout campus and to the wider area. The massing strategy places the tallest buildings at the centre of the scheme, stepping down in level towards the boundary to align with the height of neighbouring buildings. The layout and orientation of the blocks aim to optimise space, sunlight and permeability of routes by the inclusion of underpasses and the utilisation of T-shaped blocks.

'Blocks have been clustered to form “mini-communities”, a key trait of Fallowfield Campus, with courtyards, entrance gardens and communal spaces incorporated to foster chances for interactivity. Layout was also carefully planned to maintain the lush, green character of the site, with perimeter trees preserved to create screening for neighbours and to provide natural surroundings for students. The history of the site will be reflected in the retention of key historic features, including the Mitzi Cunliffe-designed 1960s fibreglass relief artwork and the distinctive iron gates of Woolton Hall. The new development has been designed to respond sensitively to the setting of listed buildings in the surrounding area. Materiality, especially brick, will reflect the surrounding context with either a complementary colour or one that allows the scheme to have its own character.'

Image below courtesy of Sheppard Robson for the proposed plan for student living at the Fallowfield Campus, University of Manchester

Alex was asked about the preservation of 1960's artwork and buildings in university sites, and whether that was a recent appreciation of the design level of that decade:

'Its part of contextualising and noticing the intrinsic opportunities of the different sites. At Campus West, York University, there was a lot of work to bring it up to modern day standards. But it is loved more than the buildings created in the 2000s. At the Greenbank site in Liverpool of course it is a beautiful place and there are grade two listed buildings there which we decided not to turn our backs on but bring back into use.

At York University, Sheppard Robson states:

'For the University of York, working for Graham Group with Equitix, the scheme creates 1,480 student residences as well as a mix of social spaces that create a “front door” into the accommodation. These spaces are housed within two newly created residential colleges – named after key LGBTQ+ figures, Anne Lister and David Kato – which collectively form a new gateway into the Heslington East Campus. The colleges are a key addition to the University’s masterplan, which combines a long-established ambition to create a neighbourhood campus with a drive to modernise facilities with sustainability, wellness and innovation at their heart.

'Our design arranges 18 residential blocks around a series of interlocking landscaped courtyards. Connection to nature is reinforced by the massing, which reduces from four to three storeys towards the waterside, protecting existing vistas enjoyed by the local community and integrating the buildings into the site’s established ecology. The development had to comply with strict planning parameters around maximum building height, the amount of built area and the established ecosystem. Wellbeing is also promoted by the college’s student hub, which fosters community in the campus. The hub’s entrance is brought to the fore with a bold canopy overhang and landscaped plaza. The double-height social spaces within encourage interaction and create an energetic frontage, as well as being a central hub for LGBTQ+ events and resources across the university. The interiors tell the stories of Lister and Kato’s lives with wall graphics within their respective hubs.'

While at Greenbank Residences, The University of Liverpool, it states:

'Greenbank is a combined new-build and refurbishment student residential scheme, set in an existing high quality landscape within a conservation area. The site contains a rich mix of buildings of architectural merit, including Greenbank House, the Grade II* listed former home of the Rathbone Family—founding members of the University of Liverpool. The scheme involves replacing six 1960s buildings with four new blocks—Derby Hall, Rathbone Hall, Roscoe Hall and Gladstone Hall—and a range of social spaces. The estates original residences, built over the 19th and early 20th centuries, have been refurbished, with Greenbank House undergoing a complete restoration. The renovation has brought both the dilapidated structure and the surrounding landscape back to life as a series of student-focused social and learning spaces, including music practice rooms and seminar spaces.'

 

Image below: courtesy of Sheppard Robson. The design re-interprets that of the 1960's University of York West Campus, referencing original artwork by Frank Millett.

Image above courtesy of Sheppard Robson showing new David Kato College at the University of York

'How do your cater for students from culturally diverse backgrounds - that has been an important question.' - Alex Solk, Sheppard Robson

The conversation proceeded on a general basis for comment on trends for university accommodation and building trends of the future. Alex said:

'The immediate change has been from corridor clusters to personalised mixed schemes, for instance, with the building of some town houses at York University to suit students from different demographics. How do your cater for students from culturally diverse backgrounds - that has been an important question. The Fallowfield area of Manchester has had private market developments with a high end offer but the university is committed to students from different backgrounds and the private market doesn't match that. Fallowfield will now have lower priced offers right through to middle charges and the university is really keen to safeguard that.'

Jessie:

'We have building larger clusters and within that sometimes wacky little one bed flats. That trend has been really popular. We want a decent mix going forward at different prices to suit summer schools and the conference market. Princeton in the States is very attuned to Eddington because they are not looking now at the traditional student but maybe army veterans with caring responsibilities who are now coming in the study there or older people who have lived life a little. Some students will have spent two years at a community college first. So they are not interested in dorms but a smaller mix and the pastoral oversight is very important, so shared study spaces are being built. Like Eddington, Princeton is very keen to get the social infrastructure in first with bus routes and electric bike cycleways.'

CGI Image below courtesy of MICA Architects, showing Clive Booth Student Village at Oxford Brookes University

Image below courtesy of University of Cambridge showing Eddington development public realm

'What I learned from a previous science cities event discussion at Future Cities Forum in Cambridge was that it all boiled down to building housing around labs.' - Jessie Thompson, MICA Architects

Matt commented:

'Eddington has interest from all over the world, from Australia, China etc. They are most interested in how the design reflects the values of the university. We built a primary school early on in the development and that has in a sense been a victim of its own success because once you name it as part of the university, everyone wants to send their child there. So there are transitional issues as the development grows and challenges to doing development differently with unexpected consequences.

'There is a balance to be struck between excellence in architecture and place and economic viability. I would advise other universities to push things forward but be aware of the economic challenges, do interesting things but also learn the lessons from industry. Money not spent on education can go into housing workers at the university but this has to be weighed against building a new lab for example.'

Jessie conclude the discussion by commenting:

'The housing mission is critical. What I learned from a previous 'Science Cities' event discussion at Future Cities Forum in Cambridge was that it all boiled down to building housing around labs. What scientists and developers were saying was that if we don't build the housing we are stuck because otherwise we cannot employ people and that is everyone from the researchers to the cleaners - it all goes hand in hand.'

Below: the refurbished and retrofitted Greenbank House, part of The University of Liverpool's Greenbank Residences and Greenbank Student Village, designed by Sheppard Robson