UWE Bristol has unveiled plans for another new building – a state-of-the-art engineering building to attract and inspire the engineers of the future.
The multi-million pound building will be developed next to the new £55m Bristol Business School in the heart of the university’s Frenchay Campus, subject to planning consent. 
The engineering building and the Business School, which opened just six months ago, along with a £9m creative studies building on UWE’s Bower Ashton campus, which has been open for just a few weeks, are the latest development in UWE’s ambitious £300m capital investment programme across all its campuses.
A design team led by international architecture firm AHR, which has an office in Bristol, has been appointed for the engineering building and the concept design is expected to be ready by the end of next month. Financial details have not yet been released.
Contractors will be appointed in January and planning permission sought in early April.
The 8,500 m2 building will enable the faculty to respond to the emerging demand for degree apprenticeships in engineering. It will feature mechanical and manual workshops, teaching labs, social learning spaces and academic offices and accommodate 1,600 undergraduate and post-graduate students along with 100 academic and technical staff.
UWE president and vice-chancellor professor Steve West said: “We aim to make UWE the number one school of engineering amongst the University Alliance group by 2020. This exciting plan continues our commitment to investing in our campuses and facilities.
“There is a shortage of engineers in the region and we are responding to this demand by delivering a practice-based curriculum that will produce ready and able graduates equipped with the right industry skills, experience and knowledge.”
Faculty of Environment and Technology deputy dean Tod Burton added: “This will be a new engineering building for a new engineering pedagogy. The building will support our move to collaborative, problem-based learning, enabling our students to develop the skills and knowledge that UK industry requires to remain at the forefront of advancements in engineering.”
He said the building would help to attract a diverse, creative and innovative student body to engineering as a profession, help address the future skills gaps in the region and also support the government’s commitment to increasing the number of young people studying STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects.
Subject to planning consent, construction of the building will start next summer, with completion during the summer of 2020.
AHR director Gary Overton said: “It was important for us to create a design that would support the predicted increase in engineering students over the coming years. We have developed a strong relationship with the university having worked on several projects as part of their ambitious Campus 2020 masterplan.”
UWE is also investing in Bush House, the Harbourside building it acquired that also includes the Arnolfini art gallery, and at its Glenside campus, where AHR has drawn up plans to transform the former laundry.
The new building at Bower Ashton houses industry standard production and post production facilities for film making, animation and photography. It is now being used by all students based on UWE’s City Campus including those studying journalism, fine art, illustration and graphic design.
