Find out about our building improvement works – from expanding teaching facilities to updating our infrastructure.
Overview
What we are making better: We are improving our buildings and infrastructure to develop a better campus environment, expand our teaching facilities, and create harmonious spaces for staff and students.
How we are making it better: We are investing in updating our building infrastructure and utilities to make better working conditions, improve physical access, and save energy costs.
What it is: We will update building structures and interiors, offer better access around campus, and improve water and heating systems.
Who is affected: Students, staff and visitors will benefit from various projects.
Key programmes
See some of our key programmes below:
Life Sciences
A multimillion-pound investment is set to transform our Science Quarter buildings.
Improvements include:
- expansion and complete refit of our largest Bioscience teaching laboratory
- expansion and refit of the Neuroscience and Psychology teaching laboratory to provide microscopy and image analysis facilities
- roof refurbishments across John Maynard Smith (JMS), Chichester I, Chichester II and Arundel
- internal building improvements to JMS.
Funding for our Life Sciences improvements has been sourced from a combination of Capital Programme funds and external awards. Read how funding was secured for laboratory upgrades, helping us deliver state of the art facilities and value for money.
Upgrading equipment and systems
We are upgrading the building management equipment and systems in 31 buildings across campus. This is due to commence from summer 2023.
The upgrade will give us an understanding, and control, of the heating and ventilation systems, so we can ensure comfortable working conditions and reduce energy use. It will also help reduce costs for the University.
Education lab
To expand our teaching spaces, offices have now been converted into a new education teaching lab for students studying primary or secondary teaching in the School of Education and Social Work.
The new lab replicates a real school classroom so our students can flourish in a 'school' environment, and supports student teaching and learning.
The lab includes:
- facilities such as a wet and drying area (for science experiments and art-based messy play lessons)
- new cameras for recording teaching for peer observation and overall flexible teaching facilities.
The new education teaching lab has been a long-term objective for the School of Education and Social Work to create a space to support and enhance education training. We hope this will significantly improve the student and staff experience, and help to attract new students to Sussex.
Biomedical Research Facility
The Biomedical Research Facility (BRF) refurbishment will improve the quality of our facilities, bringing them up to a standard to match that of our competitors. The project will be done in parallel with the installation of a new fire alarm system and the renovation or replacement of fire doors.
Benefits of the work include:
- enhancements to research facilities used by many academics
- more efficient use of the space
- a better student experience.
The works are necessary to ensure we maintain regulation standards and the correct licenses, and to improve our research facilities. We are aiming to have the project mandate approved in May 2023 and expect that the works will be complete by autumn 2024.
Accessibility and campus entry
Our buildings are iconic and our surroundings beautiful, but both present challenges. Our older buildings are often difficult to access and our steep gradients make navigation difficult. While accessibility has been engineered into our West Slope development, there is also much we can do to carefully improve access to our existing campus buildings, and over the next few years, we will be working with our heritage partners to seek opportunities for improvements.
Upgrading our campus drainage systems
Our campus is prone to flooding. Across campus, there is a network of ‘soakaways’, which help to drain away rain and surface water. However, as the large puddles around campus after heavy rain show, they are in need of improvement. We plan to identify the root cause of flooding around campus, with a particular focus on Refectory Road near the Co-op, the steps at Shawcross and the entrance to campus (via the zebra crossing).
Our aim is to:
- reduce the risk of flood damage to buildings and infrastructure
- improve movement around campus.
Minor repairs and remedial works to the existing system are planned to start in spring 2023. The next stage of the project will be to plan long-term capacity improvements across campus and introduce sustainable urban drainage features.
