Find out about our West Slope development – one of our largest and most ambitious building projects.
Overview
What is West Slope: West Slope is a construction project to enhance campus facilities.
Why it’s better for you: West Slope aims to deliver better facilities for our students and staff.
Why it’s better for the University: Better campus facilities will help make us more competitive and provide the facilities expected of a world-leading University.
When it’s happening: Work to deliver the West Slope development started in 2022 and the project will complete in 2028.
How it will launch: West Slope buildings will be phased into use gradually.
Our vision
The West Slope development is one of the largest and most ambitious building projects Sussex has seen for many years. This development is a step towards achieving our vision of creating a better University for a better world.
We are making campus better by:
- using space more effectively
- designing access for all into our buildings and landscape
- enhancing the student experience here at Sussex.
Creating a better campus
As part of our West Slope development work, we are:
- adding an additional 900 bedrooms on campus by replacing outdated accommodation
- making campus more accessible for everyone
- creating more study spaces in our new Library Pavilion
- improving the campus experience with a new supermarket and café
- dedicating more space to welfare in our new Health and Wellbeing Centre.
Find out more about the West Slope development and the improvements it will deliver.
Our aims
We aim to:
Enhance the student residential experience
There is a huge demand for campus accommodation and a short supply of local accommodation. Our old Park Village residences were outdated and by replacing 1,000 Park Village rooms, we are able to build 1,899 new rooms.
Deliver value
Building new residences, rather than refurbishing Park Village, delivers the best value for money for the University, both in the quality of accommodation and the increased volume of rooms. Partnering with Balfour Beatty to build and finance our development presents the opportunity to go beyond the build of new residences and also deliver a new Health and Wellbeing Centre, new Library Pavilion and a new supermarket and café.
Grow our community
We want to attract the best and the brightest minds to Sussex – our facilities and campus experience play a significant role in making Sussex an attractive option to students.
Make learning more accessible
Our beautiful campus is 60 years old, and we want to ensure it is fit for generations to come. The steep gradients of our surrounds and our historic buildings make equal access challenging. West Slope will deliver more accessible accommodation and equal access to our new buildings on all levels, and create routes with gentle gradients.
How we will deliver West Slope
There are three stages in our programme to deliver West Slope.
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Preparing campus
We are currently preparing and futureproofing our utilities and services across campus, so that they can support our new and existing buildings. These works started in spring 2022 and will continue until late 2023.
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Building West Slope
The main build phase of West Slope will see the construction of buildings and infrastructure. This stage will start late 2023 and will take five years.
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Completing West Slope
When construction is complete, a building will transition into its final delivery phase of decoration, furnishing and opening. Over the construction period, buildings will be phased into use so that we can start to benefit from the enhanced facilities that West Slope will deliver at the earliest opportunity.
