Nick Allen
Executive Officer
Office of the Vice Chancellor
University of Northampton

Moving home can be one of the most stressful periods of your life. Imagine moving to a new University campus, four miles away from your current site and merging this with a further campus located two miles away. This was the task which the University of Northampton undertook last year (2018) when it relocated two campuses into a purpose built brand new site in Northampton town centre.

As a new site, there was an opportunity to factor in sustainability from the very start, in terms of the environmental, social and physical factors. One year on, and we can now reflect on the exercise to design the new campus, how the relocation took place and how the University has adapted to its new surroundings. The workshop is designed for attendees to reflect on modern educational building design and how this impacts on the working practices of individuals. Gone are individual academic offices and in are hot desking and open plan working spaces. Gone are subject specific classrooms and in are multi-subject learning spaces and workshops. Gone is a dedicated library space and in is a learning commons which brings together teaching, learning and social spaces.

At the end of the session, attendees will appreciate the successes and challenges of the campus relocation and how flexibility and innovation can be used within a higher education institutional context.

Out with the old and in with the new is a working session at the AUA Autumn Conference 2019. Here our session speakers talk about the journey that lead to this point.