The new multi-million pound engineering building at the University of the West of England’s (UWE’s) Frenchay campus has moved a step closer to completion.
A ceremony was held on Tuesday 17th September to mark construction of the state-of-the-art facility reaching the highest point of the landmark building.
Due to be completed in summer 2020, the building will house specialist digital engineering facilities, study areas and making facilities accommodating a wide range of engineering disciplines such as composite manufacturing, machining and metrology.
The building will help to attract a diverse, creative and innovative student body to engineering as a profession and help address future skills gaps regionally. The development supports the government’s commitment to increase the number of young people studying STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects and the predicted increase in demand for skilled engineering graduates across the West of England.
With floor space of 8,500sqm, the building will accommodate 1,600 undergraduate and postgraduate students, along with 100 academic and technical staff. It will meet UWE Bristol’s ambition to become one of the top engineering schools in the country, through promoting multi-disciplinary, collaborative learning.
UWE Bristol’s vice-chancellor Professor Steve West said
“It has been hugely rewarding to see this landmark building taking shape at the heart of our Frenchay campus, as part of our ongoing commitment to investment in top class facilities. As it nears completion and we approach our move in date, a sense of excitement is starting to grow among our students and staff, and our industry collaborators.
“Benefiting from a practice-based curriculum and close links with leading engineering businesses in the region, our graduates are leaving with the right blend of industry skills, experience and knowledge for the workplace. This state-of-the-art building will significantly improve our engineering teaching and research facilities, ensuring we continue to attract and inspire the engineers of the future.”
More information about the engineering building can be found on the UWE Bristol website at www.uwe.ac.uk
Images: – Top: Topping out ceremony. Above: Visualisation of the building.
This article originally appeared in the October 2019 issue of the Stoke Gifford Journal magazine (on page 29). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to over 5,000 homes in Stoke Gifford, Little Stoke and Harry Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
