Sheppard Robson completes Birmingham City University’s new Faculty of Health, Education & Life Sciences
Designed by Sheppard Robson with interior design group ID:SR, the £41m Faculty of Health, Education & Life Sciences at Birmingham City University’s City South Campus provides a full range of teaching spaces plus research and product development facilities for local and national businesses. The new phase three building at the campus is used by sports, nutrition, teacher training, clothing and health companies, including England Rugby Sevens, Sport Birmingham, the NHS, the British Army, the Football Association, Badminton England and Joma Sport.
The 10,500-square-metre building, which adjoins the existing campus building housing the university’s health and social care courses, has enabled the relocation of the School of Education and Social Work from the university’s City North Campus and facilitated the introduction of new courses in sports and life sciences.
The site is within the Westbourne Road and Edgbaston conservation area, a context characterised by brick buildings, so the new building’s use of brickwork draws on this, in contrast to the white-rendered and metal-louvred first-phase building. The massing of the new addition was designed so as to retain an existing grade-A oak tree, and this has been recognised by Birmingham City Council as setting a regional benchmark for tree preservation.
Inside, well-lit atria spaces interlink the new and existing buildings, offering views out over the parkland setting and into the teaching spaces. A central circulation spine runs through the whole development and incorporates a former external courtyard that has been enclosed to provide an IT zone, which is already proving popular with the students. The rhythm and detailing of the external facade are reflected in the internal design where strips of timber are arranged in portal frames to add warmth to the spaces, while alternating areas of glazing provide visual links into the atria from adjacent teaching spaces.
In addition to general teaching spaces, the new building offers a range of highly specialised facilities, including an environmental chamber, a gait analysis area, nutrition and microbiology labs, a sports lab, physiotherapy and ultrasound suites. The BREEAM Excellent building accommodates an additional 5,500 staff and students from four schools within the university.
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