Turf-cutting celebrates work on Forum Project

The £48 million Forum Project will transform the centre of the Streatham campus with a stylish student-centred building which will adjoin existing key facilities such as the Great Hall, main library and Student Guild building. It will also provide innovative new spaces, including a 400-seater lecture theatre. There will also be a brand new reception for the University.

The Forum will bring student services together for the first time under one roof, provide additional seminar rooms with the latest tabletop interactive technology and the main library will be refurbished and extended.

It will create a new covered street area for shops and catering, as well as a rooftop café which will offer some of the best views over the city. Landscaped piazzas will create pedestrian focused areas around the Great Hall and Devonshire House. The Forum has been designed by leading architects Wilkinson Eyre and will be completed by the end of 2011.

Professor Steve Smith, the Vice-Chancellor & Chief Executive of the University of Exeter said: “We are really excited now the Forum Project is getting underway. It’s going to be a really striking centrepiece for the University and alongside our other new projects will provide world-class facilities for our students.

“We also want it to be somewhere people from across the city and region can come and enjoy. With its landscaped piazza outside the Great Hall and 400-seater auditorium it will be a real asset for Exeter.”

Cliff Smith, Regional Manager, Wales and West for Sir Robert McAlpine, the company building the Forum said: “Sir Robert McAlpine is delighted to be involved with this exciting project. The company has a long association with the South West and recent projects have included Princesshay in Exeter, the Eden Project and developments in St Austell.”

The Forum Project is part of a £275 million three-year investment programme which is currently underway on the Streatham campus. There are around 1,000 construction personnel working across the sites. The additional new projects include an expansion to the Business School, academic centre for international students, state-of-the-art facilities for Biosciences and new student residences.

The level of construction work taking place has enabled the first National Skills Academy for Construction in the South West to be established on the campus. Its role is to offer training opportunities for apprentices and those already working within the industry. A group of 18-25 year olds from The Prince’s Trust has recently completed two weeks’ work experience on site, through the “Get Into Construction” scheme.