The new look South Cloisters is now open

New £10.5 million facility upgrades St Luke’s Campus

A dramatic overhaul to a former hall of residence at St Luke’s has created a modern, high quality research and education facility on the University’s campus.

Over the past two years, the University has invested £12.7 million into developing a modern campus with a strong emphasis on health and wellbeing at St Luke’s.

As part of this commitment, the South Cloisters building has undergone a creative £10.5 million refurbishment. The works were primarily carried out by local firm Midas Construction, with external project management by AECOM, and include a new third storey to the building and extensive internal re-modelling over the other existing floors with the addition of a glazed staircase and atrium.  This investment has secured new high quality student learning and study spaces available to everyone at St Luke’s, representing a significant upgrade to facilities.

South Cloisters will host the Medical Imaging programme from September, and a large team from the Medical School’s Institute of Health Research moves in this week. Many of these researchers are part of the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula (PenCLAHRC), a £10 million partnership which spans Devon, Cornwall and Somerset, encompassing universities in the South West and the NHS. Under the directorship of Professor Stuart Logan, PenCLAHRC supports research with direct impact on patients' health and on improvements to the way in which NHS care is delivered.

Professor Steve Thornton, Dean of the University of Exeter Medical School, said: “The new building is looking fantastic, and will benefit the whole campus. It will house state-of-the-art facilities for our Medical Imaging students, helping the programme maintain its status as the best in the country. I’m also delighted that it will bring more of our outstanding researchers onto St Luke’s, strengthening our academic community, which has an international reputation for excellence in  the field of health and wellbeing.” 

Next door to South Cloisters is the newly modernised Giraffe House student study centre, and nearby is College House, a former hall of residence which has been converted to high-quality office space and a new student reception for the Medical School.

Hugh McCann, Director of Estate Development for the University of Exeter, said: “This investment is part of the University’s commitment to continuing to build upon the Medical School’s world-class research and education over the coming years, and in upgrading our historic St Luke’s Campus for all users. The quality of the South Cloisters upgrade is outstanding – it’s a real boost for a campus which celebrated its 160^th anniversary last year.”

Date: 20 April 2015