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Herman Miller Collection Soft Seating
One of the UK’s most ambitious and groundbreaking educational buildings has finally opened its doors in the heart of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The £70 million development of the City Campus East site at NorthumbriaUniversity is the flagship element of an overall £136 million development programme, which will help it to cement its reputation as one of the most progressive higher education establishments in the world.
The new site will provide around 24,000 m² of purpose developed academic accommodation for 9,000 students, staff and other stakeholders and includes classrooms, lecture rooms, offices, theatres, exhibition spaces and conference rooms. City Campus East has also been developed to accommodate an additional 3,000 students as it continues to attract people and funding.
According to Director of Estates Trevor Thurlow it is absolutely essential for NorthumbriaUniversity to create an environment that meets its objectives as an organisation. ‘Our objectives are extremely broad,’ he explains.
‘That is what you would expect from such a major development but we’ve gone beyond that to create something that is truly world class. As well as providing state of the art facilities to help attract the very best talent and to provide us with the flexibility to respond to change, we’ve maintained exceptional standards in every aspect of the design. This has included a range of ethical considerations, not least in terms of accessibility and meeting exceptional environmental standards. In turn, this has all meant working with firms that can meet those same objectives.’
One of the firms chosen to work on the project was Herman Miller who supplied a range of products to the building including furniture, seating, storage and screens. ‘The choice of Herman Miller encapsulates what the development of City Campus East was about,’ explains project leader David Herford of Gardiner Theobald. ‘It was essential for us to work with the very best partners we could in terms of delivering facilities that not only look wonderful, but also meet key ethical standards such as attaining a BREEAM Excellent rating. We also needed the back-up and support to finish the project on time. It was absolutely critical that we were able to deliver the project on time for the new semester without compromising any of our standards.’
Herman Miller was chosen following an extensive review of the available options carried out by a multi-disciplinary team. ‘There were obvious practical considerations, such as warranties in which Herman Miller excelled,’ explains interior designer Jo Tattersall of Waring and Betts. ‘But nobody could touch them for scope of products and services. The clincher was the mock-up which brought home to everybody just how excellent the new space was to be.’
City Campus East is home to three parts of the University. The site is the new home for the Design and LawSchools as well as the NewcastleBusinessSchool. Each school has a distinct identity and a distinct culture hat had to be reflected in its interior.
For the BusinessSchool this meant facilities such as presentation suites and Harvard lecture theatres for use by both students and corporate clients. For the LawSchool, different types of cellular space and a special suite for students to work on case law. For the DesignSchool, studio space and a different IT infrastructure.
Each of these had to be reflected in the interior design and choice of furniture, according to David Herford. ‘This is an incredibly rich and complex development,’ he says. ‘One size can’t fit all because you are looking at three distinct organisations occupying the site along with all the shared elements of the Greater University. As you walk around the various parts of the buildings, you can only marvel at the scope of what has been achieved.’
Trevor Thurlow agrees. ‘I think we were expecting this to be anexceptional development, but it’s only when you see it functioning that you are struck by how impressive this is. The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive from everybody who occupies or visits the Campus. It was always intended to provide a blueprint for the future of the University, but I think we’ve gone way beyond that and created something truly world class that sets the standard for everybody else as well.’
