University invests £100m in new developments for students

Students heading to the University of Derby this September are set to benefit from around £100m worth of exciting new developments.

Thousands of students across the country will receive their A-level results tomorrow (Thursday, August 13), and with applications for Derby significantly up from last year, the institution is proving more popular than ever.

A new £10.8m sports centre has recently been built at the University’s Kedleston Road site and will open ready for the return of students next month.

The modern, multi-purpose facility features squash and badminton courts, an internal climbing wall, sprint track, changing rooms, fitness gym, studios, treatment rooms and a café, and is surrounded by a number of sports pitches.

The University is also in the process of building a new 4,200 square-metre building for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students.

The building, which comes as part of a £12m investment, is at the Markeaton Street site and is expected to be completed in 2017.

Just adjacent from Markeaton Street campus is the Chandos Pole Street site which is currently undergoing a £3m major refurbishment to create new fashion and textile workshops for students.

In addition, more than £7m is being invested into refurbishing all of the University’s teaching accommodation, as well as lecture theatres at Kedleston Road.

As well as building new teaching facilities, the University is working alongside Prosperity Student Living Derby to provide a new 350-unit student accommodation facility in Cathedral Road, in the centre of Derby, as part of a £20m property deal.

The development will feature 350 en-suite bedrooms as well as laundry facilities, management office and bike storage and will be operated by the University’s own brand Derby Student Living.

Ian Willgoose, Director of Estates at the University of Derby, said: “The University will be investing around £100m through these new developments, which shows just how committed we are to investing in high-quality facilities to support the needs of our students.

“As well as planning and managing new buildings, we are also improving and working on existing buildings the University has within its estates portfolio.

“We have committed in our latest estates strategy to spend £20m over the next five years making sure our existing spaces are up-to-date and high quality.

“We can pleasingly say that we have a sector-leading estates portfolio here at the University and we are extremely proud of that.”

Earlier this year, the University signed a lease for One Friar Gate Square – the £20m striking, copper building in the city – which will house Derby Law School.

The building, spread over five storeys, will include an open plan specialist law library, modern and well equipped teaching and lecture rooms as well as a court room.

A new £80,000 Crown Courtroom was also recently opened at the University’s Kedleston Road campus and is an exact replica of a real courtroom for students on law courses as well as those studying forensic science and criminology.

This comes on top of the University’s newly-built crime scene house – or Forensic Training Facility (FTF) – which is a £410,000 custom-built facility within, what looks from the outside, to be a normal four bedroom house.

Hidden behind its walls are up to seven replica crime scenes, including a bedroom, bathroom, office, shop, garage, living room and a blood pattern analysis room.