Biomedical campus plans announced

03 Oct 2014

£250 million project part of University's Campus Masterplan

New plans for the £250 million development of the biomedical campus as part of the University’s Campus Masterplan have been announced.

The centre piece of the revised plan is a major refurbishment of the Stopford Building to create a more modern teaching and learning environment housing Manchester Medical School (MMS), the School of Pharmacy and teaching for the Faculty of Life Sciences. This will provide an improved long-term solution and replaces earlier plans for MMS to be in the Dover Street building.

Extensive remodelling of the Stopford Building will ensure that all of MMS student administrative activity takes place under one roof - creating a natural home for the Medical School - and facilitating inter-professional teaching of undergraduate pharmacists, doctors and nurses.

There will also be, for the first time, new entrances from both Ackers Street and Grafton Street creating a stronger identity and presence for the School of Pharmacy and the Faculty of Life Sciences.

The Stopford Building will also be enhanced by an improved frontage onto Oxford Road and the creation of a new atrium to improve access in and around the building and create circulation zones for staff and students and provide an interactive hub of activity.

The Zochonis and Dover Street Buildings will also undergo refurbishment allowing the School of Psychological Sciences to relocate from Ellen Wilkinson and Coupland 1 and consolidate in one geographical area. Dover Street will also house other functions currently contained within Stopford.

The work will be carried out in a phased approach starting with the development of a new research building scheduled to get underway within the next five years. This will be built adjacent to Stopford to meet the need for this type of accommodation in attracting world-class researchers to the University.

Professor Martin Humphries, Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences said “This next phase of the redevelopment of the biomedical campus solves one of our biggest estates problems – the Stopford Building! An independent analysis of the building, some 15 years ago, concluded that it needed replacing or massively redeveloping, and at last we have a plan. I look forward to being at the opening of a world-class teaching facility!”

Professor Ian Jacobs, Vice President and Dean of the Faculty of Medical & Human Sciences, said: "I am delighted that we now have a plan for the biomedical campus which not only improves the facilities for our Medical School but also for Pharmacy, Life Sciences and Psychological Sciences. This large investment in the estate reflects the importance to the University of providing outstanding education in the medical and health sciences.”