Blackpool takes next step into Multiversity

Plans for a new state-of-the-art education campus in Blackpool town centre have been submitted for final approval. The £65m Multiversity campus will provide a new home for Blackpool and the Fylde College, bringing as many as 3,000 students and staff into Blackpool town centre. The 115,000 sq ft building will provide five floors of education space and include a high-gloss terracotta tiled facade, along with floor to ceiling glass. The surrounding area will be “greened up” through landscaping and planting to create a public square. Lynn Williams, leader of Blackpool Council, said: “As well as bringing thousands of students into the town centre, helping our local people to complete qualifications and find quality work, it will also provide a green public square to the area, incorporating trees, flowers and grassy areas, which will complement the similar planting which will happen around the DWP office. It will be a great green area within the town centre.” The building is expected to be carbon neutral in operation, with solar panels on the roof and sustainable air source heat pumps. Outline planning approval for around 350,000 sq ft of education and commercial space was granted for the whole Multiversity site earlier this year. In addition to the first phase Multiversity campus, a second phase immediately south will allow expansion space for the college’s future plans, or office space for the Talbot Gateway. In the short term, the space will be used as a temporary car park until funding is secured for the second phase. Blackpool Council said land assembly for the site of the Multiversity was still under way, with around 60% of the properties purchased so far and negotiations with the remaining property owners continuing. A compulsory purchase order was served in April and will be heard at a public inquiry starting on 12 November, and the council continues to negotiate with property owners. The Multiversity makes up phase four of Blackpool Council’s £350m regeneration of the Talbot Gateway area around Blackpool North train station. A four-star 144-bedroom Holiday Inn hotel and Marco Pierre White New York Italian restaurant opened in May, and a tram-train interchange linking to Blackpool Promenade opened in June. A civil service hub will bring more than 3,000 government workers into a new 215,000 sq ft office on King Street early next year, while full planning permission has been granted for a 52,950 sq ft office off Talbot Road which would be home to some 1,000 employees. Plans for a new multi-storey car park off Church Street are also set to be submitted. Avison Young is advising the council on planning with CBRE. Hawkins\Brown has designed the scheme, while Morgan Sindall has been appointed contractor. Image © Hawkins\Brown