Preston's University Square moves a step closer

Artists impression of how the new Engineering Innovation Centre will look, facing the proposed University Square at the Adelphi roundabout

Councillors are being asked to agree changes to plans for a new £30m teaching block on the car park of UCLan’s Foster Building which, if approved, could be open by next summer.

And the university has also asked the local authority if it needs to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment on its £60m proposals to turn the Adelphi roundabout area into a focal point for the city campus.

Both schemes form part of a £200m UCLan Masterplan which is earmarked for completion by 2019.

Aerial view of University Square before demolition of the Fylde Building

Plans for the new Engineering Innovation Centre were passed last year, with the building designed to be a hub for teaching, research and knowledge exchange. The building will also include a cafe, a gym and a roof terrace.

But the developers have now gone back to the council seeking to make “slight” changes to the way the building sits on the site along the Corporation Street side of the Foster car park, fronting on to the roundabout which will eventually become University Square. At its rear will be Foster Square, a new public area created between the new EIC and the Foster Building.

The plans to create University Square have yet to be submitted in full to the council. But they will include the development of a new student support centre and the remodelling of the Adelphi roundabout road system to create the civic square.

Demolition of the university’s Fylde Building was carried out in 2015 as part of the scheme. UCLan says its vision is to create a “more unified” campus.