Student Life Building, Teesside University

Our specialist education team has developed a student-centred and student-led space, providing information and services to support, inspire and empower success in learning and life at the heart of the University’s Middlesbrough site.

Student Life is much more than a building; the project involved a complete reconfiguration of the student-facing offer across the university, co-locating staff from several departments within a central hub, and under one central brand, developed in collaboration with students. The building brings together social and collaborative learning, health and wellbeing services, careers advice and digital and technical support, alongside a popular catering outlet. It also home to CreatorLab, which brings together staff and students to devise novel curriculum developments.

This a technologically-enabled environment, supporting a variety of learning styles, activities and attendance patterns. It offers a range of flexible spaces, enabling social and collaborative learning, as well as an information zone, consulting rooms and cafe.

Wellbeing and collaboration

Designed to place wellbeing at the heart of its campus, the Student Life Building is a result of a consultation with academics and students as part of the institution’s 10-year Masterplan and Estates Strategy. The 2,825m² development looks to overcome the stigma associated with mental health issues by blurring the distinction between learning and support spaces, removing the barriers which may discourage students from seeking help.

It provides a mixture of areas facilitating both group work and more contemplative study, with open learning and catering spaces on the ground floor and quieter, private spaces higher up. There is also a series of timber-clad pods offering the kind of calm, quiet environments that are invaluable to autistic students.

Award winning

The latest addition to Teesside University won the education category award at the 2020 RICS Social Impact Awards (North East). This recognised how the building provides a new way of life for students at the Middlesbrough campus, bringing all student-facing services into one central hub, along with social space and an innovative digital offer to enhance the student and learning experience.

Social impact is central to the university’s mission and values and was a key decision in the appointment of contractor Willmott Dixon to complete this project. Throughout construction, the site supported 60 weeks of apprenticeships and 10 weeks of work experience.

Judges for the RICS awards said: “The building provides a technologically enabled environment, supporting a variety of learning styles, activities and attendance patterns. It offers a range of flexible spaces, enabling social and collaborative learning, as well as an information zone, consulting rooms and a cafe.”

Large scale campus regeneration

The Student Life building is our latest project with Teesside University and follows our recent £6.4m project to refurbish and extend an existing 3-storey 1960s building to create the University’s Business School. We also created a unique ‘living green wall’ (below) attached to the Business School designed to create an attractive and environmentally friendly focus in the centre of the campus - adjacent to the Student Life building.

We also built a new gym, an extension to the existing Olympia health and fitness centre, as well as delivering a £5.4m project to refurbish two 1960s 10 and 11-storey blocks into contemporary student accommodation.

With all these projects procured through the Scape framework, this really is a transformative and exciting time for the university, whose masterplan is designed to further enhance the experience of all its students, staff and partners.

The Student Life building (above) is technologically-enabled environment, supporting a variety of learning styles, activities and attendance patterns. It offers a range of flexible spaces, enabling social and collaborative learning, as well as an information zone, consulting rooms and a cafe.

Malcolm Page, chief operating officer at Teesside University, said:

“The University has committed to investing £300m in its estate over the next ten years to create a campus environment which will rival any in the sector. The Student Life Building is a key development in the campus masterplan – a state-of-the-art building which will bring all student-facing activity together in one central location. We are delighted to again be working with Willmott Dixon.”