Green light for former Springfield Brewery plans triggers uni exit
The University of Wolverhampton will quit its Telford campus by the end of the year, after being awarded planning permission to redevelop a former city brewery as a new engineering hub.
City planners today gave a thumbs up for the new facility, set to be built in the historic former Springfield Brewery on Cambridge Street, which will form part of the city’s new Green Innovation Corridor.
The scheme put forward by the university in December involves the demolition of a 1940’s built rear extension at the former brewery’s offices known as “Block A”, set to make way for a dedicated home for the university’s engineering faculty, currently located around 20 miles away in Telford.
Included in the plan is a selection of professional engineering disciplines including motorsport and automotive, aerospace, and chemical engineering, who will benefit from new live project workshops, laboratories and design and collaboration space, according to the university – which says the works form a key part of its estates masterplan.
Talks are ongoing over the future of the satellite Telford campus after the university announced sudden plans to quit the town last year, around 35 years after it first established its Shropshire base.
Dr Pete Cross, chief operating officer at University of Wolverhampton, said the decision to award planning permission marked “another significant step forward” in the university’s plan to coalesce its operations in Wolverhampton .
“Block A is a key component of the next phase of transformation, and this approval allows us to preserve and sensitively enhance an important heritage building while creating modern, flexible teaching and learning spaces for our students and partners,” he said.
The refurbished former brewery will provide a permanent home for the university’s engineering faculty. Credit: Glancy Nicholls/University of Wolverhampton
The university says once the partial strip down and extension of “Block A”, as well as internal reconfiguration, is completed, the building will provide a purpose-built facility fronting Grimstone Street that will enable the engineering faculty to showcase its work.
The building will form part of the proposed £27m Green Innovation Corridor, a ribbon of developments which links the Springfield Campus, Science Park, and the i54 business park.
The Green Innovation Corridor programme is a major regeneration initiative led jointly by City of Wolverhampton Council and the university, backed by the UK Government and the West Midlands Combined Authority.
Planning approval is also in place for the redevelopment of four brownfield sites, collectively known as Six Mile Green, located close to University of Wolverhampton Science Park.
Councillor Chris Burden, City of Wolverhampton Council cabinet member for city development, jobs and skills, said the innovation corridor project would create long-term cultural, educational, and environmental benefits for the city.
“The transformation of this vacant heritage building into a new teaching facility, will significantly contribute to the furthering of the wider campus’ capabilities, its reputation and its magnetism as a tech hub for the Black Country and West Midlands,” he said.
“It will act as a gateway for and support the ambitions of the Wolverhampton Green Innovation Corridor, delivering long-term cultural, educational, and environmental benefits.”
