The new multi-million pound engineering building at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) has moved a step closer to completion.
A ceremony was held this week to mark construction of the state-of-the-art facility reaching the highest point of the landmark building.
Due to be completed in summer 2020, the building on Frenchay campus will house specialist digital engineering facilities, study areas and making facilities accommodating a wide range of engineering disciplines such as composite manufacturing, machining and metrology.
The building will help to attract a diverse, creative and innovative student body to engineering as a profession and help address future skills gaps regionally. The development supports the Government’s commitment to increase the number of young people studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects and the predicted increase in demand for skilled engineering graduates across the West of England.
With floor space of 8,500 m2, the building will accommodate 1,600 undergraduate and postgraduate students along with 100 academic and technical staff. It will meet UWE Bristol’s ambition to become one of the top engineering schools in the country, through promoting multi-disciplinary, collaborative learning.
UWE Bristol’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Steve West said: “It has been hugely rewarding to see this landmark building taking shape at the heart of our Frenchay campus, as part of our ongoing commitment to investment in top-class facilities. As it nears completion and we approach our move in date, a sense of excitement is starting to grow among our students and staff, and our industry collaborators.
“Benefitting from a practice-based curriculum and close links with leading engineering businesses in the region, our graduates are leaving with the right blend of industry skills, experience and knowledge for the workplace. This state-of-the-art building will significantly improve our engineering teaching and research facilities, ensuring we continue to attract and inspire the engineers of the future.”
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Shona Wright
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