Another step forward for the development for the University of Wolverhampton’s Springfield Campus. Our design of a £17.5million National Brownfield Institute (NBI) will start on site in the New Year after it received planning approval from Wolverhampton City Council.

The NBI will be a world-class institute that provides the facility to develop modern methods of building through innovation and partnership with the construction industry.

Adding to the Associated Architects projects already on the University of Wolverhampton’s £120million Springfield Campus; the NBI will site adjacent to the recently completed School of Architecture and the Built Environment (SoABE) and will focus on the practical application of future brownfield regeneration through the work of research teams, leading policy development and commercial services.

The 12-acre Springfield Campus is already home to SoABE and the Thomas Telford University Technical College, Elite Centre for Manufacturing Skills also designed by Associated Architects. These facilities combined with our design for the NBI will lay the foundation for the delivery of a National Centre for Sustainable Construction and Circular Economy, which will focus on sustainability and the climate change emergency.

Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands and Chair of the WMCA, said:

“Today’s planning approval is tremendous news for the region because this Institute will help the West Midlands become a global leader in the clean-up and regeneration of derelict sites.

“The Institute will also equip our residents with the modern construction skills they will need to work on these brownfield projects, helping to get people into high-skilled, well-paid, work as we look to bounce back from the economic impact of the pandemic.”