STRATEGIC ESTATES FRAMEWORK
Rationalising the estate continued The establishment of the first two quarters (Creative and Digital, Business) is relatively straightforward and can largely be achieved by making adjustments to the student timetable and will be aided by the recent academic restructure. For example, the restructure strengthens the links between the Suffolk Business School and the Business Engagement and Entrepreneurship directorate, centred on the Atrium including IWIC. The remaining two quarters (Science, Health and Wellbeing) will require more planning to achieve, as the relevant subject areas currently occupy the same parts of the campus. The currently planned refurbishment of the East Building should provide space for the rationalisation of facilities and future growth. Beyond that, the Waterfront Building will continue to be used largely for general purpose teaching and to house services to students such as Infozone. It should be noted that existing operational pressure on space has already led the University to take out leases in adjacent buildings to house professional services staff (Neptune Marina and Sir Thomas Slade Court). Whilst this has worked reasonably well, it has its disadvantages and adds cost which might be avoided if an alternative solution can be found.
Finally, the Digitech development at Innovation Martlesham in partnership with BT and funded by NALEP will provide dedicated space to support a skills accelerator project, and strong links will be established with our on-campus digital provision and business engagement activities. Whilst this is helpful to the University’s development in these areas, it does not help to address some of the pressures on our current estate. 14 Director of Estates
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