Lifschutz
Davidson
Sandilands
Architects
Design Consultants
Urban Planners
UCL Masterplan
B l o o m s b u r y
Adopted Masterplan Summary
Version 3, 15.11.11
C a m p u s
Nov 2011
Contents
preface Malcolm Grant
introduction Andrew Grainger
the vision Alex Lifschutz
The Masterplan - scope and brief
Bloomsbury Campus - overview
section 01 Audit Summary
section 02 Key Strategies
section 03 The Vision
section 04 Implementing the Vision
The Team
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
3
The vision
Alex Lifschutz
This Masterplan is designed to help the university shape
its academic, social and urban environment – it is an
active, flexible tool that adds tangible benefits whether
implemented in part or in whole.
entrance in physics, onto Gordon Street. Improvements
to the north-south route are also proposed with the
introduction of a new staircase from the Quadrangle to the
South Junction and Malet Place.
The Masterplan has four key objectives. The first is the
improvement of academic facilities throughout the
university; improvement in teaching and learning spaces,
research laboratories and workshops. The proposals are
qualitative, quantitative and they suggest ways both of
making space flexible and of using it more efficiently. To
give one example, the grand rooms on the ground floor of
the remarkable Wilkins Building and ground floor spaces
around the Quad can be connected together and also
linked back to the Bloomsbury Theatre. This will create
an impressive and flexible suite of spaces that support
teaching and learning (as well as conferences and special
events) at the very heart of the University. Libraries can
also be centralised in the Wilkins Building with book stacks
extending down into the handsome vaulted basements
(currently used for toilets and admin offices) and up to roof
level; in this new arrangement there is space for all the
other accommodation and equipment required to support
modern library based learning.
The plan offers schemes for improving landscaping to all
existing public spaces, animating them with cafés and
restaurants; there is also a project to add an entirely new
public space above the Physics Yard. The ease and pleasure
with which one can navigate the campus and the quality of
its public spaces (interior and exterior) will pay dividends in
the serendipitous meeting of colleagues and the intellectual
discourse that ensues.
The second objective is that UCL’s campus should reflect
its outstanding academic record. At present the campus
buildings neither communicate their activities nor does the
public realm speak of one of the world’s top universities.
Up-grading academic facilities should provide a second
benefit in improving the University’s physical identity.
The Masterplan suggests the larger teaching and learning
spaces are assembled at ground level - open to the public
realm rather than being hidden away. In particular UCL’s
engineering and design excellence can be emphasised
by ensuring that student “workshop and making” spaces
are clearly visible from the exterior. The University’s five
collections, including the remarkable Petrie Museum
of more than 80,000 artefacts, should be much better
displayed. The Masterplan includes proposals to house
them in more accessible and visible accommodation at key
entrances to the University.
The third objective of the Masterplan is to improve the day
to day experience of the University’s public realm. UCL has
a mature 19th and 20th century fabric that has become
clogged by ad hoc additions, extensions and alterations.
The university experience can be improved at many levels.
For example, the Masterplan suggest ways of increasing
permeability, particularly in the east-west direction.
The formal entrance into the Quad is reinforced by the
introduction of a much improved crossing over Gower
Street to the Cruciform Buildings and points west. This
is followed through by introducing two new entrances
through the redeveloped Beach site and through a new
The fourth objective of the Masterplan concerns
methodology. The plan is based on nimble, achievable
strategies and a menu of individually costed (and
independent) projects that can be implemented as funds
or new partners emerge. The Masterplan is capable of
responding to the challenges of funding, academic and
student demands, new legislation and cost pressures.
Sustainability is a common thread running through the
Masterplan, its strategies and its implementation through
‘energy focussed’ and many other more general projects.
The plan, developed in extensive consultation with staff
and students at the University and other local stakeholders,
capitalises on this local intelligence and makes suggestions
for a continuous involvement of University people in the
allocation and arrangement of space in the future.
The document is set out in four main parts: firstly strategies
for key activities such as teaching and working space,
resources and amenities (such as the library). The second
section reviews UCL in the Higher Education context
and suggests methods by which space may be more
intelligently used. The third section presents the vision for
the core Bloomsbury campus set out in seven ‘villages’ or
neighbourhoods and presents an indicative sequence by
which fragmented departments could be better co-located.
The fourth section describes more than 60 projects,
from small opportunistic schemes to larger schemes of
strategic significance – most of which can be undertaken
independently.
Rather than a grand idea relying on significant demolition
and redevelopment, this is an attempt to be intelligent and
opportunistic about change and to promote a significant
overall improvement in the estate by capitalising on the
many small interventions that will occur over the next
few years. Opportunities for larger set piece projects,
particularly on the Beach site and the Egyptology site
(Petrie Museum), are included in the plan, but these are
viewed as important, rather than defining, features of it.
Preface
Malcolm Grant - President and Provost
I am delighted to introduce the UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan.
The Bloomsbury Masterplan was approved by UCL Council
in July 2011 to provide the strategic framework for the
development and improvement of the UCL Bloomsbury Estate
over the next ten to fifteen years to ensure UCL’s fine buildings
in the very heart of this great world city best support the
University’s highest academic standards and global ambition.
The Masterplan was prepared over the 2010-2011 session with
a thorough review and analysis of the estate, wide consultation
with UCL staff and student communities and considerable
iteration of options. The objectives of the brief were broad and
ambitious including: improving the coherence and integrity of
the estate; ensuring effective and efficient space utilisation,
effectiveness and functionality; respecting our heritage while
driving improved environmental performance; enhancing the
student and staff experience.
A coherent vision with supporting strategies and projects
is presented to plan continued improvement, respond to
the unexpected and serendipitous, and enable institutional
growth.
I encourage everyone interested in the future of UCL to take a
close interest in this plan as it develops and continue to let the
team know your views and comments.
Introduction
Andrew Grainger - Director, UCL Estates
The Bloomsbury Masterplan will for the first time provide a
strategic framework for the future development of the estate
and forms the foundation of a new Estate Strategy for UCL.
The Masterplan presents a coherent vision and a series of
strategies along with an indicative sequence of projects that
together provide a long term strategic framework and from
which a programme of capital investment will emerge.
If UCL is to maintain its position as a ‘world leading’ university
in a highly competitive global market, we must continue to
invest in our infrastructure. The estate poses many challenges
while offering fabulous opportunities. Implementation of the
improvements and opportunities identified will be challenging
in terms of funding, scale of change and in managing
disruption. We are confident that over this period huge
improvement to the estate will be delivered, though we shall
have to be adaptable and responsive to change.
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
5
all buildings in Masterplan scope
The Masterplan
scope and brief
This report provides a summary of the masterplan process and
resultant Masterplan strategies.
Lifschutz
Davidson
Sandilands
W
D O
R R
A K
F IN
T
4 G
W
D O
R R
A K
F IN
T
4 G
The Masterplan was commissioned in May 2010 by UCL
Estates. It was proposed as a three stage process that would
allow a ‘menu’ of opportunities to be identified in line with key
strategies to enable UCL to grow in an effective manner in the
future whilst allowing for changes in funding, organisation and
student numbers. The three stages were reported as follows:
i.
Bloomsbury campus audit
ii.
opportunities
iii.
Masterplan report
Architects
Design Consultants
Urban Planners
The Masterplan report provides a summary of the emerging
Masterplan strategies in response to the following key
objectives proposed by the university:
•
growth strategy for a consolidated campus
•
supporting the imperative to reduce UCL’s carbon
footprint
•
enhance the user experience - student, staff, public
•
reinforce academic and commercial business case
•
provide flexible and adaptable accommodation
•
rebalance space use
•
identify co-location opportunities
•
identify ‘swing space’ opportunities
•
responsive to future changes in the student demographic
University College London
masterplan audit draft 4
XXXXXX
Lifschutz
Davidson
Sandilands
Architects
Design Consultants
Urban Planners
UCL Masterplan
B l o o m s b u r y
0840 - 040 Consultation Draft
C a m p u s
04.04.11
above (top to bottom): Stage 1 document (Masterplan Audit); Stage III
document (Masterplan)
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
7
Bloomsbury campus
Overview
UCL is an important component of the Russell Group
Universities in London, with 23,225 students in 2009-2010.
This represents approximately a third of the total higher
education students in the capital.
•
58% undergraduate
•
42% postgraduate
•
86% full time students
•
14% part time students
UCL comprises 174 buildings in total, 148 of which
are distributed between three campuses in London Bloomsbury, Archway (Royal Free) and Clerkenwell. The
university has its core of buildings in the Bloomsbury
Campus, with a footprint of approximately 94,400 m2
(approximately equivalent to 13 football pitches).
Bloomsbury is home to many other educational and
cultural institutions, including University of London, the
School of Oriental and African Studies, and the British
Museum. It is probably the largest university district
in Europe. With nearly 500,000 m2 situated within its
Bloomsbury Campus, UCL can significantly influence the
identity and coherence of this district.
UCL comprises 9 faculties arranged in three schools,
which between them house 82 departments (see diagram
opposite).
Teaching & Learning
UC
Th
on
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Th
as
cu
an
Global Citizenship agenda percolates through all
Medical students in lecture theatre
aboveThe
(top
to bottom):
students
onregardless
Portico ofsteps; Cruciform laboratory;
departments’
programmes
of teaching:
the subject students are studying, we want them to
students
in lecture theatre
These different approaches all reveal to students the wider
be aware of other cultural systems. We’re encouraging
more students to go overseas and have that experience
of difference in the learning mode.
It’s been a big year for technology. As we’ve moved from WebCT
to the Moodle virtual learning environment, we’ve found enormous
enthusiasm from staff as well as students to make more use of
electronic possibilities. As a result students have flexible access
to more teaching materials online, and there have been some
wonderful new ways of exploiting the technology. UCL also became
the first major university in the UK to sign up to iTunes U, which
helps us to reach out to audiences beyond the student body,
as well as enhance teaching.
We’ve had some terrific examples of staff teaching creatively in
other ways, using artistic methods, drama, Writers in Residence
and objects from our museums and collections.
context to their learning.
Perhaps the biggest challenge is the ‘skills for employability’
agenda. Our vision is to create a single portfolio of skills that
runs from day one of a first year undergraduate programme
through masters and PhD to postdoctorate level. We want to
give students the skills they need and make them aware of the
skills they have in teamworking, leadership, and communication.
Consequently the UCL Careers Service has become more
involved in our teaching and learning strategy. It is building
links with peers internationally and strengthening its relationship
with our departments, to give students the richest support
possible as they consider life after UCL.
Professor Michael Worton
UCL Vice-Provost (Academic & International)
14 UCL Review 2008
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
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full
audit
key summary
strategies
section
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01
The following pages provide an overview of the key
observations identified during the audit study and
consultation process, under the following headings:
• access + egress
• heritage
• frontages
• routes across the campus
• user experience
• libraries + computer clusters
• catering
• faculties + departments
• centrally bookable space
• laboratories
• laboratory type
• office space
• UCL Union
• museums and collections
• building accessibility
• public access and security
• building typologies
• culture
• external environment
• workshops
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
11
frontages
access and egress
The university is well located for tube and buses and there are
three key mainline
railway stations - Euston, St Pancras and
circulation + infrastructure
King’s Cross - along the north side of the historic perimeter.
euston road
section 06
370
381
107
gower place
beaumont place
48
95
1
101
endsleigh gardens
100
2
82
heritage
4
grafton way
386
73
physics yard
3
Most of the UCL estate is situated in the Bloomsbury
Conservation Area with five Grade I, three Grade II* and 19
Grade II listed buildings (a total of 37% of buildings listed). The
Wilkins building is Grade I listed and was originally envisaged
just as the east range. The north, south and west ranges were
added at a later date.
81
15
main quadrangle
taviton street
67
14
212
5
14
126
15
13
university street
374
90
201
375
200
16
207
17
203
41
gower street
huntley street
204
198
91
malet place
199
gordon square
foster
court
37
42/43
40
44
frontages
116
208
371
350
The ubiquity of entrances and their lack of celebration is a
feature of the distribution of functions across the campus.
Although there is apparently one central space – the Wilkins
building quad – it doesn’t give preferential access to more
functions. The only discernible pattern is a general clustering
of entrances (around 20%) along a north-south axis from Malet
Place northwards and along the main Wilkins facades.
46
80
45
79
365
47
byng place
94
torrington place
woburn square
key:
top - bottom, left - right: bicycles in front of bloomsbury theatre;
motorbikes on Gordon Street; UCLU; department of Pharmacology;
Gower Street entrance; the Cruciform
cycle parking
routes across the campus
car parking
active frontage
front doors/main entrances onto street
front doors/main entrances from inside campus
secondary entrances
381
107
beaumont place
routes across the campus
gower place
48
95
1
101
endsleigh gardens
100
I
The growth of the university without a strong masterplan has
led to a somewhat confused labyrinth of routes. It is almost
as if students and staff have drilled ways through the campus
to serve their desire lines irrespective of the obstructions in
their path. The jumble of routes is an indication of the organic
growth of the university.
2
82
4
6
grafton way
physics yard
3
7
15
9
5
14
67
F
126
15
13
taviton street
main quadrangle
81
H
G
14
386
73
gordon street
A
212
88
university street
B
section 3.0
Information ascertained from UCL and site visits
370
374
resource + amenities
111
UCL Bloomsbury Audit March 2011 Consultation Draft
service entrances
12
201
50
90
24
E
25
C 375
26
125
52
28
29
200
203
41
gower street
huntley street
204
198
32
53
33
34
17
malet place
199
30
31
16
207
91
user experience
35
gordon square
foster
court
36
37
42/43
The common rooms are well utilised during term time,
however, the quality of the space and furnishings, as well
as the locations of many of these spaces is often below the
sector norm. The potential and importance of these spaces
for inter-disciplinary discussion and debate has been
identified as a priority.
40
44
116
Recommendations
208
371
350
46
80
45
79
365 D
47
byng place
94
torrington place
woburn square
top - bottom, left - right: Paul O’Gorman cafe, Bloomsbury cafe,
engineering cafe, the Rockefeller cafe, Gordon’s cafe, the cruciform
cafeteria, main refectory
key
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
cafes/catering
Cruciform cafeteria
the Rockefeller cafe
Paul O’Gorman cafe
Engineering cafe
Print Room cafe
Jeremy Bentham cafe
Refectory
Bloomsbury cafe
Gordon’s Cafe
seating 95
seating 20 +
seating 36
seating 70
seating 40 +
libraries + computer clusters
euston road
libraries and computer clusters
seating 336
seating 20 +
seating 52
The Bloomsbury campus
has six libraries. Between them
resource + amenities
they can accommodate approximately 1,700 students at
any one time. The learning laboratory on the ground floor
of the DMS Watson Science Library is hugely successful

and very intensively used. There is considerable interest
in replicating the DMS ground floor model across campus
- digital access to knowledge via a largely self-service
provision, owned and managed by students.
UCL Bloomsbury Audit March 2011 Consultation Draft
381
107
gower place
beaumont place
48
95
2
1
101
endsleigh gardens
100
32
82
LB-3 1
4
6
grafton way
physics yard
31
81
2
main quadrangle
5
14
9
LB-1
67
1
126
15
taviton street
gordon street
14
212
386
73
7
15
LB-6
88
50
12
2012
2
24
90
LB-5
25
375
26
125
52
200
31
16
203
41
gower street
huntley street
204
198
34
17
42/43
1
30
1
33
91
35
gordon square
foster
court
3
LB-2
44
malet place
199
29
32
53
207
28
37
36
116
371
46
34
365
47
byng place
torrington place
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library (capacity 401 +)
computer rooms/clusters (1-9 within building)
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





















library (capacity less than 100)





key




catering















UCL is short of ground level amenities, particularly
restaurants and cafés, but also outdoor spaces that can be
used for overlapping activities and events. Such amenities
as exist aren’t exemplary. Only the Print Room Café meets
current standards.



woburn square



45
79


3
350
80





40
208



LB-4
2
13


university street
374
59
section 3.0
370































































top - bottom: DMS
 Watson project learning
 space; main library in the
Wilkins building; computer


cluster in Chemistry
building



























































































































































































UCL Bloomsbury Audit March 2011 Consultation Draft
Information
ascertained

from UCL building register


















































51
audit summary
building accessibility
euston road
building typologies
370
381
107
gower place
48
beaumont place
Within the core campus, the Andrew Huxley Building is the
only fully accessible building. 28 buildings within the core
campus are rated as reasonably accessible, equating to 54% of
the core campus within the Masterplan scope. The majority of
the campus is rated as poorly accessible.
95
1
101
endsleigh gardens
100
2
82
4
6
grafton way
physics yard
3
14
public access and security
9
5
67
126
15
13
taviton street
main quadrangle
81
gordon street
14
212
386
73
7
15
88
university street
The safety and security of university staff, students and visitors
is of the upmost importance. Ensuring security is achieved
and maintained whilst providing a readily accessible and
permeable estate poses numerous challenges.
374
12
201
90
24
25
375
26
28
29
200
30
16
32
33
207
203
41
gower street
huntley street
204
198
malet place
199
91
35
gordon square
foster
court
37
42/43
36
40
44
116
208
371
350
building typologies
46
80
45
79
The audit process identified three types of floorplate in the
Bloomsbury campus buildings:
1) buildings with a linear floorplate of between 12m - 18m - the
most common floorplate typology;
47
byng place
94
woburn square
key
narrow plan 12-18m wide
euston road
flexible plan
museums and collections
other, inflexible plan
370
381
3) buildings with a deep and inflexible floorplan, the result of
a number of factors including environmental requirements,
circulation or designed functions and features.
107
gower place
48
beaumont place
2) buildings with a much deeper floorplan or built for a specific
purpose - such as the Wilkins - but have still maintained
flexibility of floorplate and use; and
365
torrington place
UCL Bloomsbury Audit March 2011
95
1
101
endsleigh gardens
100
2
82
4
6
grafton way
K
81
gordon street
9
67
taviton street
212
386
73
7
126
A
G
88
culture
The biggest challenges for UCL’s public engagement that
can be addressed through masterplanning are: the lack
of permeability of the site, lack of good venues for public
events, lack of publicly-accessible temporary exhibition
spaces, lack of facilities or resources to attract members of
public, and the lack of a single ‘front-door’.
university street
374
201
F
12
B
L
H
50
90
D/E
24
25
375
26
125
52
28
29
200
31
16
30
32
53
207
34
17
33
91
35
C
gordon square
116
208
371
46
47
byng place
94
woburn square
workshops
key:
teaching and research collections
E - archaeology collections; appointment only
collection (open to public)
euston road
F - ethnography collections; appointment only
external environment
collection (research/appointment only)
G - biological anthropology collections; appointment only (14 Taviton St)
H - geology collections; open wed 12-2pm or by appointment
I - science and medical collections; appointment only
museums and collections open to370
public & opening times
J - Galton collection; by appointment
only. (Wolfson building)
381
A - UCL art collections inclu. strang print room; mon - fri 1-5pm
107
K - temporary exhibition space, north cloister
B - Grant museum of zoology & comparative anatomy; mon-fri 1-5pm
L - Jeremy Bentham auto-icon
gower place
C - Petrie museum of egyptian archaeology; tues-fri 1-5pm, sat 10-1pm
48
beaumont place
UCL core campus currently houses 118 workshops,
covering approximately 3,600 sqm. In many cases the
location of workshops and the location of laboratories are
closely linked.
collections:
D - archaeology exhibition hall; mon-fri 9-5pm
UCL Bloomsbury Audit March 2011 C
95
1
101
Information ascertained from UCL buil
endsleigh gardens
100
2
82
4
6
grafton way
physics yard
3
9
5
14
67
126
15
13
taviton street
main quadrangle
81
gordon street
212
386
73
7
15
14
88
university street
374
12
201
90
24
25
375
26
28
29
200
30
16
32
33
207
203
41
gower street
huntley street
204
198
malet place
199
91
35
gordon square
42/43
44
116
208
371
350
46
80
45
79
365
47
byng place
torrington place
94
woburn square
key:
on-site open space (soft)
on-site open space (hard)
off-site open space (soft)
Off-site open space (hard)
UCL Bloomsbury Audit March 2011
Information ascertained fromInforma
tions’
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
13
audit summary
faculties and departments
euston road
faculties + departments
spacedepartments are arranged
The faculties and their respective
across the Bloomsbury campus around undefined clusters,
which have spread organically across the estate as more
space has been required.
section 05
370
381
107
gower place
beaumont place
endsleigh gardens
100
2
82
6
grafton way
physics yard
81
main quadrangle
9
5
14
centrally bookable space
taviton street
gordon street
14
212
386
73
7
15
15
A separate space study undertaken by Alexi Marmot
Associates (AMA) identifies 17,000 seats and 41,000 sq m
net useable area devoted to teaching, learning and social
spaces. The pattern of use indicates that there are far
more spaces available than are used at any one time, the
available classrooms and lecture rooms are larger than the
groups being taught and project space is scarce.
13
university street
374
90
201
375
200
207
91
malet place
199
203
gower street
huntley street
204
198
gordon square
foster
court
36
37
42/43
40
44
116
208
371
350
46
80
45
47
byng place
94
laboratories
woburn square
The UCL core campus currently houses 239 teaching labs, 920
research labs and 152 labs that are used by other parties. The
most notable findingteach,
waslearn
the
large proportion of research labs
+ research
sized between 5 and 25 sq m.
key:
faculty of arts and humanities
faculty of the built environment
euston road
faculty of life sciences
school of slavonic and east european studies (SSEES)
faculty of biomedical sciences
faculty of laws
other (UCLH, Birkbeck, UCLU etc)
faculty of mathematical370
and physical sciences
estates/admin/registy
section 2.0
381
faculty of engineering sciences
107
gower place
UCL Bloomsbury Audit March 2011 Consultation Draft
95
53
75
126
15
Labs and workshops are used to support teaching, learning,
research and enterprise activities, and their locations are often
closely linked. Although the variables are many (patterns of
use, scale, environmental requirements, funding profiles, etc),
there is recognition that provision could be rationalised for
optimum efficiency, effectiveness and long-term flexibility.
8
5
50
5 12 6
25
26
125
18
31
200
52
18
13
87
207
gower street
huntley street
204
6
30
32
33
34
91
36
37
40
11
4
350
15
116
5
12
371
10
6
46
80
26 45
63
79
365



47
byng place
size of dot indicates no. of laboratories:











laboratory (teaching)




beaumont place
100
4
2
9











































































































8















































































































































The AMA space survey highlights office space as the single
largest space type on the UCL Bloomsbury campus. Analysis
of the area occupancy on the Bloomsbury campus found there
was nearly 40,000 sq m dedicated to office space. The size,
occupancy (sole, shared or open plan) varies throughout the
campus. Of the 7,000 workspaces
available, a fifth are in solo
resource + amenities
offices, a quarter in open plan of 11 people or more, with the
rest ranged in-between.


































  
















































  

  





 


 











UCL Bloomsbury Audit March 2011 Consultation Draft
endsleigh gardens
6
10






1
101

office space


95








gower place
48





107






100 + laboratories within building







381






10-99 laboratories within building



laboratory (other/third party)
370




15
UCL Union




1- 9 labatories within building



euston road
laboratory (reseach)





key:




woburn square






94
torrington place




gordon square
42/43
3


35
foster
court
44
3
1
1
93
malet place
4
8
8
41
29
7
17
31
203
11
198
208
28
130
1
199
21
24
24
28
31
6
 
22

201
375
20

5
3

374
8
4

1
88


13
13
university street

67

9
5
taviton street
main quadrangle
14
81
51

15
14
212
386
73
722
gordon street
12
laboratory type
23
15 6
physics yard
3

4
12
grafton way
4

7 82 3

132
81
Information ascertained from UCL
endsleigh gardens
100
39

17

1

5
101
12

beaumont place
48

faculty of social and historical sciences
laboratories

365

79
torrington place

section 3.0
43
Information ascertained from UCL building register
82
14
4
6
grafton way
physics yard
3
14
5
129 16
5
UCL Union
81
2
3
67
17
126
15
13
taviton street
main quadrangle
1
gordon street
14
212
386
73
7
15

88
university street
374
13 201
12
50
25
26
125
52
28
29
200
31
16
203
41
gower street
huntley street
204
198
34
17
malet place
199
30
32
53
207
18
90
24
11
375
33
91
35
gordon square
foster
court
37
42/43
36
The Student Union operates three strands of activity:
commercial (food and drink, fitness centre with 1,500 paying
members, shop, events, hair salon), grant-supported (clubs,
rights and advice - with 7,000 members across 165 clubs
and societies) and administrative services (HR, finance, ICT,
marketing). The audit recognises that the Union currently
operate from sub-standard accommodation.
40
44
116
208
7
371
350
46
80
museums and collections
45
79
365
47
byng place
torrington place
UCL actively promotes three world class collections, both
internally and to the public. The collections are a major asset
to the university, both as high quality collections and as
generators of income.
94
woburn square
top - bottom, left - right: freshers fayre in the quadrangle; freshers
fayre in the cloisters; entertainment in the quadrangle
UCL Bloomsbury Audit March 2011 Consultation Draft
Information ascertained from UCL
67
key strategies
section
XXXXXXX
02
This Masterplan is designed to guide UCL in shaping its
academic, social and urban environment and builds on the
strength of the established campus in Bloomsbury and its
reputation for academic excellence. The Masterplan has a
number of key objectives:
•
to improve the performance and efficiency of the estate’s
teaching and learning spaces, laboratories and workshops.
The Masterplan suggests qualitative and quantitative ways
to make the estate more flexible and for it to be used more
efficiently.
•
to engage with the wider public through definition of the
campus, and communication of its undertakings. The
Masterplan suggests relocating the university’s world-class
collections to key perimeter points, increasing signage and
way-making and opening up the ground floor of academic
buildings so that the activities are open to the public realm.
•
to provide an enjoyable place to work and study through
a strategy to improve permeability and public realm. The
Masterplan suggests new routes through the campus to ease
navigation and day-to-day experience, new public spaces at
key junctions and the animation of public spaces with mobile
catering, temporary structures and events.
•
to ensure that the strategies and resultant projects are
achievable. The Masterplan is based on nimble strategies
and a ‘menu’ of individually costed and independent
projects that can be implemented as and when funds and
partners emerge.
The key strategies outline the principles and aims behind the
Masterplan and are as follows:
• key strategies overview
• teaching + working
• resource + amenities
• culture
• making design work
• circulation + infrastructure
• environment + sustainability
• consolidation and co-location - new campus
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
15
Teaching and working
The teaching and working strategies focus on teaching and
research space, offices, laboratories and workshops, and are
intended to improve both the quality and efficiency of such
space through the Bloomsbury campus.
A dedicated group will develop appropriate and innovative
solutions for new academic space, with improved servicing,
fit-out standards and management systems. This ‘Estate
Strategy Unit’ will engage with representative UCL staff; its brief
will be to assess best practice in UCL and elsewhere, promoting
efficiency of use, achieving greater flexibility from the existing
building stock and providing strategies for adaptability to
accommodate future change in teaching and working trends.
Resource and amenities
In response to the urgent need for open access social/project
learning space, the resource and amenities strategy proposes
an array of hubs across the campus, containing congenial
workspace with ICT backup, informal meeting space, learning
support and light food and drink. The hubs are linked to the key
external spaces in the university and are intended to provide
more local alternatives to the central library, the collections
and the central catering offer.
The hubs provide decentralised resources for staff, student
and visitors in the ‘villages’ and create opportunities for
increased public engagement. UCL is a leading university,
renowned for its academic excellence. This strategy is
aimed at creating outstanding but informal learning centres
distributed across the campus that catalyse intellectual
activity and discourse.
Culture
The Masterplan embraces UCL’s Public Engagement Strategy
and identifies the opportunity for arts performances and
a conference calendar which dovetail with the academic
calendar, providing even more external engagement and
useful revenue. The reconfigured ground floor proposed for
the Wilkins building supports this strategy.
office
office
private
research lab
teaching / learning
Upgraded external courtyards provide a suite of attractive
spaces well suited to a comprehensive events and conferences
schedule and a focussed cultural centre in the University.
event / teaching
Making design work
private
computer cluster
The campus can be used to display items from the world
class collections as well as a programme of temporary and
permanent public art.
semi-public
public (ground)
lab/workshop
The UCL Bloomsbury campus has a fixed amount of space.
Adding to it is impractical and expensive, while knocking
down and redeveloping what are generally very useful and
adaptable buildings is disruptive and costly. The Masterplan
identifies strategies to enable existing space to be managed in
an efficient and considered manner, promoting flexibility and
adaptability for the future.
The strategies outline the principles of a dedicated ‘Estate
Strategy Unit’ and the means to create beneficial space from the
existing stock. These strategies recommend a planning hierarchy
which locates the most public and flexible space on the lower,
more accessible and visible floors, with the dedicated, fixed,
cellular spaces situated on the upper ‘private’ floors.
key strategies
Circulation and infrastructure
The Masterplan suggests ways of separating and
strengthening the circulation systems for students, staff
and visitors along the existing ‘desire lines’, both east-west
and north-south across the campus, to improve the user
experience. The logistics of a complex research intensive
campus situated in a dense urban environment are an
ongoing challenge.
Environment and sustainability
UCL has clearly established objectives for meeting its
environmental obligations and is currently implementing
ways to reduce its carbon footprint through the ‘Green UCL’
programme and Carbon Management Plan. The Masterplan
builds on this existing knowledge, proposing sustainability
objectives embedded within all strategies and projects.
planned change
The ‘Support’ strategies presented in the Masterplan define
separate, well-managed delivery and waste routes and a
dedicated distribution centre under the Physics Yard; in
addition to the focus on transport and waste management
there are suggestions for improvements to information,
communications and technology.
flexibility
focuses on long-term needs
centrally driven by institution
New campus
Space within the Bloomsbury campus is a limited asset.
There is little opportunity of expansion beyond its local
boundaries.
The Masterplan suggests that the creation of a new
campus would provide world-class facilities supported
by student residences, enterprise incubators and other
amenities. The strategy identifies both specific and generic
uses that will create a new and vibrant facility with good
transport links to Bloomsbury.
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
adaptability
focuses on day-to-day needs
locally driven by user groups
natural change
The Masterplan is sustainable in its core in respect of energy,
economics, heritage and environment in that its guiding
vision is the considered use and re-use of the existing building
stock. Working with this stock, the key projects look at ways
that building envelopes, servicing and energy consumption/
generation can be interrogated and improved.
17
key the
strategies
vision
section
XXXXXXX
03
The Masterplan divides the Bloomsbury campus into seven
‘villages’. Each of these neighbourhoods has a different
character with different building typologies, academic
functions or circulation systems. The separate identities
of each village are strengthened by a suite of projects that
enhance their sense of place and the links between them.
• The Quadrangle
• South Junction
• Malet Place
• Gower Street
• Gordon Street
• Gordon Square
• North Courtyards
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
19
South Wing - lower grround
South Wing - ground floor
South Junction - east
South Junction - west
Foster Court Yard
Malet Place
Gower Street crossing
Cruciform - Rockerfeller
the vision
The Quadrangle
This is the grandest and oldest part of UCL and for many
represents its defining image and its showcase.
New routes through the estate reinforce the Quadrangle’s role
as a formal entrance and ‘front door’ to the university, while
enhanced landscaping, street furniture and the public activities
make it inviting to the wider public.
The spaces lining the Quadrangle are opened up at ground
floor level to provide a series of open and flexible rooms for
formal and informal learning, functions and events suitable for
staff, students and the public. Here you can attend a lecture
or seminar in an elegant room or an event in the conference
suite, visit the enlarged library in the refurbished Wilkins
Building or get a taste of one of the university’s world-class
collections.
The Quadrangle
South Junction
Surrounded by science buildings in the core of the campus
and at the termination of Malet Place, the South Junction is
probably the main crossroads of the University and a great
place for chance meetings and conversation.
The space lies to the south of and at a lower level to the
Quadrangle. This change in altitude offers the opportunity
for a memorable stair, rather than the somewhat convoluted
arrangement of today. The stair can be taken through the
south wing of the Quad onto the square.
Enhanced landscaping that takes advantage of the sunlight,
plus temporary structures and awnings, create a contrast to
the Quadrangle; this is an informal space which can support
temporary pavilions and events (as it does at present with the
popular farmers’ market).
New openings, activities and frontages to the surrounding
buildings at ground and first floor animate the space and
create an outdoor room at a very human scale.
South Junction
Malet Place
A primary north-south route through the estate, Malet Place
is flanked on either side by faculty buildings housing teaching
and learning spaces.
Openings and windows at ground floor level offer glimpses
of the activities inside, while a landscaping strategy of shared
surfaces, seating, planting and mature trees encourages users
to linger and experience the space as a destination or meeting
place rather than just a street to hurry through.
At one end is the southern entrance to the University flanked
by the Engineering café, at the other the newly invigorated
South Junction with its feature stair leading to the Quad.
Malet Place is a narrow route of human scale. Lighting, bunting
and banners deployed at key dates in the university calendar
can be used to great effect to highlight the intimacy of the
space.
Malet Place
Gower Street
The difficult crossing into the main formal entrance of UCL on
Gower Street is transformed by a new street crossing between
the Cruciform and the Quadrangle, slowing traffic and allowing
simple and safe access to the University. The crossing gives
a public presence to the medical school, with a ‘corridor’
linking the biomedical buildings to the rest of the Bloomsbury
campus. University buildings that line Gower Street can
become more permeable at ground floor level so that internal
activities are more visible and university life can better animate
the public realm.
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
Gower Street
21
Cruciform Building
New Student Centre
Institute of Archaeology
New Petrie Gallery
the vision
Gordon Street
A project to share the road and pavement surfaces of upper
Gordon Street provides the opportunity to close it to traffic
and to use the street for key events such as a big feast at the
start of the academic year. Other projects help to animate
the diverse frontages on Gordon Street so that it can become
an informal perimeter to the east side of the campus and a
much more pleasant north-south route through the wider
Bloomsbury area, strengthening the university presence and
connecting it to the railway stations on Euston Road. A new
student centre on the Beach site complements the existing
Bloomsbury Theatre with its gym facilities, marks the entrance
to the main east-west thoroughfare through the University and
consolidates the area as a hub of informal university life.
Gordon Square
Gordon Street
Road enhancement and new shared surfaces to the north
and west sides of Gordon Square knit this handsome green
space, one of London’s finest squares, more closely into
campus life. Two of the University’s key collections - the Petrie
and Archaeology - sit on the square and highlight some of the
University’s most accessible attractions to the public.
As a point of interface with the public and a key corner
of the campus, the square can be enlivened with mobile
catering, public art, feature lighting and better landscaping.
These encourage formal use for events and ceremonies,
accommodating a very large tent for end of year graduation or
for informal use such as gigs, happenings or relaxation in the
sunshine.
North Courtyards
The northern part of the University, beyond the Kathleen
Lonsdale building, is centered on two courtyards. One to
the east is fully dedicated to services such as deliveries and
waste collection and this courtyard feeds a new concealed
distribution space under the Physics yard garden.
Gordon Square
The courtyard to the west provides more congenial space with
an arts character defined by the making spaces of the Slade
and the new Union building to the north west; so one should
occasionally expect students to be hammering away at their
final year exhibits en plein air.
These are modest spaces but not necessarily less enjoyable
for being carefully planned and functionally clarified.
North Courtyards
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
23
implementing
key the
strategies
vision
section
XXXXXXX
04
This section sets out the principle projects that could be
undertaken to implement the Masterplan vision over the
next ten to fifteen years.
The section, briefing and timing of projects will be
subject to in-depth consultation and briefing with user
departments and the Estates Strategy Team. Project
briefs will be developed using the strategies and tools set
out in the Masterplan.
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
25
Physics Yard - project sample
amenity deck and service area
proposals
•
implement decking at quadrangle level to provide new
link between buildings and provide outdoor social area
•
open new doors onto decking at ground floor level of
Wilkins, Physics and Bloomsbury Theatre buildings
•
use additional unseen space below decking to provide
purpose-built service area and implement UCL-wide
waste strategy
•
remove or reconfigure existing concrete fire escape
•
extension to lower refectory retained or reconfigured to
allow for on-site waste management services
cross section a-a through Wilkins Building and Physics Yard
a
project 6.05
project 4.05
amenity deck with
service area at lower
ground level
project 1.03
project 4.06
project 1.06
a
courtyard plan
Physics Yard as propose
Physics Yard as existing
implementing the vision
Costs
High level costs for the individual projects are given as
a cost range and must be taken as broadly indicative as
Masterplanning by its very nature is a concept or series of
concepts linked to provide an overall strategy. It does not
constitute a design. The information therefore available for the
preparation of costings is itself conceptual and based upon a
number of assumptions.
The costs are intended to be ‘all-up’ costs or project costs
(i.e. including VAT, professional fees, design and construction
contingency allowances but excluding UCL costs such
as specialist equipment, IT data hardware and software,
telephone installations, decanting or specialist removal or
storage costs unless specifically noted).
Quadrangle
Bloomsbury Theatre
cross section a-a through Wilkins Building
The construction costs are based at 1Q 2011 and therefore
exclude increases in tender price inflation.
Enabling projects
£ 53.7m - £68.7m
Creating a new heart
£ 54.3m - £69.5m
project 1.03
a
New amenities+consolidation £ 42.9m - £55m
Releasing potential
internally connected
auditorium space
project
1.05
1.04
£ 8.1m - £10.5m
A summary of the costs of the individual projects listed in
‘Section 5.0: Key Projects’ is given below:
1. The Quadrangle and Wilkins £ 58.4m - £75.3m
2. South Junction
£ 14.3m - £18.4m
3. Malet Place
£ 32.9m - £42.4m
4. Gordon Street
£ 81.3m - £104.3m
5. Gordon Square
£ 13.2m - £17.2m
6. North Courtyards
£ 3.2m - £4.2m
7. Gower Street
£ 5.9m - £7.7m
project 1.03
campus ground floor plan
The combined total project cost range for the projects listed
in Section 4.0 and Section 5.0, inclusive of a programme
contingency, is £400m to £520m for implementation of the
Bloomsbury Campus Masterplan.
development opportunities
A number of development opportunities have been highlighted
in the Masterplan document including possible disposal of
property. Neither the cost nor the value of these opportunities
has been considered in this Cost Report. Similarly, no
allowance has been made for relocating any departments to a
new campus.
A separate detailed cost report is produced separately and
should be read in conjunction with The Bloomsbury Campus
Masterplan
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
27
a
information services
CASA
information services?
CASA
A
B
CASA
Earth Sciences
Statistics
D
History
C
L
K
Greek & Latin
M
Engineering
make space
Estates workshop?
J
F
I
Estates workshop
H
Petrie collection
G
E
Engineering
equipment
Civil engineering
The Slade
Consolidation and co-location
implementing the vision
Enabling projects
10.1A
Information Services Division co-located from
Kathleen Lonsdale building and Central House.
Relocation options under consideration
10.1B
rolling refurbishment of Kathleen Lonsdale
Building
10.1C
Earth Sciences department transfer to refurbished
Kathleen Lonsdale Building from South Wing
10.1D
Engineering ‘make space’ facility, student teaching
and workshop exhibition, to be created in service
area of Malet Place Engineering Building to free
space in ground floor of Chadwick Building. 66-72
Gower Street refurbished to allow for
reconfiguration of spaces within Engineering
A
(refer to projects 1.20 and 5.05)
10.1E
large/heavy laboratories relocated to new campus
10.1F
Potential to relocate Petrie collection from
Egyptology building to Woburn Place, prior to lift
installation. Needs for Slade to be evaluated and
existing Slade facilities to be upgraded. (refer to
project 5.05)
10.1G
Statistics department co-located with MAPS in
Kathleen Lonsdale building
10.1H
CASA relocated from 90 Tottenham Court Road to
Wolfson House or Central House
10.1I
Estates workshop decanted from Foster Court.
Relocation options under consideration
10.1J
Space within Foster Court re-configured to allow
for co-location of Greek and Latin relocated.UCL
Advances relocation options under consideration
(refer to project 3.02)
10.1K
History/Bachelor of Arts/Sciences programme
relocation options under consideration
10.1L
74 Huntley Street (Medical School) and Rockefeller
rolling refurbishments commence
10.1M
Anatomy Building refurbishment commences
above (top to bottom): Kathleen Lonsdale; Wolfson Building; Chadwick Building
refurbishment and relocation
space vacated for refurbishment
disposal or redevelopment opportunity
new
campus
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
29
the Bartlett
J
Domestic Services
C
Staff Social Space
G
I
Vice Provost
B
D
H
E
B
Registry
(front office)
Provost
Registry (back office)
D
Development office
Record
Consolidation and co-location
implementing the vision
Creating a new heart
A
10.2A
Development Office co-located with CSS to 1-19
Torrington Place
10.2B
Provost and Vice Provosts co-located in South Wing
first floor accommodation and second floor
refurbished for academic use (refer to projects
1.07 and 1.17)
10.2C
Bartlett expanded into Central House. Wates
House refurbished and extended on Gordon Street
(refer to project 4.03)
10.2D
Registry relocated to Chadwick building (front
office/ interface) and 1-19 Torrington Place (back
office) (refer to project 1.20)
10.2E
permanent Beach site scheme implemented for
student centre (refer to project 4.08)
10.2G
Facilities Services co-located with CSS in 1-19
Torrington Place. On-site presence maintained
within Physics Yard (refer to project 5.05)
10.2H
additional Records storage provided off site / new
campus
10.2I
basement refurbishment and reinstatement of
Central Library and oculus (refer to projects 1.07,
1.08, 1.13, 1.14, 1.15)
10.2J
new entrance from street and circulation routes
to Physics Yard at ground floor level of Physics
Building on Gordon Street (refer to project 4.05)
10.2K
Rolling refurbishments on Roberts Building
undertaken
Records
above (top to bottom): 1-19 Torrington Place; Wates House; Flaxman Gallery oculus
space, Wilkins building
refurbishment and relocation
space vacated for refurbishment
disposal or redevelopment opportunity
new
campus
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
31
C
L
student hub
K
Union
B
Science Library
Geography
I
H
D
N
E
A
M
PALS
F
G
Consolidation and co-location
implementing the vision
New amenities and consolidation
10.3A
DMS Watson books and facilities relocated to
enlarged central library within Wilkins building
(refer to projects 1.09, 1.10, 1.11, 1.12, 1.14, 1.15, 1.16)
10.3C
number of Union services relocated into new
student centre (refer to project 4.08)
10.3D
Life and Biomedical Sciences school hub created in
Medical Science and Anatomy building
(refer to projects 2.03, 2.04, 2.05)
10.3E
ground floor Life Sciences accommodation in
Medawar co-located in Anatomy building/
extension (refer to project 3.02)
10.3F
new public entrance and lifts to Petrie collection on
Byng Place (refer to project 5.05)
10.3G
Geography facilities in Bedford Way co-located with
graduate geography in Pearson and Lewis building
upper floors
10.3H
ground floor space within Andrew Huxley to be
reconfigured into public function such as cafe (refer
to project 2.01)
10.3I
South Junction route and internal circulation
implemented (refer to projects 1.18, 1.19, 2.01)
10.3K
pedestrian crossing on Gower Street (refer to
project 7.01)
10.3L
pedestrianisation of Gordon Street (refer to project
4.01)
10.3M
PALS relocated from 1-19 Torrington Place to
26 Bedford Way. Epidemiology relocation options
under consideration.
10.3N
Egyptology building extension now a development
opportunity (refer to project 3.05)
above (top to bottom): Anatomy Building; South Wing
refurbishment and relocation
space vacated for refurbishment
disposal or redevelopment opportunity
new
campus
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
33
CSS
B
Laws
Civil engineering
the Bartlett
D
C
CSS
Consolidation and co-location
implementing the vision
Releasing potential
10.4A
Bartlett and Civil Engineering relocated from
Central House and Chadwick upper floors into DMS
Watson (refer to project 3.04)
10.4B
Laws faculty relocated from Bentham House/
HIllel House to first and second floors of Chadwick
Building. Bentham House/HIllel House now a
redevelopment opportunity
10.4C
CSS relocated from 1-19 Torrington Place to Central
House.
10.4D
redevelopment opportunity in 1-19 Torrington Place
A
above (top to bottom): Bentham House; DMS Watson
refurbishment and relocation
space vacated for refurbishment
disposal or redevelopment opportunity
new
campus
UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan Summary - V3 (15.11.11)
35
The team
UCL Estates
Client and Project Manager
University College London
Gower Street, London
WC1E 6BT
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7679 2000
www.ucl.ac.uk
Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands
Masterplanner
Island Studios, 22 St. Peter’s Square, London W6 9NW, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 8600 4800
www.lds-uk.com
FID
Space Planners
22 Delancey Street, London NW1 7NH
Tel: +44 (0)77 9261 8107
Montagu Evans
Planning and Heritage Consultants
Clarges House, 6-12 Clarges Street, London W1J 8HB
Tel: +44 (0 )20 7493 4002
www.montagu-evans.co.uk
WSP
Engineering
WSP House, 70 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1AF
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7314 5000
www.wspgroup.com
Churchman Landscape Architects
Landscape Architects
Phelps House 17 Heath Road, Twickenham, Middlesex, TW1 4AW
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8891 0007
www.churchmanlandscapearchitects.co.uk
Adrian Evans
Events Consultant
99 Upper Ground, South Bank, London SE1 9PP
Tel: +44 (0) 207 928 8998
www.thamesfestival.org
Gardiner & Theobald
Construction and Property Consultants
10 South Crescent
London
WC1E 7BD
Tel: +44 (0)20 7209 3000