BU’s Bournemouth Gateway Building celebrates ground breaking

Bournemouth University celebrated the start of work to its flagship Bournemouth Gateway Building on the Lansdowne Campus.

Staff and board members from BU joined key members from Kier, the construction company in charge of the build, for a ‘ground breaking ceremony’, which traditionally marks the start of building work.

The new development will provide 10,000 square meters of space for the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences and the wider BU community. It will provide a high quality environment for staff, student and the community including research facilities, teaching spaces, a new library, resource centre and wider learning spaces.

Jim Andrews, Chief Operating Officer at Bournemouth University, said, “This ground breaking represents the next exciting stage in the development of the university’s estate. This building will be an important development for the whole BU community, as well as providing a new home for our Faculty of Health and Social Sciences that is developing the health professionals of the future and support our world leading research.”

The building is set for completion in spring 2020 and will add to the university’s growing Estate, with building work on Poole Gateway Building, on Talbot Campus, also now underway.

Speaking at the ground breaking, Professor John Vinney and Chair of the BU Board, Richard Conder, both praised ‘the university’s growth as we look forward to an exciting future’ and thanked Kier for their work.

Trevor White, operations director for Kier Construction - Southern, also spoke at the event, and said: “We’re delighted to be working with Bournemouth University to deliver this exciting project. This is an important scheme for the University and we will use our experience in the education and health sectors so it meets the demands of staff and the future midwives, social workers and health workers graduating from the University.”

For more information about BU’s Estate, visit the Estates pages of the BU website.