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Transforming our City Campus
Demolition of Davidson, Lang and Temple Halls of Residence (Time Lapse)
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Drone footage of Prison works
Images of building works in progress
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We have an exciting vision to transform our Canterbury Campus, opening contemporary spaces for learning, teaching and research, while celebrating the city’s rich heritage.
Our £150m investment over the next 10 to 15 years will provide a campus for the 21st century which students, staff and the wider community can enjoy.
Carefully designed to complement the history of our campus location on a UNESCO World Heritage Site – built on the grounds of the ancient St Augustine’s Abbey and within sight of Canterbury Cathedral and St Martin’s Church – our new buildings and conversion plans connect the city’s historic sites.
£150mdevelopment
800,000 new Science, Engineering and Technology professionals needed by 2020 (Royal Academy of Engineering)
£10.5mCreative Industries contribute £10.5 million per hour to the UK Economy
Our new Creative Arts Building is the first development to open as part of our £150m plans, providing another vibrant, creative facility on our campus. Constantly evolving courses and the latest digital facilities will support and inspire the next generation of artistic professionals.
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Our new multi-million pound facility for Science, Engineering, Technology and Health opens in 2020. It will be home to the Kent and Medway Engineering, Design, Growth and Enterprise (EDGE) Hub, alongside new specialist health facilities which, when combined, will provide work ready graduates through innovations in Learning and Teaching across a wide range of industry focussed subjects at Christ Church.
The conversion of Canterbury’s 19th century prison is the final development in our 15-year plan. Our researchers and academics are exploring and preserving the history of the prison before this exciting transformation takes place.
Universities make a great impact on the UK economy, producing graduates with skills, ideas and talent, and research which is pioneering for the future.
They are also big businesses, generating billions of export earnings for the UK and employing hundreds of thousands of people across the country.
Christ Church contributes to this flourishing knowledge economy every year and is proud to make a difference regionally, nationally and internationally with courses and research that are relevant and responsive to today’s issues.
We directly support local businesses and tourism by bringing thousands of students and their families into the region, helping the South East remain vibrant.
Our development plans accelerate our contribution to the economy, with new courses and services across science, engineering, technology and the arts, providing the graduate skills needed to boost the regional economy.
Our new multi-million pound facility for Science, Engineering, Technology and Health opens in 2020. It will take advantage of our strong links with industry and employers to produce work ready engineering graduates who can make an active contribution to 21st century society. It will be home to the Kent and Medway Engineering, Design, Growth and Enterprise (EDGE) Hub.
We're constantly updating our courses and facilities to support and inspire the next generation of creative professionals. We work with employers to ensure our teaching is relevant and our graduates have the skills the booming UK Creative Industries require.
Our vision for a campus transformation has been shaped by the community and our strong links to the city and its past.
Thanks to public feedback during the design of our Estate Master Plan, we have an exciting vision to provide new open spaces and facilities for the local community that combine Canterbury’s rich heritage and confident future.
Built in the grounds of the ancient St Augustine’s Abbey, and within sight of the magnificent Canterbury Cathedral, our University is right in the centre of city life.
As a Church of England Foundation University we also have a unique connection with Canterbury Cathedral and the Archbishop of Canterbury as Chancellor of our University. Our Foundation inspires our values and mission, with a firm belief that education changes lives for the better.
Canterbury will be celebrating 30 years as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018.
We are privileged to be situated in this UNESCO World Heritage Site and, as one of only a small number of universities in the UK to enjoy this prestigious connection, we are proud of our location and place in this wonderful city.
Our future campus is helping to keep the city’s rich heritage and history alive, from the preservation of the abbey wall in the Arts Building to the recreation of the former Pilgrim’s Trail from St Martin’s Church.
In transforming our new campus, we are creating new open spaces for students, staff and the community to enjoy.
In our plans, the new spaces in which our buildings sit are as important as the buildings themselves. New outdoor spaces have been designed to unify our campus buildings and to help visitors navigate their way through the campus connecting two important WHS sites: Canterbury Cathedral and St Martin's Church.
At the heart of the extended site is the Abbey Square; a new public space framed by steps that double up as seating. The square will be an outdoor space in which people can eat, socialise, and interact, while taking in open views to St Martin’s Church in the east and St Augustine’s Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral in the west. The space will also be a perfect location for outdoor events in the summer.
We started to develop our plans in 2014 when architects BDP were commissioned to produce an estate strategy for the North Homes Campus. During the first phase, BDP visited all of our 185 buildings across the campus network and consulted University staff and students.
Communities and heritage organisations were critical in stage two, in helping to inform the design process. We held a number of public consultation events inviting comments and input into the final presentation to Canterbury City Council in late 2016.
Situated right next to our main North Holmes Road campus, the buildings that made up HM Prison Canterbury provided an excellent opportunity to expand and develop our main campus when they came up for sale in 2014.