ESTHER SIMPSON BUILDING : UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

Sectors : Learning

Client : University of Leeds

Plans for a new multi-million teaching facility at the University of Leeds were unanimously approved at a vote of Leeds City Plans Panel. The new building is primarily occupied by Leeds University Business School, and is the third phase in an ongoing multi-million pound investment to support their expansion and provide world class facilities to students of business, economics and law.

Accommodation includes specialist trading rooms, behavior labs, collaborative teaching spaces and 2 large auditoriums, as well as generous breakout spaces and a new café at ground floor level.

Located on Lyddon Terrace adjacent to a row of listed terrace properties, the building sits within an extensive new landscape scheme, the aim of which is to create a sequential journey, stitching the new teaching block into the wider public realm and reinforcing the connections between the University’s central core and Western Campus.

Care has been taken to respect both the character of the conservation area and the retained mature trees, with design quality and the integration of the building with the landscape forming a key part of the schemes success.