Located on Gordon Street in the heart of UCL’s prestigious central campus, the aim of the new student centre is to offer a mix of learning spaces, creating different types of individual study and group collaboration settings, as well as more social learning environments. The Student Centre opened in February 2019 and operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every single day of the year. It provides a number of essential facilities for students at UCL, including 1,000 study spaces, a café, group study rooms, quiet study rooms, a meditation room, a prayer room, a student enquiries centre and access to the new Japanese garden.

The centre will be a benchmark of excellence for all future UCL development projects. The high-quality design is responsive to change with flexible spaces and integrated technology, and has been designed to utilise the latest sustainable technologies. The building will be a flagship for sustainability at the university, executing the highest possible levels of environmental performance, going well beyond regulatory and planning requirements it is currently on track to attain the highest possible BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ certification, a significant achievement matched by only a handful of buildings in the UK.

The scheme will also provide a new Japanese Garden located behind the Student Centre and on the roof of the Advanced Centre for Biochemical Engineering. The aim of this Japanese Garden is to contribute to enhancing the ecological value of the Bloomsbury Campus.

Iceni’s Transport Team advised UCL on transport matters producing a Transport Statement, Travel Plan and Delivery and Servicing Management Plan to support the application which involved extensive consultation with the Local Authority. The proposals also included the relocation of the existing zebra crossing on Gordon Street in order to improve the pedestrian environment surrounding the New Student Centre and within the main campus area.

The building also creates a new, accessible east-west connection across UCL’s open and engaging campus between Gordon Street and Gower Street, including the communal spaces such as the Wilkins Terrace and Lower Refectory, which opened in 2018. Throughout the development of UCL’s Masterplan, Iceni Projects have developed close working relationships with officers at the London Borough of Camden.

This great relationship ensures that the development team can put forward a scheme that not only benefits UCL, but through discussions and consultations also benefits the wider community.