Future

15 Building by building
Buildings are arranged generally according to their
contribution to the Universitys capacity (floor
area), biggest first. Each buildings floor area is

shown in the left hand column, and the percentage

of the total estate (including residences owned by
the University but excluding Oadby) shown in the
right hand column.
History and proposals are described as appropriate

University of Leicester Development Framework Plan 2008

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15 Building by building
Maurice Shock Medical Sciences Building (MSB)
Floor area: 19,000 m2 GIA

% of all excluding Oadby: 10.4

The MSB provides the most space of any single building in the Universitys estate. A deep
plan building built in 1977 and designed by W.F.Johnson and Partners (see Adrian Building).
The University considers that the buildings mechanical and electrical systems will require
major investment to avoid failure. Upgrading of some systems has been carried out during
2007 but is considered only a temporary measure. A feasibility study has been carried out
by Capita (2007, image below) investigating options for replacement or refurbishment.
Investment of some 100 - 112m is required to address the problems of the MSB through
either refurbishment and extension or a complete demolition followed by a new build. The
feasibility study concludes that on balance the new build option is favourable.

Proposals: The Development Framework Plan assumes that the University will proceed with the
option to develop and rebuild, and the footprint of the buildings we have shown in this area
generally follow the Capita proposals. The existing building would be demolished, possibly in a
phased programme combined with the new build.
The new building is proposed as two separate parts one of which adds a new tall building. A
major new pedestrian route will also be created through the middle of the site, connecting via a
new footbridge to the Adrian Building and beyond into the east side of the Central campus while
at ground level a section of University Road would be upgraded to a shared surface providing a
safe and pleasant environment for both foot and vehicular traffic, significantly reducing the
separating effect of University Road. This space, defined by an active ground floor frontage on
the new MSB and a better defined ground floor to the Adrian Building has the potential when
combined with the new tall building to create a fitting gateway into Central Campus.
There is also potential for the current back of house area between the MSB and the Hodgkin/
Henry Wellcome buildings to be developed as a Science Plaza creating a high quality external
hub for this quarter of the campus. An underground service area and parking for 200 cars could
be accommodated below the new development with access from Lancaster Road.

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15 Building by building
Floor area:

11,800 m2 GIA

% of all excluding Oadby:

Future

Adrian Building
6.5

Designed in 1967/70 by Courtauld Technical Services, which became W.F.Johnson &

Partners (its height contributing to Sir Leslie Martins resignation as masterplan architect in
1967), the Adrian Building accommodated research laboratories and ancillary space. The

University has carried out an extensive refurbishment (2004 to 2006) while the building has
been occupied, but this largely dealt with amalgamation of small laboratories into larger
generic laboratories (bringing some circulation space into laboratory use where possible),
and general improvements to the internal condition of rooms and essential repairs and
improvements to services.

We propose additional new space on the Peace Walk (north) side of the Adrian Building also, with
covered car parking and circulation below at the level of University Road (which is at least one
storey lower than the level of Peace Walk and the Park).
As part of this major programme of works to the Adrian Building it will be timely to address
outstanding services, infrastructure and maintenance issues, including window cleaning and
protection from solar gain and glare, where it has not been possible to date. The assumption

The refurbishment was not comprehensive however and significant elements of the building
fabric such as the windows - have not been dealt with and as a result the energy loss of
the building has not been improved, and the University has been unable to clean the
windows a relatively small issue in terms of the overall estate but a significant one in
terms of the experience of those using the building and their sense of well being.

behind these proposals is that the basic structure and envelope of the Adrian Building is likely to
have at least 50+ years life left, and forms a valuable resource which can be adapted in future to
better suit the Universitys requirements.

The Bennett / Adrian Link should be adapted to provide better access from the parking areas
below the extended building. The existing lecture theatre may need to be adapted/ relocated to
allow this, or the space could perhaps be converted to another use, such as research or

Proposals:

computer study area.

The Development Framework Plan creates a new pedestrian axis from Victoria Park in the

east to the Lancaster Road sites to the west - MSB, Hodgkin Building, Henry Wellcome

Building, Richard Attenborough Centre. The axis is intended to create a better link between
the current heart of the campus - the Fielding Johnson Building / Charles Wilson Building /
Percy Gee - and the more private buildings and spaces of the Lancaster Road site, where the
spaces between buildings are poor in quality and purely functional (car park, bottle storage)
and appearing rather as if left over after the buildings were designed, and ill-considered as

It may be possible to provide a pedestrian pathway directly off Peace Walk running north-south
which will make better use of an otherwise under-used lovely landscape resource, and complete
the north south axis running from Peace Walk right through to Freemens Common, but will

require further appraisal and detailed proposals to be discussed with English Heritage and the
Local Planning Authority given the listed status of the Memorial, and the protected status of its
setting and Peace Walk.

a result. The intention is also that the spaces between the Adrian / Bennett / Physics
buildings will work more efficiently and effectively as lively public areas if they are on a
route (rather than in a cul-de-sac), and thus new denser development here (for example
adjacent to the Park boundary) will be supported by higher quality outdoor space.
In order to achieve this a central atrium is proposed running up through the building, with a
two-storey opening cut through ground and first floors of the Adrian Building connecting
the centre of the campus with University Road. This will improve the entrance experience to
the campus and the building, will enable a better flow of pedestrian movement across to

the Medical Sciences Building and the buildings behind. The new atrium is combined with
additional development added on the University Road side of the Adrian Building, resulting
in a deeper plan building, suitable for large open plan laboratories. The new atrium will
provide opportunities for improved ventilation and daylighting, and additional light wells or
mini-atria could be considered in the centre of the resulting floor plates.
University of Leicester Development Framework Plan 2008

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15 Building by building
The Charles Wilson Building
Floor area:

10,260 m2 GIA

injection of funding late in the design process as a result of the post-Robbins expansion funded

% of 2007 all excluding Oadby: 5.6

Designed by Denys Lasdun (19142001) - he was appointed in 1961, and the building was
completed in 1967 - CWB is one of those buildings that people we have talked to at the
University feel passionate about one way or another. It seems it can be considered either
awful or wonderful in other words it is a memorable building with character and faults
which one can either rather admire or be continually irritated by. Certainly in the distant
view of the University from the east (much referred to elsewhere in this report) CWB plays
its full, distinctive part in creating a memorable identity for the University
Lasdun was appointed as the result of a competitive interview in March 1961 (Lyons Israel
Ellis and Peter Moro were also considered) and agreed to accept the commission at the
invitation of Charles Wilson as Principal of The University College of Leicester (who left at
Christmas 1961) although on the condition that he could start work on it in May of the
following year.
Lasdun was an important and highly regarded figure in 20C architecture British architecture,
and was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1977. His best known works include the
National Theatre in London, the University of East Anglia, the Royal College of Physicians off
Regents Park in London, and the Institute of Education in Bloomsbury in London all of

which are listed buildings. The Charles Wilson Building, strangely, is mentioned in passing
in biographies of Lasdun but otherwise not recorded in significant detail.
CWB occupies an important pivotal position in Leslie Martins Masterplan. Viewed on the
model (see History), when the clutter of the existing highway leading up from University

Road is removed, and the contours of the slope are emphasized, Martins vision of Mayor's
Walk, which ...would form a drive through the heart of the University Precinct... running up
to the Park and under a future building on piloti - in other words a prominent building at
the top of the hill with a transparent ground floor allowing views through to Victoria Park becomes evident, and it is also possible to see how well Lasdun (almost) responded to the

challenge. Unfortunately, in its current manifestation, there is no transparency to the park,

by the University Grants Committee. The lower six floors cost 550,000; the four additional,
much smaller floors, cost an extra 250,000. Again, the model (see History) shows how the
building may have been more convincing without the slim extra tower added to the horizontal
base.

Proposals: CWB has great potential, has great views and occupies a pivotal position on campus.
The building currently houses many social uses which arguably would be better placed at
ground level, and immediately accessible from the outdoors, in this and/or other buildings. Such
a relocation would reduce the pressure on the existing limited lift service and vertical circulation
and increase the liveliness of the Universitys squares and courtyards. On the park (east) side
there is an opportunity to improve the ground floor relationship with the park by extending to
the perimeter of the site, either removing or building over the existing service access road so
that pedestrian access takes precedence. On the arcade (east) side the building could present

more sympathetically to those approaching if the whole entrance to the University campus was
reconfigured.
Although the entrance area is a brave and heroic monumental gesture (presumably responding
to Martins original brief) members of the University have pointed out that the external arcade is
experienced as a windswept and unwelcoming place, which if it really functioned as a notable
public meeting place would have tables and chairs outside. Others, however, remember the
steps as an important gathering place for students. We have shown a proposal for improved
vertical circulation (a new lift core on the north face of the upper tower) and some ideas for
increasing the floor plate of the upper storeys.
We believe there is an opportunity here to make the Charles Wilson Building a more useful
resource and a better ambassador for the University, without losing its sculptural landmark
qualities when seen from a distance. However to achieve this it will be necessary to develop a
constructive dialogue with the local planning authority and other interested parties as the basis

for a future planning application, to establish that such change is possible and desirable. On the
page opposite we show some ideas of how the building could be adapted and extended which
could be further refined through a more detailed study.

the external steps, arcade and ground floor generally take up the field of vision as one
enters the campus from University Road, and any positive qualities of the building are easily
overlooked. The experience is compounded by the idiosyncratic planning of the ground and
first floor on multiple levels (although this is not untypical of buildings of this time, long
before a mainstream awareness of inclusive access) , and inadequate vertical circulation.

From the inside however the building offers wonderful views over Leicester in all directions,
and some potentially wonderful spaces. The building divides into a deep plan lower part
and a smaller upper tower presumed to be Lasduns pragmatic response to an additional
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15 Building by building

Note: ground floor shown at

different scale to typical upper
floors on next and following
pages)

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15 Building by building

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15 Building by building

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15 Building by building
The Percy Gee Building
Floor area:

8890 m2 GIA

version of the Percy Gee will allow students to enter at

% of all excluding Oadby: 4.9

Completed in 1958, and designed by T Shirley Worthington, who is said to have arranged
the construction of the building through a series of direct contracts with sub-contractors. It
was designed as the central social facility for the University and fulfilled this role until the
Charles Wilson Building was completed. The building, a three-sided U-shape on the upper
floors, is cut into the steep slope of the site, and as a result has many stepped level

changes, and for most visitors it is very hard to understand how it is laid out. It contains the
Queens Hall, a University auditorium reached via the foyer of the Students Union.
The 2002 Development Plan concluded that the Percy Gee building was an inadequate home
for the Students Union and the Union should be relocated, possibly to the Charles Wilson
Building.
Proposal: A subsequent feasibility study looked at relocation of the Union into a new
building at the heart of the campus, and then at how the Percy Gee Building could be
converted for other uses. It concluded that, provided the Percy Gee was converted and
extended in a certain way, and with an appropriate level of funds, it could actually be an
excellent home for the Students Union after all and in the right location.
The Students Union is one of the few building types where it is feasible to have more than

one entrance - in its current location, turning the slope of the site to advantage, an adapted

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University of Leicester Development Framework Plan 2008

a lower level off University Road (through a new more

attractive frontage), pass through the building
diagonally across a roofed courtyard and emerge from
the building onto the centre of the Campus (or vice-

versa). A mini-masterplan has been commissioned for

the building which will allow its conversion and
extension to take place in phases over coming years.

Future

15 Building by building

Above: Entrance 2 off University Road with Percy Gee on the right
Below: the Percy Gee in the centre, viewed from in front of the
Library, with entrance level two floors higher
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15 Building by building
Fielding Johnson Building
Floor area:

10,100 m2 GIA

Left: proposal for creating an atrium above the

current reception area in Fielding Johnson

% of all excluding Oadby: 5.5

Building:

Fielding Johnson Building, (so called since the 1960s) which currently houses administration and
the School of Law, was built in 1837 as part of the Leicestershire and Rutland County Lunatic
Asylum, on Occupation Road, (now University Road). The grounds of the asylum covered some
20 acres, and FJB was connected by a covered walkway to College House to the north, which was
built in 1872 to house the asylums Medical Superintendent. The patients were moved to a new
asylum in Narborough In 1908, and the asylum buildings remained unoccupied until August
1914, when it was requisitioned by the army for use as a field hospital for wounded soldiers in
the First World War. It became the 5th Northern General Hospital in 1915, and the army
evacuated the site in 1919. The building was home to most of the university's departments

teaching/learning and exhibition space in the

Bennett Building

before purpose-built accommodation was built and was renamed the Fielding Johnson Building

Below right: proposals for entrance area in the

in 1964. Two large additions at the rear were made to the original asylum plan in the 1950s,

Bennett Building which exhibit large format

designed by Pick Everard Keay and Gimson (PEKG) and Shirley Worthington of Thomas
Worthington. The former chapel was re-modelled by Trevor Dannatt to form the Council Room
and more recently fire doors and new joinery were designed by Douglas Smith. Fielding Johnson
is listed grade II. The south wing has been incorporated into the newly extended library creating
a pleasant covered arcade serving as the rear library entrance. Works are ongoing along the east
elevation of the building in conjunction with the Library.

Proposals: Fielding Johnson has proved a versatile and useful part of the Universitys estate
during its history. It is a listed building, but capable of further change in the future. The
University commissioned a feasibility study in 2004 to explore options for improving the sense
of arrival and welcome. This was partly implemented and could be revived in the future
(illustration right, top, shows a proposal for creating an atrium above the current reception
area.) The building seems to provide suitable accommodation for some departments (such as
Law) and the offices of central management and administration. The less satisfactory aspects of
the building (such as the entrance sequence for the Law Department and the Council Chamber,
which currently serves as multi-purpose teaching and meeting space) could be rectified by
relatively minor and inexpensive adaptation and refurbishment projects. The development plan
proposes that a section of the perimeter brick wall along University Road be opened up to
provide a visual link and presence for the Fielding Johnson building from outside the campus, in
such a way as to preserve the integrity of the existing boundary wall.
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Below: proposals for improving

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teaching material from the Geology and

Geography departments

Floor area:

9000 + 800 + 6800 m2 GIA

% of all excluding Oadby: 9.1

The Bennett building, the Bennett Link and the Physics Building are all really one structure
(built in 1961 and 1965 designed by Leslie Martin, probably with Colin St John Wilson
and/or Trevor Dannatt, probably with Castle Park Hook as executive architects) divided up
for use by different departments. The L-shaped building works with the two storey cubic

Rattray Building as part of a pinwheel plan, popular with Martin and his group at the time
(and used as a device again by Trevor Dannatt at College Hall in Knighton), providing good
well-proportioned public outdoor space on a split level. It is probably not an accident that
this part of the campus has suffered least from invasion by car-parking, accidental short

We have shown some indication of the opportunities that rebuilding could present ( see Key
Areas). It may be possible to retain the existing building and expand it by horizontal and vertical
extension. We recommend that this is investigated through a feasibility study. Since the
buildings original structure used high alumina cement concrete, and has subsequently required

Future

The Bennett, Bennett Link and Physics Buildings

15 Building by building

reinforcement with additional structure, rebuilding should be considered as part of an Options

Appraisal.
Because of the open space or the Park, and the Universitys open setting and ability to be seen

from a distance, and enjoy long views out, we have proposed two additional towers rising above

the remodelled Physics Building. Their shape, plan form and relationship to each other and other
buildings will need careful consideration and constructive dialogue with the Local Planning

term temporary buildings and unresolved left over spaces.

Together this L-shaped group provides over 17,000 m2 of space almost as much as the
MSB, and nearly 50% more than the Adrian Building, despite being only three storeys (and
being very low apparently single storey - when viewed from the park).
Arguably the building is a testament to the work of Martin and his colleagues at the time at
Cambridge University, when they investigated arrangements of dense low-rise buildings
and showed that they were much more effective at providing space than the high-rise
towers which were becoming town planning orthodoxy. Its interesting to note that, despite
the success of the work of Martin and his colleagues in proving the advantage of dense

low-rise planning, he encouraged the appointment by the University of later architects

Stirling and Gowan, Lasdun, and Arup Associates which resulted in towers, which were
generally much less efficient in providing useful space, and resulted in poor and
unfinished exterior space or public realm around them.
Proposals: Regrettably, and despite our comments above on the positive qualities of this
group of buildings, we conclude that the Universitys future needs would be best served by
the redevelopment of this corner of the site, albeit maintaining Martins principles in terms
of deep plan buildings which encloses and clearly defines public space. It is capable of

taking taller, deeper buildings which will have a better relationship with the park, and
provide much-needed space in future years close to the epicentre of University life. We
envisage that the layout of the new buildings should, however, follow Martins principles
with regard to their arrangement with the exception of their height and frontage onto the
park. Martins masterplan was conceived at a time when people considered universities of

3000 viable and 5000 a possible maximum. Many modern universities have populations of
10,000 to 20,000 and above. The elevation onto the Park no longer do justice to the
opportunity of the open space.

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15 Building by building
Henry Wellcome Building
Floor area:

10,200

% of 2007 all excluding Oadby:

Attenborough Tower + Attenborough Seminar Block

5.6

A relatively new building (2006), designed by Fairhursts Design Group, offering high quality
research laboratory space (and some dramatic and well-executed circulation spaces, such
as the staircase). The external spaces around the building and between it and the earlier

Hodgkin Building, also by Fairhursts, are however rather arbitrary, not well connected to the
rest of the campus and unlikely to be well used.

Floor area: 5600 + 2570 m2 GIA

% of all excluding Oadby: 4.5

Memorably described by Niklaus Pevsner as eighteen monotonous storeys, prickly with

window units angled out from top to bottom of the pre-cast concrete panels, a feature more
successful inside than out. No imposing internal spaces, just small rooms round a central
spine, the Attenborough nevertheless has become an important part of the Universitys
identity because of its role in the group seen from the east across the park. As at 2007, the

Proposals: none, for the building. However, the relationship of the external spaces around
the building to the circulation patterns of people moving around the University, and its

relationship at ground floor level with Welford Road Cemetery, should be improved. At the
moment these are very poor and have created left-over pockets of space which do not serve
the University well, or enhance the daily lives of those who work in this part of the campus.

University is carrying out a thorough overhaul of the external fabric including the prickly
windows, and the newly cleaned and much improved concrete surface of the upper storeys is
beginning to emerge from scaffolding.
The AT was designed by Arup Associates (presumably led by Sir Philip Dowson, awarded the
RIBA Gold Medal in 1981) and awarded a Civic Trust Award shortly after completion in 1972. It
was designed as the first of three towers (see History in an earlier section). Arup Associates own
publicity recorded the project thus:
The building is the first stage of an Arts teaching development. It has three elements related to the three
types of accommodation required. In the tower there are 270 tutorial rooms; 24 seminar rooms and an
archaeology laboratory are accommodated in the low building, linked to three lecture theatres below external
terraces. The tower is planned with three knobs of adaptable teaching space around a naturally ventilated
core, within which there is a single staircase, a ventilated lobby, acting as a fire break, a lift and a paternoster.
The in situ concrete frame of the tower was clad with precast concrete panels to which fully glazed aluminium
windows had been fixed prior to their arrival on site. The structure of the low building spans a proscenium
between a theatre workshop and a lecture theatre, with deep structural edge beams supported on widely
spaced columns. The projecting tower windows were designed to introduce cold winter air without draughts
through an adjustable grille in the projecting cill, and ample summer ventilation through sidelights opening
either side of a roller sun blind inside the front pane of the windows. Services areas are grouped at the base of
the tower. A boiler house serves half the University site, and there are remote ventilation plant rooms for the
lecture theatres. A light brown brick, existent elsewhere in the University, was used for terracing and ground
floor screen walls, with paved areas of brick and gravel. In situ concrete is smooth fairfaced and the precast
panels in the tower are white.

One of the destructive effects of the ATs design is its impact

on the external spaces around it: the lecture block to the

south creates a single storey lump in the landscape that uses

the space poorly and prevents more user friendly buildings
arguably leading to the short-term and rather misguided
construction of the Maths and Computer Science Building and
the more recent temporary Portacabin buildings at the heart
of the University.

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campus from the park is ill-considered, serves the University very badly and cannot continue in
its current form. Something that cannot be appreciated from photographs is the unacceptable
level of noise generated by the ATs plant room which has to be tolerated by pedestrians
coming into and out of the campus, and the increased wind effect around its base.

The David Wilson Library

Floor area:

14,950 m2 GIA

% of all excluding Oadby:

Future

On the south side the space around the base of the building adjacent to the entrance to the

15 Building by building

The Library has expanded and adapted the Library, completed 2008, with a new glazed northern
elevation facing onto what will become the principal University square, and a substantial

Proposals:

extension added to the south, realizing the full potential of the Library site as it was envisaged

On earlier pages (see 15: Key Areas) we show a proposal for creating a podium - a low-rise

building which retains the tower and most of the lower rise Attenborough blocks (those to be
demolished are shown dotted: three basement lecture theatres), but creates a low-rise (say

three or four storey) building wrapping around them to make much better use of the site, offer
flexible deep-plan floor plates suitable for all of the Universitys activities, and create clearly
defined external areas.

when the first phase, designed by Castle Park and Hook, was opened in 1974.
Proposals: the completion of the full Library project represents a major achievement by the
University, and when open the renewed building will considerably improve the quality of the

space in front of it. It is important that the design and completion of University Square should
follow on promptly, as a suitable setting for the Library and the Engineering Building, and to
provide a sense of place appropriate to one of the top twenty universities in the UK.

The main wall of the Attenborough Podium is conceived as a curving wall which follows the
natural line of pedestrians entering via Mayors Walk and connecting to Victoria Park via the
Library and the space in front of the Engineering Building, (coincidentally with some similarities
to The Curve, the new theatre building designed by Rafael Vinoly in the centre of Leicester).
We envisage that the Podium ground floor would be ideal for shops, cafes, restaurants and
space which has a frontage onto the new squares and generates activity. Upper floors could be
used for the whole range of University purposes (including the lecture theatre space lost
through demolition), and thus provides useful expansion accommodation for which a detailed
brief can be evolved when the time is right.

The 2002 plan illustrated a proposal for converting the tower to residences - an exception to
the general rule that academic and supporting space should take precedence on the Central
campus. As discussed in the earlier Student Experience section, we believe this idea still has

some merits but is unlikely to be viable or useful to the University for at least the next five
years and thus is taken no further here.

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15 Building by building
Hodgkin Building

The Engineering Building

Floor area (GIA sq.m): 6,570 m2 GIA % of all excluding Oadby: 3.6

Floor area:

Designed by Fairhursts Design Group and completed in 1993. A small foyer adaptation was

Listed Grade II* and probably the most famous of the Universitys buildings, and one of the most

carried out in 2005. The building comprises of regular rectangular plan over five storeys
and is linked via a fifth storey bridge to the MSB. The building houses parts of the Faculty of
Medicine & BioScience. While the scale of the building relates to both of its immediate
neighbours the spaces between these buildings is currently poor.

% of all excluding Oadby: 3.4

famous of the 20th century, able to attract international interest and perhaps more appreciated
in the abstract, or from a distance, than comfortable in use. The Engineering Building was

designed by James Stirling and James Gowan (Stirling and Gowan) assisted by Michael Wilford

(subsequently Stirlings partner). Stirling was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1980 and the main
annual UK architectural prize is named after him .

Proposals: None for the building, however the spaces and movement around the building
needs to be improved. The development plan proposes this is upgraded through the wider
project to replace the MSB.

6200 m2 GIA

The building has been reglazed since it was completed, arguably losing some of the qualities for
which it became famous. The University has commissioned a design team to look at options for
the building.
Proposals: none beyond the improvement and maintenance of the building in accordance with its
listed status, and the improvement of its setting (see below for its current relationship with the
park and adjacent car parking) through future landscape and public realm works as described
elsewhere in this report (see Key Areas and Landscape and the Space Between Buildings).

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George Porter Building
Floor area :

6,268m2

GIA

Astley Clarke Building

% of all excluding Oadby: 3.4

Floor area : 2,421 m2 GIA

% of all excluding Oadby: 1.3

The George Porter Building houses the department of Chemistry. Completed in 1961 it was

The Astley Clark Building was completed in 1951, designed by Pick Everard Keay & Gimson, won

designed by Architects Co-Partnership as part of the Lesley Martin masterplan.

an RIBA bronze medal and was the first significant new element of the campus developed

Proposals: The building has the potential to be extended towards University Road providing
increased accommodation and improving the campus frontage. This could be combined
with alterations to the existing building, if appropriate. The lower ground floor on the

following the establishment of the University. The building currently houses the School of
Economics.
Proposals: None apart from the planned maintenance and upkeep of the building.

southern elevation will be incorporated into the below ground car park associated with a
new Entrance Building also proposed in the development plan.

Computer Biocentre

Ken Edwards Building

Floor area : 4,925m2 GIA

Floor area: 1,854 m2 GIA

% of all excluding Oadby: 2.7

% of all excluding Oadby: 1.0

Built in 1985 and designed by Castle Park Hook Whitehead Stanway, the building occupies a

Designed by Castle Park Hook Stanway and completed in 1995 the building defines the

prominent site on the corner of University Road and Mayors Walk. Despite its location the

northern flank of the formal lawn and landscaped area opposite the Fielding Johnson and

building is only two storeys and well set back from the perimeter. While this approach may have

adjacent Astley Clark. The building houses the School of Management.

served its purpose well in the past the combination of low density and prominent location

Proposals: None to the building, however the internal layout relating to entrances should be

means this site has major potential and should be redeveloped.

Proposals: The demolition and replacement of the existing building will allow a new building

considered (see entrance study in section 6).

providing a significant increase in space allowing for the accommodation of the existing uses of
IT services and Biochemistry as well as other administrative and corporate functions. Along with

Michael Atiyah Building

Floor area : 2,578 m2 GIA

increased floor space, redevelopment would provide the opportunity to improve the main
entrance to the University and the campus.

% of all excluding Oadby: 1.4

Home of the Space Research Centre, the building was built in two phases from 1998. The

The Development Framework Plan shows a new reception building which better defines the

building is currently isolated from the remainder of the campus linked by a single path from

perimeter of University Road. The new building would bridge over Mayors Walk forming the main

the Engineering Building.

gateway into the campus. A new pick up / drop off point off University Road would be combined

Proposals: The development plans suggests the completion of the complex with a third
wing to the south of the existing building. This would serve to create a better defined
forecourt with the potential for a quality of entrance which the Centre deserves. The spaces
around the building require improvement, and there is potential for a tall sculpture - or

better still, rocket or other interesting object associated with space, as a new landmark at
the edge of the park. This should be combined with a well defined route linking back to the

with a suitable entrance foyer and lift to allow access for all to the upper levels of the campus
slope. The change in level between University Road and the top of Mayors Walk would suit a
raked lecture theatre (should it be required) and the roof provides level access into the heart of
the campus. The bridge over Mayors Walk has the potential of linking to an extension or
redevelopment of the Percy Gee Building and would provide wonderful vistas over the cemetery
and beyond for those facing out from the campus.

main campus to create a real sense of place in this corner of the University.
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Archaeology & Ancient History Building

Floor area : 1,789 m2 GIA

Proposals: The RAC organisation should move nearer to the centre of the campus in order that
it is better able to fulfil its mission as the cultural centre for the University. We suggest three

% of all excluding Oadby: 1.0

options for its relocation:

Completed in 1960 and designed by Architects Co-Partnership as part of the Lesley Martin
masterplan, the building was until 2003 used as the Chemistry Research Building. Following a
refurbishment it became home of the School of Archaeology and Ancient History.
Proposals: The scale of the existing building relates well to those currently adjacent to it.
However proposals for these adjacent buildings would support further development of the
Archaeology & Ancient History Building. The Development Framework Plan shows an additional
(third) storey with extensions to the north and east faces. This would respond to the taller
proposed reception building by maintaining the terracing effect of the buildings stepping down
the slope of Mayors Walk. The eastward extension in particular would also create a better
defined building line along the main circulation axis running towards the north west part of the
campus.

- a converted and improved Charles Wilson Building

Future

15 Building by building

- space in the New Attenborough Podium

- space in the new-build expansion of the Percy Gee Building.

The existing RAC building is relatively low-density compared to its adjacent University
neighbours and thus one option for this site, once the Richard Attenborough Centre has moved

to better-sited space elsewhere, is to replace the existing building with a taller, denser building
containing space for science related activities which have some synergy with the adjacent
University buildings. It is unfortunate that this is the logical proposal because the architecture
of the RAC building, by Ian Taylor/Bennetts Associates, is obviously the product of careful
thought of a quality not always in evidence in other buildings around the campus and, barely
ten years old, it is relatively young.

An alternative option, if denser development for science and research buildings does not
become inevitable, is to retain the building and adapt it for other uses, perhaps teaching, an
interpretative centre, a post-graduate centre, an alternative home for the activities currently at
Vaughan College (so that they are closer to the hub of University life), or some similar use

Mathematics & Computer Science Building

Floor area:

which would support the Universitys mission and at the same time play to the strengths of the

1,040 m2 GIA % of all excluding Oadby: 0.6

building.

Designed by Castle Park Hook Stanway, and completed in 1990, the building is arguably the
result of a short-term view of valuable space at the heart of the campus.
Proposals: as also proposed in the 2002 Development Plan, the building should be demolished
to enable a much better arrangement of internal and outdoor space to be created at the heart
of the campus.

1,070 m2 GIA

Floor area: 811m2 GIA

% of all excluding Oadby: 0.4

Forming the lower ground/basement sections of the Bennett and Physics Buildings the

Richard Attenborough Centre

Floor area:

Bennett-Physics Underpass

Underpass Building exploits the slope of the site to good effect. It houses several functions
including Estates offices and parts of the adjacent Physics and Archaeology & Ancient History

% of all excluding Oadby: 0.6

schools.

As the Universitys Arts Centre, the RAC as an organisation is one of the vital organs of the
cultural and social life of the University and a powerful means of drawing in interest, support

Proposals: In line with those already described for the Bennett and Physics Buildings.

and good opinion by attracting people from outside the University onto the campus. It is
located in one of the Universitys better recent buildings, which unfortunately is sited away

from the heart of campus life and adjacent to the Universitys most hermetic and introspective
buildings (MSB, Henry Wellcome and Hodgkin Buildings) and surrounded by poor quality
outdoor spaces on three sides.
University of Leicester Development Framework Plan 2008

135

Future

15 Building by building
R Block (Engineering)

The Rattray is a clever device, being a raked lecture theatre and therefore a building which can

Floor area (GIA sq.m): 768 % of all excluding Oadby: 0.4

University has added a glazed lift in the last five years in a way which is sensitive to the original

take advantage of the sloping site levels and have entrances at the upper and lower levels. The

The R Block or Engineering Annex was completed in 1880 and formed part of the Leicester &
Rutland Lunatic Asylum complex.

building. The lower level houses a cafe.

Proposals: The Rattray building will be retained. A new sister building is proposed adjacent,

Proposals: The existing building has merit owing to its historic nature and well proportioned
elevations. However this is to a large extent nullified by its current context between the Library
and Engineering buildings. The R Block has no presence beyond its immediate vicinity unlike its
almost identical sibling building which is under the ownership of the adjacent college and is
located off the main access road. Considering all of this along with the fact that the Engineering
department would be much better suited with a purpose built modern facility the development
plan proposes the replacement of the R Block and adjacent Concrete Laboratory with a new
building. This would serve to better use the existing site and potentially provide much needed
high quality teaching, research and laboratory space.

reflecting the section of the original building along an east-west access, and providing the
opportunity for an additional raked lecture theatre, illustrated in the earlier Key Areas section.
If a raked theatre is not required, the new building, a cube of similar volume to the Rattray,

could be designed for teaching /learning/ meeting space, given its location at the centre of the
northern science half of the campus.
The two lower squares on either side of the Rattray, at the level of the main entrance of the
Adrian Building, are in our view not as successful as they should be. There is a significant

population working and passing through this part of the campus, and yet the square with the
grand staircase is not in line with one of the pedestrian routes in from University Road (between
George Porter and the Adrian Building). The Development Framework Plan proposes that this
staircase should be moved from the northern to the southern of these two squares.

Rattray Lecture Theatre

Floor area:

750 m2 GIA

% of all excluding Oadby:

0.4

The Rattray Building was the pivotal building in Leslie Martins 1957 masterplan for the northern
end of the campus. The plan is arranged in the form of a pinwheel, with the Rattray at the

centre, and the perimeter buildings arranged orthogonally around it, a device used in other
projects by Martin in Cambridge and in College Hall (also a University building, in Knighton, now
being redeveloped as housing) by Trevor Dannatt, an associate of Martins at that time.
Below: College House

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University of Leicester Development Framework Plan 2008

Floor area:

455 m2 GIA

% of all excluding Oadby: 0.2

Floor area: 222m2 GIA

% of all excluding Oadby: 0.1

Built in 1872 as the home of the Medical Superintendent of the asylum (Fielding Johnson

Proposals: Replacement, in line with those already discussed for the R Block Engineering.

Building), College House became the home of the first Principal of the University College, Dr

Opportunities to reuse and incorporate the existing solar PV array on any replacement building

Rattray, and subsequently the second Principal, Frederick Attenborough, from 1931 to 1951,

should be explored.

whose famous sons, Lord Richard and Sir David lived in College House when they were boys

Future

Concrete Laboratory

College House

15 Building by building

(along with their younger brother, John) from the ages of eight (Richard) and five (David). The

building is more notable for these inhabitants than for its architecture - original fittings have
been replaced although the main staircase remains relatively intact. The first floor was made
into offices in 1995 with a Careers Information Room on the ground floor. In order to
accommodate these changes various walls were demolished and new ones built. Previous

Telephone Exchange
Floor area: 156m2 GIA

% of all excluding Oadby: 0.1

functions include a women's students' hostel, Student Health Centre, the University Chaplaincy,

Proposals: the building (below) is ill-conceived both in terms of scale and design given its

Initiative. It now houses the University Careers Service and the Student Learning Centre, part of

Universitys David Wilson Library, and the potential here for improved landscape (incorporating

Department of American Studies, Department of Urban History, and Enterprise Learning

the Student Support and Development Service (SSDS), with around thirty members of staff, and
about 30,000 visitors per year. The building as currently configured does not serve the
Universitys purposes particularly well, and the SSDS would be better integrated with, or at least

location adjacent to the south facade of a Grade II Listed building, and adjacent to the
car parking) which takes away the existing clutter associated with the Universitys Entrance 1,

shared with the adjacent College. The building should be demolished and the current functions
incorporated elsewhere on the campus.

sited closer to, the Library and the Students Union, at the heart of campus life with a welcoming
front door.

Security Lodge

The experience of the building is not helped at all by the ad-hoc development that has grown
up around it since the 1950s. College House has been particularly badly served by the recent
siting of the two-storey Maths and Computer Science Building (by Castle Park Hook Stanway,
completed 1990, described by Nicholas Ray as ...a clear example of the effect of having no
coherent master plan... and Portacabin buildings (circa 2002) to the west, and by the
arrangement of the ground floor parts of the Attenborough Tower development, and the use of

Floor area: 190m2 GIA % of all excluding Oadby: 0.1

Built as part of the asylum complex and formally known as Norman House, a small building
occupying a south west corner site adjacent FJB.
Proposals: none.

the surrounding area as a car park.

Proposals: Although interesting because of the people who have lived there, the building does
not have sufficient architectural distinction to justify its retention. It occupies a very important
strategic location between the Engineering Building and the Attenborough Tower along one
dimension, and Victoria Park and the central heart space of the University along another. As
with the 2002 Development Plan, this Development Framework Plan considers it essential that
College House is removed so that a much better relationship between the central university

square and the Park can be achieved. We understand that the University has received written
confirmation from Richard and David Attenborough that they consider that College House
should not stand in the way of this objective.

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137

Future
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University of Leicester Development Framework Plan 2008