About the building
The Central Teaching Laboratories will be a purpose-designed building for practical science, health and related teaching, located opposite the Information Commons in the heart of campus.
The new facility will bring flexible teaching laboratories, collaborative learning spaces and technical support areas together in one modern building. It is being designed to support large-scale practical teaching, while giving students and staff spaces that are easier to use, more consistent and better suited to future ways of learning.
The building will sit within a busy and important part of campus, so its design will need to work carefully with the surrounding streets, buildings and public spaces. As the project develops, we will share more detail on the design, layout, entrances, materials, landscaping and how people will move around the site.
Sustainability is central to the project. The new building will help reduce reliance on older, less efficient spaces and will be designed with long-term energy use, adaptability, accessibility and responsible construction in mind.
Where the building will be
The new building will be located on the site opposite the Information Commons, close to Hounsfield Road, Leavygreave Road and Upper Hanover Street. It will face the University tram stop and provide a new 'front door' for people arriving at the University by tram.
This is a central and highly visible part of campus, close to existing teaching, study and support spaces. Locating the building here will help make practical teaching easier to access and better connected to the wider student experience.
The site currently includes disused University-owned buildings on Hounsfield Road, which will be demolished, and areas used for parking and servicing. Site preparation work is needed to clear the area and create the space required for the new teaching facility.
What the building will include
The Central Teaching Laboratories will be a purpose-designed practical teaching facility. It will include:
- flexible teaching laboratories for science, health and related subjects
- collaborative teaching and learning spaces
- preparation, storage and support areas for technical teams
- space for specialist equipment and shared resources
- circulation, arrival and support spaces designed for large groups of students moving through practical sessions
The exact internal layout will continue to be developed with academic, technical, timetabling, IT and estates colleagues as the project progresses.
Central Teaching Laboratories floorplans
Internal Layouts of the Central Teaching Laboratories
Designed for modern practical teaching
The building is being designed to support the way practical teaching now works across science and health subjects.
Rather than adapting older spaces with existing constraints, the new facility gives the University the opportunity to design laboratories around current and future teaching needs. This includes more flexible layouts, better support for group and collaborative work, and spaces that can adapt as programmes, technologies and methods change.
Sustainability, decarbonisation and efficient use of space
Laboratories are among the most energy and resource-intensive spaces on campus, so sustainability has been built into the project from the outset.
The new building will support the University’s wider Campus Decarbonisation Plan, which focuses on reducing fossil fuel use, decarbonising heating and moving towards lower-carbon, more efficient buildings. Heating for the Central Teaching Laboratories will be provided by air source heat pumps rather than gas boilers, making the building virtually fossil fuel free in normal operation. The only planned use of fossil fuels in the building will be for Bunsen burners where they are needed for practical teaching.
The teaching laboratories are being designed to use significantly less carbon in operation than the older spaces they replace, helping to reduce running costs and support the University’s long-term net zero ambitions.
The project will also help us use specialist teaching space more efficiently. Rather than practical teaching being spread across multiple older laboratories, the new facility will bring activity together in flexible spaces that can be timetabled and used consistently throughout the teaching week. This means high-quality laboratory space, specialist equipment and technical support can be used more intensively, rather than sitting underused for parts of the week.
This more efficient approach supports the wider Future Campus ambition to create a smaller, better-used and more sustainable estate. It also aligns with the University’s approach to responsible development, including reducing energy use, considering whole-life carbon, reusing materials where possible and designing spaces that can adapt over time.
Public realm, landscape and trees
The building will sit within an important part of campus, so the design needs to consider how it connects with surrounding streets, buildings and outdoor spaces.
As the project develops, we will share more detail about entrances, routes around the site, landscaping, biodiversity, planting and how the building will contribute to the surrounding public realm.
Some trees will unfortunately need to be removed to make way for the new building and associated works. We know how much staff, students and local people value mature trees and green spaces on campus, so this has been carefully considered as part of the project. In line with the University’s tree replacement policy, any trees removed will be replaced on a two-for-one basis in the local area. We will also look for opportunities to improve planting, biodiversity and the quality of outdoor spaces around the new building as part of the wider landscape design.
