Wrexham Glyndwr University appoints Cassidy + Ashton as consultants on £70m campus project
Cassidy + Ashton’s Chester team has been appointed by Wrexham Glyndwr University as planning consultants working alongside the university on major projects to improve student facilities.
The team will provide professional town planning consultancy services as part of the university’s £70m Campus 2025 strategy.
Campus 2025 aims to enhance the university’s main campuses and improve and expand onsite live-in accommodation to ensure students have the best facilities and learning environment.
It also includes an ongoing schedule of works over several years including an overhaul of teaching spaces and a new engineering building.
Cassidy + Ashton’s role will involve providing strategic advice on the university’s future plans as well as the submission, administration and processing of existing planning applications and managing the university’s portfolio of applications that have been approved and progressed.
Wrexham Glyndwr University Executive Director of Operations, Lynda Powell, said: “We are delighted to team up with our new planning consultants Cassidy + Ashton.
“Their knowledge and experience will be vital in helping us drive forward our Campus 2025 strategy. These are very exciting times for the university, our partners in the Gateway Project and Wrexham as a whole.”
Campus 2025 also includes a £5m investment to develop Colliers Park National Football Development Centre providing first-class training facilities for young players and the wider football network in North Wales.
Longer-term plans include creating a gateway building at the heart of the university’s Plas Coch campus which will become the main entrance to the university and house a new student union. Improved pedestrian access around the campus and the refurbishment of older, listed buildings are also earmarked for the future.
Guy Evans, Director and Chartered Town Planner with Cassidy + Ashton, said: “We are privileged to have been selected to work with such a well-respected organisation and look forward to using our extensive experience of working with other universities and colleges across the North West in helping Glyndwr University fulfil its ambition to offer a world class student experience in North Wales.
“As part of our role, having expertise in heritage and listed buildings, we will help to ensure historical buildings on the university campus are suitably maintained. Equally, as town planning and environmental specialists we also aim to ensure any new builds planned meet net zero targets and improve sustainability, as well as enhancing the wellbeing of the students that will use them.”
Wrexham Glyndwr University has been delivering education at its main Wrexham campus since 1887, when it was known as the Wrexham School of Science and Art and started offering degrees in 1924.
It merged with the three main colleges in the region, resulting in the North East Wales Institute of Higher Education (NEWI) – one of the largest colleges of its kind in Britain with over 9,000 students. In 2008, NEWI gained university status and became Wrexham Glyndwr University.
Campus 2025 will not only result in a better academic delivery and a sustained and increased student population, it will also benefit the wider community. Linking with the region’s Wrexham Gateway Project, the university aspires to become the ‘learning gateway’ into Wrexham.
