Uni seeks go ahead for key stage of new campus at Bognor

The University of Chichester is seeking permission to build a learning resource centre at the site along Upper Bognor Road.

Arun District Council needs to back the proposals for the

two-storey building before work can begin.

University bosses hope it will be open for September 2011.

The centre is a key part of the university's intention to increase activity on the campus to benefit an increased number of students and the town.

A statement with the planning application says: "The learning resource centre will be a one-stop shop on the Bognor campus.

"The building will bring together library, IT support and student support services all under one roof.

"A variety of different types of learning space will encourage social learning, and group and quiet study in a range of study settings.

"The building will house 1,425 linear metres of books, 206 study spaces, including one 25-person IT teaching room and an interconnected open access IT space for 25 students."

The proposed centre forms part of the 14.5m first phase of works at the campus. It is intended to be a light and airy building with

first-class eco-credentials.

It will be built, if permission is given, on the northern edge of the campus on 2,076sq m of hardstanding formerly used for tennis courts which dates from the 1930s.

An open green space will be created to the south by the demolition of the science block which has been known to exist since a 1912 map.

An application for a conservation area consent to allow the demolition to go ahead has also been made to the council.

Part of the ground floor of a neighbouring building, which

will be linked to the centre, will also be refurbished within the proposals.

The university expects to expand student numbers on the campus by 250 in the next five years on top of the existing 1,000 students.

Planning permission and listed building consent has just been granted by Arun for the internal refurbishment of the campus's prime historic building, The Dome, and the construction of an external access lift.

The Dome is a Grade I listed building in recognition of its status as one of the first buildings in Bognor built by the modern town's founder, Sir Richard Hotham, in the early 1790s.

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