Welcome
When a university makes changes on its campus, it is always going to stir up memories. But what about when those changes involve a building that has played a key role in university life for more than four decades? Since the 1970s, the Babbage Building has been a landmark for staff, students and the community. Tens of thousands of alumni have passed through its doors, navigated its corridors, and spent long hours using its facilities as deadlines approached.
In some senses, much of that will continue. But the facilities within its extended walls are now of a different calibre. For many of you reading this, I’m sure that the Babbage of yesteryear holds a special place in your heart, in whatever guise you experienced it. But the next time you are near Plymouth, I would encourage you to come and see the building so you can appreciate how it is enabling future engineers and designers to understand and perfect their craft.
The reimagining of Babbage is not the only major project to have been completed during the past year. InterCity Place, formerly the 1960s railway building which has dominated any arrival at Plymouth Station, is now refurbished and revitalised as part of our campus – and being used to train the next generation of healthcare professionals. Work has also started on the transformation of the Fitzroy Building, which will become the new home for the Plymouth Business School, and the demolition of the very old Brunel Laboratories is about to commence, opening up the opportunity for a new park in the centre of campus.
These projects represent something of a cultural shift for the University. They extend our commitment to sustainability, and by creating new from old we have saved sizeable quantities of building waste being sent to landfill. We have included low carbon technologies, which will reduce the energy use and serve as an example to the whole community of what can be achieved through innovation, collaboration and endeavour.
You can read more about the University and its successes in this edition, and this will actually be the last Invenite that I welcome you to with my time as Vice-Chancellor set to conclude in September. It has been a real pleasure to meet so many of you over the past eight years, and to hear about your memories of the University and the successes you have achieved since.
Please do keep sharing your stories with us, and I hope to meet many more of you over the coming months and beyond.
