Recycled. Re-engineered. Reimagined.
How two 20th century buildings have been transformed into new homes for engineering, design and healthcare
The sugar cube exterior. The haunting ‘bingbong’ of the lift. The changing technologies of the computers. The late-night revision sessions. Ask a group of graduates for their memories of the
Babbage Building
, and all manner of things come to mind. For some, it’s the place where study successes were achieved. Others made lifelong friendships. Relationships, which became marriages, were fostered.
The nature of those memories may be replicated in years to come. The place where they will be created is now very different. Over the past couple of years, what opened in 1979 as the General Teaching Block has undergone a complete transformation. In late 2023, following an investment of £63 million, the doors reopened. Engineering and design students and staff now call the Babbage Building home.
Memories are being made within its walls once more. An
official opening
, with HRH the Duke of Gloucester as the guest of honour, took place in late March. But the future of Babbage could all have been very different. “The story of the Babbage refurbishment is a relatively long one,” says the (now former) Vice-Chancellor,
Professor Dame Judith Petts DBE
. “Our first discussions were around whether to demolish the old building and start again. Rebuilding and extending was found to be a far more preferable option. Look at it today, and I think we can all agree it was the right decision.”
For those more used to the old Babbage, it may take a while to get your bearings. It still stands on James Street, it’s still next to the
Marine Building
, and the main structural frame of the old Babbage has been retained. Look closely when you’re inside, and if you’re lucky you might just catch a glimpse of it. But there are new entrances, a completely new design concept, and a sizeable extension to the side and back.
From 1979
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to 2023
From day one, we wanted a building that was going to be functional but would stand out. The new Babbage does all of that. It makes a real statement to the thousands of people who see it each day as they drive around North Cross. It also reflects that it is going to be used by future generations of engineers and designers – our hope is that it educates, and then inspires their practice.
Mr Trevor Wills
Director of Estates & Facilities
Gone are the steps from James Street to the somewhat dated automatic doors. Gone are the seats and bike racks where students and staff used to gather at the start and end of lectures and seminars. In their place are modern facades of brick and metal, interspersed with windows that offer clear views of the cutting-edge technology inside. Accessible ramps, planted beds, renewable technologies – the list goes on.
Inside, the transformation is equally as striking. Stand where there was once a reception desk and you will be under a triple-height ceiling. Signs on the walls – for a variety of suites, theatres and labs – provide a glimpse of the new spaces. An impressive timber staircase and new lifts transport people between totally reimagined floors. A roof terrace offers striking views across the campus at sunrise on one side, and across the city at sunset on the other.
The transformation is rooted in far more than just the desire for a new building. It is a continuation of the University’s
sustainability agenda
. Retaining the original building has saved the equivalent of nearly 2,000 one-way flights from London to New York in terms of embodied carbon. Thousands of tonnes of building waste have been saved from going to landfill. The heat generated by some of the new equipment will be used to heat the building’s water. Solar panels on the roof of the new extension will generate electricity (and students will be able to see precisely how much through readouts installed in one of the labs inside).
“This is a place designed to excite current and future students and staff, as well as our many partners and visitors,” Trevor adds. “It is reimagined engineering on a big scale.”
“And this is our new wind tunnel.”
They may be commonplace in sectors such as motor racing or aerospace engineering. However, this one will subject student and staff designs to wind speeds in excess of 110mph. “We’ve had places off campus to test prototypes before,” says Tony, Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering. “But this is a huge step forward. It’s amazing to have something like this on campus.”
The new labs within Babbage will see students learning about the principles of engineering and design in the new
STEAM Laboratories
. They will apply what they have learned using computer aided design (CAD) software in the Engineering Computing Lab. They can build what they have designed using the 3D printers in the DigiFab Lab. And they can then test those products in the Energy and Sustainability Lab, or the Heavy Structures Lab, or the Autonomous Systems Lab.
This circular approach to learning is supported by technology – or several pieces of technology – provided by companies at the pinnacle of engineering and design. Haas Engineering, renowned for its diverse ventures including the operation of an F1 team, is a key player in our programme. The equipment readily available to students, sourced primarily from Gunt Technology, ensures a comprehensive learning experience from the onset. Among these resources are cutting-edge 3D printers provided by Stratasys, a prominent digital manufacturer in the UK.
Across the corridor in the new design labs, the story is the same. Moving workshops from Brunel to Babbage has been, says School Technical Manager
Rich Wood
, a once-in-a lifetime opportunity. As a result, traditional and 21st-century technologies sit alongside each other. An English wheel, used to manufacture armour for centuries, sits within a stone’s throw of laser cutters, a vertical panel saw, and many other pieces that are new to the University.
“This is a refresh of the whole concept of making,” Rich says. “The combined facilities and collaborative approaches in fabrication are making the facilities second to none, spaces that are truly world class. We are giving students experience of what they will find in the workplace, based on our experience of what industry is asking for.”
However, he adds, staff didn’t want to lose sight of traditional methods. “A deeper understanding of wisdom in craft develops when you include the extra range of modern and innovative technologies,” Rich says. “That will be key for our students to develop their practice.”
Walking around the building, the amount of glass within it is striking. But that, once again, is very deliberate. It means design students can see what engineering students are doing, and vice versa. It means anyone entering the space can get a glimpse of the innovative work happening in the building. They can also start to gain an appreciation of the impact it might have in the real world.
The new Babbage has been specifically designed to bring disciplines together. Those taking science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics subjects will work together in the future. We are supporting their academic collaborations and innovation from day one.
Professor Dame Judith Petts DBE
Emeritus Professor
Relive the memories
I graduated (the first time) in 1989 and sat all my finals in Babbage – I met my best friend in a lecture theatre. It was known as the GTB in those days with a weird exterior. We had our end-ofcourse photo taken on the grass outside (built on now!). I remember the ancillary courses we had to take in the building. The BBC Basic computer programming room and the language lab. Happy hours spent supposed to be honing my French but actually a regular opportunity for a hungover snooze with headphones to warm my ears. When I returned to retrain decades later, my memories from my original undergraduate days flooded back when we had lectures in the building.
Joanna Dixon, BSc (Hons) Environmental Science, graduated 1989, BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy, graduated 2020
I remember being a student making use of the Atari ST computer lab, downloading files using ‘Kermit’. Most of all, I remember eating in the restaurant on the top floor. The view was great, and the food was cheap. There was also a large printer in the basement which was quite a novelty. Students used to send batch prints and collect from the little office.
Nicholas Outram BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering, graduated 1992
I remember going there to print out my dissertation the morning it was due, queueing at 7.30 to make sure I got a computer when it opened. Why did I leave it so late?!
Helen Taylor BSc (Hons) Environmental Science, graduated 1993
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The Babbage Building was the first building I came to at Plymouth, as a nervous 21-year-old ‘mature’ student in 1993. I remember the stories of how it was designed to look like a computer punch card. I also remember seeing it looking like a giant sugar cube when I returned from my placement year in 1996, following its transformation. Without that building and the staff from MediaLab Arts, I would never have been as inspired as I felt at the time. I have many fond memories of the building and will treasure them.
Darren Rhodes (centre) BSc (Hons) MediaLab Arts, graduated 1997
I met the love of my life right outside the Babbage Building! In the beginning of the semester, the word came around that there was another Greek on my course. After our lecture, I stood outside Babbage, on a bench, waiting to meet her – and that was it! One month later she was my girlfriend. Seven years later, we got married and we are still going strong almost 23 years later. We‘re living a wonderful life together with our two wonderful kids. I've still kept all of our email exchanges from back then. Maybe some were sent from Babbage terminals. We visit Plymouth every two to three years. We are actually planning to come to Plymouth this summer so our kids get to see where it all started!
Alkiviadis Boufis BSc (Hons) International Relations with Politics, graduated 2004
Myself and friends, Josh and Rachael (now Mr and Mrs) would use the top floor of Babbage for late night and weekend revision sessions. Much fun was had listening to the haunting bing-bong of the lift arriving, enjoying cheap student-priced drinks from the cafes, and occasionally getting some work done as well!
Callum Mullet Nice MGeol (Hons) Geology, graduated 2019
InterCity Place may not tug at the heartstrings in the same way as Babbage. But anyone who has caught the train into Plymouth since the early 1960s, or travelled past the railway station on any mode of transport for that matter, cannot fail to have noticed it.
Its regeneration has been a long-held vision for the whole city. But the rise from derelict piece of railway infrastructure to state-of-the-art health education facility has been nothing short of meteoric.
When TV host and national treasure
Angela Rippon CBE opened the building
in November 2023, just days after being voted off Strictly Come Dancing, she described it as “one of the finest healthcare training centres in the country”. Putting aside what some reading this might see as an obvious bias, a look around the building suggests she’s not wrong.
A £33 million investment has created an iconic
new home for our School of Nursing and Midwifery and School of Health Professions
. The days of training in classrooms and labs all over the city are a thing of the past. In their place are spaces where students who will spend their careers working alongside each other – from podiatrists and paramedics to midwives and mental health nurses – are learning side by side from day one.
“This is a project that has been eight years in the making. The results, however, are stunning – a landmark building which offers so many opportunities for training our next cadre of health professionals. And we all know they have never been in greater demand,” says
Professor Judith Petts CBE
, Former Vice-Chancellor.
