UNIVERSITY chiefs have unveiled a £22.5m plan for their Huddersfield campus – and run into a planning storm.
The proposals to build a new learning and leisure centre have been condemned by Huddersfield Civic Society.
They label the existing University Sports Hall at Shorehead as “one of the worst buildings in Huddersfield” but insist the planned replacement is worse.
“We are faced with a monstrous development that insults us and its setting,” said Civic Society chairman Chris Marsden.
They claim that its proposed outer shell of aluminum mesh will be totally wrong for such a prominent site.
But Prof Peter Slee, the university’s Deputy Vice Chancellor, said it was an exciting design for a centre with superb facilities that would attract more students to town and help the local economy.
The new proposals have been described by the university as the most complex building project yet, resulting in massive improvements to sports, leisure, learning and catering facilities.
The learning and leisure centre, on some 7,000 square metres, will be adjacent to Wakefield Road – opposite the Sainsbury’s supermarket – that is currently mostly occupied by a staff car park.
New parking facilities have been developed at nearby Firth Street.
Work begins this summer with the demolition of the existing Shorehead building and after six phases of construction, designed to minimise disruption to university life, it will conclude in the spring of 2014.
The historic Brunswick Building will stay but the sports hall will go in 2014.
“For its size and complexity, this will be the largest and most complex project we have tackled on the campus,” said the University’s Deputy Director of Estates and Facilities, Alan Johnson, who will be project manager.
The new centre will stand on stilts and have four levels. The lowest will be the new sports hall, with a much greater range of facilities than the present building, including an eight-court hall, squash courts and fitness studios.
The next floor will have more than 1,000 square metres of social, catering and learning space with links through to the existing library. The new catering area will be much larger and more flexible than existing facilities. There will also be a new and expanded student services centre.
But Mr Marsden said: “The existing university sports hall at Shorehead has long been recognised as one of the worst buildings in the town on one of the most important sites and redevelopment has been eagerly anticipated.
“A proposal to build a learning and leisure centre on the site ought to be welcomed, but the proposed building is no improvement – in fact it is much worse.
“Its massing and several elevations are considered by society members to be clumsy, brutal, ignorant and contemptuous. There has been no offer of pre-application consultation with the community of the civic society.
“Instead we a faced with a monstrous development that insults us and its setting.
“It is important that we all oppose this application. The design and siting of the Kirklees College was opposed by Huddersfield Civic Society and councillors supported our observations but at the crunch the planning committee was bullied into approving it. We must ensure that this does not happen here.”
Prof Slee said: “The Civic Society is entitled to its views and they do a good job for the town.
“The current sports centre is totally unsuitable and it is important we get a facility that benefits students, staff and the community.
“We disagree with some of the phrases the Civic Society have used. The design is a matter of personal taste.
“The mesh skin is designed so it can be backlit in a range of lights and colour at different times.
“Universities are facing great challenges in these tough economic times and what we are proposing is unique and something we hope will attract more students to Huddersfield in the future.”
