Experts brought in to steer Blackpool's £65m new student campus as council starts buying up homes

The council has begun buying up properties needed for the £65m multiversity and is assembling a team of experts to take the ambitious scheme through from design phases to final construction.

Town centre properties bounded to the north by George Street, to the east by Grosvenor Street, to the south by Milbourne Street and to the west by Cookson Street are earmarked for demolition to make way for the campus.

Documents reveal the council has already negotiated deals to acquire property in Cookson Street, Milbourne Street, George Street and Charles Street to enable redevelopment.

Purchase prices has been kept under wraps, but Town Deal funding of £9m has been allocated towards assembling the site.

Meanwhile the council has also made a number of key appointments to bring in the expertise necessary to take the project forward.

In recent weeks Civic Engineers Limited (Manchester) has been approved to provide structural and civil engineering consultancy services, and Avison Young (UK) Limited (Birmingham) has been chosen as the planning consultant.

CBRE Ltd has been appointed as the project manager and cost consultant, and Hawkins Brown Ltd as architect and lead designer.

All the contracts will remain in place for the duration of the multiversity campus project, until completion of the construction works.

A council report says: “As part of the council’s Growth and Prosperity programme, the council working in partnership with Blackpool and the Fylde College, will commission a a multidisciplinary consultant team to support the design and construction of a multiversity campus adjacent to the Talbot Gateway Central Business District on the edge of Blackpool town centre.”

As well as the Town Deal funding, the multiversity has received £40m from the Government’s Levelling Up fund.

Residents who attended a public meeting in March expressed concerns about having to relocate, with the council saying it would hold individual negotiations and give people “as much time as reasonably possible to resolve their individual circumstances.”

The proposals would see Blackpool and the Fylde College relocate the University Centre Blackpool Campus from Park Road to a new three acre site with a capacity for up to 3,000 students.

It is hoped it will open in September 2026 to the first students.