RIBA launches student halls design contest
The RIBA Competitions Office has launched an international open design competition on behalf of Glyndŵr University, Wrexham.
The competition is to design new student residences to accommodate 500 students on a campus on the outskirts of Wrexham at Plas Coch and Regent Street and other smaller sites at Yale Business Village, Redwither Towers, Rhosnesni and Gatewen. The university also has a campus in Flintshire, in partnership with the Welsh College of Horticulture.
The brief asks entrants to produce design concepts for the accommodation, including a student services building called The Hub, which is to incorporate a refectory, offices and communal rooms.
Peter Rhodes, head of estates, said: "As a new, young university committed to the spirits of enterprise, we felt there would be nothing better than to invite top class architects to help shape the future look of our Wrexham campus. We're investing heavily in improving on-campus facilities over the next few years and the new student residence is just one part of this project."
The new residences will be built adjacent to the Student Village, to the north of Glyndŵr University's Plas Coch site, and are scheduled to be ready for use by early spring 2010.
- The competition brief will be available to download from http://www.ribaglyndwruniversity.co.uk/ and the deadline for submission of stage one designs is Friday 31 October 2008.
