News
Friday, 01 April 2011
Oxford Brookes continues legacy of spiritual founder with ambitious new library
Oxford Brookes University will be hosting a groundbreaking event to mark the start of construction of its £132 million library and teaching building.
The new building aims to create world class facilities to match the university's growing global reputation and will replace classrooms dating from the 1950s and 60s.
This project begins officially on April 5, just weeks after the university honoured its spiritual father, John Henry Brookes, by erecting an Oxfordshire blue plaque outside his former home in Headington.
The new building has been designed to provide a world-class student experience. Eighty per cent of floor space is devoted to learning and teaching rooms.
Classrooms and support services currently spread over the university's four campuses around the city will be brought together to combine the library, teaching spaces, lecture halls, student support services and shop into one central area.
There will also be public areas such as an art gallery. Alison Honour, Head of the School of Arts, explained: “The gallery will allow talented students and alumni to showcase art, design, architecture, performance and installation. The local community will be welcome to experience and enjoy a programme of changing exhibitions which will run all year round and will be open to all.”
The gallery will be an exciting teaching and learning space for local artists, schools, colleges and groups.
John Henry Brookes became vice principal of the Oxford City Technical School and Head of the Oxford School of Art in 1928. He was committed to making education available to all, an ethos still held dear by the institution today.
The university has been based in Headington since 1954, firstly when the Oxford City Technical School combined its 19 schools scattered over Oxford to move there, then as a polytechnic in 1970. Eventually, in 1992, it became a university and changed its name to Oxford Brookes.
The building work will be completed in 2013, in time for the university's 150th anniversary in 2015.
