Councillors have approved plans for a new postgraduate centre on the site of the former Civic Centre, opposite the Council House in the heart of the city centre.
The new six-storey scheme will restore part of the Grade II-listed former Civic Centre 2 and incorporate it into a purpose-built block that will create a range of high quality teaching spaces, a 350-seat public auditorium and 36 apartments for visiting academics.
The successful application is fourth building from Broadway Malyan’s partnership with the university, having previously design the award-winning Alison Gingell Building for the health and life sciences faculty, the Beatrice Shilling Building and the Centre for Applied Low Carbon Propulsion Systems.
Director of Architecture Mark Evans, who has been Broadway Malayn lead on all four projects, said: “We are really thrilled that the council has resolved to grant planning permission for our latest scheme with Coventry University.
“Our plans provide a new ‘heart of the city’, with modern facilities for academic and civic use, while also retaining key aspects of the buildings’ existing cultural heritage, and even bringing some forgotten history back into the public domain.
“New and flexible facilities for Coventry University will include a world-class hub for post-graduate research and enterprise while referencing the historic context of the site and breathing new life into previously hidden gems from this city’s great story.
“We will also be opening up sight lines across the development to reveal the iconic clockface of the Council House and famous three spires for the first time, while also commissioning a new sculpture by George Wagstaffe.
“As the city prepares for its year as the designated UK City of Culture in 2021, this project will be pivotal in cementing the city’s academic and civic offering in the long-term and help place Coventry on the global stage.”
“As the city prepares for its year as the designated UK City of Culture in 2021, this project will be pivotal in cementing the city’s academic and civic offering in the long-term and help place Coventry on the global stage.”Mark Evans, Director of Architecture, Broadway Malyan
At the heart of the project is the integration of three listed buildings spanning more than six centuries.
This includes setting the building’s main public entrance in the volume the main courtyard of the medieval Palace Yard once occupied before it was demolished to make way for the Civic Centre in the 1950s. This space will be amplified by a new sculpture by George Wagstaff, one of the city’s greatest living artists, who was commissioned as a 17-year-old to create a piece for the original Civic Centre.
The scheme also restores the previously hidden basement of the medieval Old Star Inn that sat on the site before the development of the Civic Centre and brings it into academic use. The original façade of the Civic Centre, which was built to designs by George Sealey between 1957 and 1959 and was the home of the city council’s former architecture department, will also be retained within the new development.
Coventry University deputy director of estate development Gayle Monaghan said: “The site has a rich history, both pre- and post-war, and we are delighted with the resulting designs which have been carefully crafted to reflect the full history of the site and the city, while providing Coventry University with global-standard facilities for 21st century higher education delivery.”
Broadway Malyan worked with heritage specialists Burrell Foley Fischer on the project.
