University of Surrey

The Student Hub is at the heart of the university’s ambitious campus expansion programme. The aim is to deliver a 24/7 facility that will provide a new student-focused experience. The development will unite the university’s two major campuses, providing the best study environment for students and staff, as well as engaging the wider community.

The 3,700m2 building houses a combination of lecture theatres, multi-function event spaces, suites of bookable classrooms and seminar rooms, informal break-out study spaces and a variety of food and beverage offerings.

Large multi-use spaces are located along a new ‘internal street’ to create an active thoroughfare. Facilities including day-to-night event spaces, pastoral support and wellbeing, and a range of formal and informal dining and social leaning spaces spill out onto the thoroughfare and into the campus park setting beyond.

A variety of adaptable and flexible teaching and learning spaces assist the university’s ‘open and agile’ strategy, promoting the adoption of new ways of learning and anticipating emerging trends.

A ‘market square’, located in the courtyard fronting the building, acts as an extension of the ground floor and shop window to the university’s offer. A grass-roots led extended programme of markets, concerts and events encourage the connectivity between the learning inside the building and wider outreach goals of the university within the local community.

The design reflects the client’s sustainability aspirations for a low carbon construction and whole life costing, utilising a steel frame and CLT planks to reduce embodied carbon. The use of natural timber inside the building creates a connection to nature that also brings mental health and wellbeing benefits.

A number of passive measures are utilised to reduce the energy consumption of the building. Solar gain is minimised through deep reveals to openings on the south façade. Alongside this, the external brick cladding is brought through into the internal street which runs from east to west, providing thermal mass for moderating internal diurnal temperature changes. Daylighting is maximised, with north-facing accent saw tooth rooflights spanning the deeper plan social and group study spaces to the top floor.