Planning permission granted for ARU Peterborough
New £30m development receives green light from Peterborough City Council
Peterborough City Council has approved plans for a new state-of-the-art building which will be the home of ARU Peterborough, the city’s new £30 million university.
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, Peterborough City Council and Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) have all welcomed the decision to approve the proposals submitted by Mace Limited, supported by the planning consultants Pegasus, and designed by MCW Architects.
Contractors will now start to transform the former Wirrina Car Park off Bishop's Road. ARU Peterborough is on track to open to its first cohort of 2,000 students in 2022, with an ambition to increase the number of courses to accommodate 12,500 students by 2030.
Receiving planning permission marks an important step in the delivery of a new employment-focused university for Peterborough, which will offer a curriculum designed to meet local economic needs for the benefit of residents and businesses.
Mayor James Palmer said:
“This is a special day; it marks a tremendous moment and a huge step forward on our journey to deliver a new university in Peterborough, which will be transformative for the city and the surrounding area.
“Since the project was first drawn-up, we have been pushing forward at pace and I am pleased that this planning application was dealt with swiftly so we can carry on building that momentum and accelerating the delivery of the ARU Peterborough project.
“The university will help to empower people with the skills and training they need to find jobs and careers that will be fulfilling and rewarding and, in turn, create a new generation of and pipeline for highly skilled workers to meet the needs of emerging markets so that businesses in Peterborough can truly flourish.
“The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, Peterborough City Council and Anglia Ruskin have all worked incredibly hard to get to this stage and we are all looking forward to seeing the site start to take shape over the coming weeks and months.”
Councillor John Holdich, Leader of Peterborough City Council, said:
“I am delighted that the ambition to build a university for Peterborough has taken another important step forward. Establishing a university in the city will bring immeasurable benefits for our residents, for people across the wider region, for our businesses and for Peterborough as a whole – both now and for generations to come.
“Our residents will be helped into well-paid, more sustainable jobs fit for the rapidly evolving skills and knowledge requirements of the 21st Century workplace. The curriculum will be matched to the growth needs of local businesses, providing new opportunities for communities to gain access to higher level skills, better paid employment and enhanced life-chances. Crucially, it will help stop our talented young people from leaving the city to learn and set up life elsewhere, as well as helping Peterborough attract new talent.
“For our businesses it will ensure a good crop of people to choose from when advertising for jobs – people who have the training and the skills that they need to thrive in their workplace. Better skilled and qualified employees will in turn help our businesses to prosper.”
Professor Roderick Watkins, Vice Chancellor of ARU, said:
“We are grateful for the delivery team’s hard work during this important phase of the development. Securing planning approval is another major milestone for ARU Peterborough, which will play a key role in the redevelopment of the city as well as providing transformational higher education for people from Peterborough and the wider region.”