The construction plans for a new £50 million research facility at the University of Reading have officially been revealed, as part of the university’s £400 million capital investment programme called ‘2026 Transform’, so what can we expect from the new facility?

It will be a Health and Sciences Building that will be built on the same site as the university’s current Engineering Building which is set to be demolished at some point this year, and it is set to contain 7,557 m2 of floor space which will span across four floors, as well as office space for academics and postgraduates and administration.

The new facility is also set to include wet and dry research laboratories, teaching facilities and a brand new café, as well as being the home of the upcoming Cole Museum of Zoology, so there are plenty of positive developments that will come from this.

“The Health & Life Sciences building will provide a world-class suite of teaching and research facilities, enabling us to continue our tradition of outstanding teaching in biological sciences and pioneering research that addresses the global challenges in biomedical science” commented Professor Steve Mithen, who is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Reading.

According to Professor Mithen, this announcement is just a small part of what the university is going to achieve, with several other multimillion pound investments to come as part of its current building programme, which is aiming sustain and enhance Reading’s status as a world leading teaching and research intensive university.

The new building is still subject to planning permission but it is expected that everything will run smoothly from here, and the completion of the facility is estimated as 2019, when older buildings at the university such as the AMS Tower and the Knight and Harborne Buildings will also be demolished.