£14.5million project creates a new home for the Plymouth Business School

The Fitzroy Building will be transformed into a facility to educate and inspire its current and future business, accounting and marketing students

Artists impression of the new Fitzroy Building

Mr Alan Williams

Senior Media and Communications Officer

Communication Services (Marketing and Communications)

26 January 2024

The University of Plymouth is creating a first-class new home for the Plymouth Business School at the heart of its city centre campus.

The transformed Fitzroy Building will include a number of specialist teaching facilities and social learning spaces for students on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes including those in Business, Accounting and Marketing.

These will include an upgraded Bloomberg Interactive Learning Suite, where students learn how to analyse financial markets, as well as a Maritime Suite and a Language Lab.

It will also provide a new location for The Cube, the University’s acclaimed student and graduate enterprise support service, which in the past three years has supported over 4,400 student interactions and generated 230 businesses.

Through these facilities, students will acquire the skills they need to succeed in their chosen career at the same time as developing an understanding of their sustainability and social responsibilities.

The £14.5million project is a key element of the University’s £250million Campus Masterplan, a decade-long programme of modernisation designed to maintain a first-class learning, research and working environment for all students and staff.

The transformation of the Fitzroy Building is further evidence of our long-held commitments to sustainability and net zero. Once again, we are taking an existing building and repurposing it to create a cutting-edge space that will enhance teaching and experiences for both our students and staff. It is also the result of a long-held desire to bring our business students into the heart of the campus, giving them a facility that will advance their aspirations and inspire their innovation.

Judith Petts CBE
Vice-Chancellor

The Plymouth Business School aims to combine career success with a commitment to sustainability and social responsibility.

It has affiliations to professional bodies including the Business Graduates Association and the International Accreditation Council for Business Education, as well as collaborations with businesses, organizations, community groups, and public bodies.

The School has also recently been selected as a PRME Champion, demonstrating its commitment to raising the bar for sustainable business education.

Courses like our Marketing programme are consistently ranked among the best in the country, and the Business School attracts significant numbers of international students. Our industry-led programmes equip graduates to be successful, and we know the quality of our teaching and support is already held in high regard. This new home for the School will create an exciting new space in which current and future students can foster the knowledge and enthusiasm that they will need to achieve their ambitions.

Chris Bennewith
Executive Dean of Arts, Humanities and Business

The Fitzroy Building was originally constructed in the 1970s, and the plans for its transformation have recently approved by the local planning authority, Plymouth City Council.

Constructed to the highest sustainability standards, the new facility will extend the University’s ambition for net zero, a commitment that in 2023 saw it become only the second university in the UK to achieve verified carbon neutral status.

The building is being refurbished in line with the latest thermal efficiency standards, with a focus on reducing heat loss and ensuring energy efficiency. Air source heat pumps will be used to provide heating and hot water for the building, while photovoltaic panels will be installed on its roof to generate electricity.

Artists impression of Bloomberg Suite, Fitzroy Building

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