Exeposé has been shown pictures of plans suggesting that the University is considering a radical overhaul of infrastructure on St Luke’s campus.
Last week Exeposé revealed the announcement of developments to both Streatham and St Luke’s, but the leaked documents suggest the extent of further changes are yet to be decided and may be extensive.
The pictures (right and below) appear to suggest that around half of the University’s smaller campus could be demolished – including the Sports Centre, Medical School Building, Baring Court and the newly renovated Library.
The plans also detail new buildings which would replace the demolished structures. The vision of what these new buildings could look like appears to be spacious and modern.
A student who wishes to remain unnamed alleges to have found the plans after a meeting between University bodies in the St Luke’s Medical School.
Folders detailing a meeting involving Exeter Medical School Management Team and the General Medical Council were discovered by a group of second year students, upon arrival at a seminar.
The documents were seemingly accidentally left in a top floor room of the Medical School, raising questions about why such sensitive plans were inadvertently discovered by students, considering the substantial amount of sensitive material which the University handles.
The University told Exeposé that only the developments outlined last week are formally planned, but confirmed that the meeting did take place.
Hugh McCann, Director of Estate Development said: “We are currently looking at the long term development of St Luke’s with a firm of consultants. This exercise is about exploring the future capacity of the Campus over the next 5-15-25 year period. This would involve demolition of buildings in my view, though not North Cloisters or the chapel.”
“At this stage it is not possible to say definitely what the extent of any future development would be, given the timescales we are looking at, but we need to explore the possibilities at this stage in accordance with good estate management practice.”
“Immediate works are the conversions of College House and upper floors of South Cloisters for the Medical School to move into this year and next.”
There are currently 1,000 students on St Luke’s Campus, which caters for Sports Scientists and Medical Students, amongst others.
The Medical School told Exeposé: “These documents are in the earliest stages of a wider discussion about potential development of the St. Luke’s campus over the next 25 years. We are merely considering all options at this point, and no funding has been identified for this long term development. Once we have considered the options, we will consult with students and staff before any action is taken.
In the shorter term, we are progressing with refurbishments on two buildings on the St. Luke’s campus, as part of the University’s commitment to providing the best possible facilities for students and staff.”
The department added that: “beyond this, no decisions have been made for capital projects at St. Luke’s. Any future work would respect the fact that some of the buildings are listed, and a full consultation would be undertaken”, before concluding by saying “we are now looking into how these documents entered the public domain.”
Jon Bagnall, VP for Participation & Campuses, revealed that the drawings had not been seen by the Students’ Guild, suggesting the ideas are in their infancy.
He said: “I can’t comment on them specifically, however it is good news that the University is planning to invest in the long-term future of the St Luke’s campus, which has previously been uncertain.”
Harrison Jones and Tom Elliott, Online News Editors
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