Liverpool City Council Website

Skip to content

Accessibility links

• Text Version
• Graphical Version
• Accessibility help

Navigation path

• Completed projects
• Current projects
• Future projects

Main Content

JMU Design Academy

An exciting new Design Academy is being created by Liverpool John Moores University in time for Liverpool's Capital of Culture celebrations.

The £15m Academy will bring all of LJMU's School Art and Design departments together in a stimulating new space enabling more creative forms of teaching and research.  The new facilities will also enable the region's creative industries to have increased access to specialist university expertise, applied research, training and development facilities and technical resources.

Completion of the building in Great Orford Street and the revitalised public open space around the Metropolitan Cathedral is expected by the summer of 2008, allowing LJMU to play a key role in European Capital of Culture celebrations during that year and beyond.

Rick Mather Architects were selected for this development. Their plans reflect LJMU's dream of developing state-of-the-art facilities which will advance teaching, business support and research into art and design while also reinforcing Liverpool's status as a capital of culture. 

Rick Mather said: 

"This building sets a new benchmark for developments in Liverpool. When viewed from Mount Pleasant, it will create a sense of arrival to the LJMU campus, offering a visual complement to the Metropolitan Cathedral and Hope Street Conservation Area while still making its own distinctive architectural statement."  

Planning permission was granted in December 2005 and building work in expected to start in Summer 2006. Key elements of the new academy are:

• the building's serpentine form will align primarily with the Cathedral, before curving at its ends to face Mount Pleasant and Brownlow Hill, creating a new landscaped open space;
• its considerable floor space - 10,350m2 - is distributed over five floors, with the upper storeys set back to create tiered roof terraces offering outstanding views across the city;
• much of the lower ground and ground floors will be dedicated to commercial and public facilities, including a café, a suite of design workshops, meeting rooms, and a gallery, exhibition and conference area.;
• splayed blade-like windows will maximise natural light from the north while solid walls offer shade from strong, direct sunlight during midday hours;
• the extensive use of glass will flood the Academy with light, opening it up to viewers both inside and outside the building;
• the main entrance, spanning two storeys, will draw students, staff and visitors into a central atrium, the social heart of the building. This space will maximise interaction between the different academic departments and public facilities;
• a dramatic staircase will connect the upper and lower levels
• LJMU's commitment to sustainability is reflected in the use of renewable energy technologies, such as a biomass heating system, within the building;
• artists' studios and learning spaces over five floors have been designed to be as flexible as possible, maximising light, space and energy efficiency and offering wireless access to computing technology throughout.

The new Design Academy will not only benefit the University and its students but it will also bring new life to the Brownlow Hill area of the city.

It is being developed on a site next to a major Liverpool landmark, the Metropolitan Cathedral. The site was formerly occupied by the St Nicholas Centre, which housed LJMU's Departments of Architecture, Product and Interior Design. The new building will form a new gateway, and bring greater cohesion to LJMU's Mount Pleasant Campus, which includes the Faculty of Media, Arts and Social Science and the Aldham Robarts Learning Resource Centre. 

Significantly the development will also support the growth of the creative industries on Merseyside by providing increased access to specialist University expertise, applied research, training and development facilities and information resources. 

Overall, the development, giving the Metropolitan Cathedral the truly great setting it so rightfully deserves, thanks to the development of a new sculpture park and public open space.