Introduction

The University of Northampton (UON) was established as a university in 2005 and specialises in healthcare, education, science, technology, arts and business. It has approximately 12,000 students based at the main Waterside Campus and is the only university in Northamptonshire, employing around 2,200 staff, over half of whom live in the town and surrounding county.

Until 2018 the University operated from two main campuses approximately 2.5 miles apart, Park Campus just to the north of the town, and Avenue Campus, closer to the town centre.

As the name suggests, Park Campus was reminiscent of open parkland, providing an array of green space around a portfolio of academic buildings ranging in size, style, age and condition, whereas Avenue Campus comprised a variety of interconnecting buildings, many from the early 20th century, built around a series of landscaped courtyards. The campus had been recently supplemented by the purchase of an adjacent Grade II former middle school.

While distinctly different in character and design, both campuses shared similarities, and problems, associated with cost and space inefficiency. In addition, their distance from the town centre was a contributory factor to a lack of cohesion with and connection to the town and its wider population.

There was a centrally situated library on each of the old campuses. Neither was in a discrete building, but each was self-contained, with a traditional single entrance and exit arrangement guarded by library security gates. Both libraries had been extended and extensively remodelled and refurbished over the previous 20 years to accommodate growth in the physical collections, increased numbers of personal computers (PCs) and a variety of staff, study and social spaces, including a very popular library café just outside the entrance gates at Park Campus.