Proposals for state-of-the-art Creative Edge media complex at Edge Hill University’s Ormskirk campus

Nov 8 2012 by Rob Pattinson, Ormskirk Advertiser

EDGE Hill University has applied to create a new media hub to allow students to capitalise on the BBC’s move to Salford.

The university has submitted plans for a state-of-the-art new Creative Edge media building in the eastern part of its St Helens Road site.

The new block would provide 4,900 sq m of floorspace, with teaching and academic offices arranged in two three-storey blocks facing east. Specialist spaces such as the TV studio and lecture theatre would be housed in three separate blocks to the west, overlooking the existing running track. Creative Edge would be the first academic block in the developing eastern part of the campus. In the design statement submitted to the council Edge Hill states that the investment in a new media building is “essential to maintain the university’s position within a competitive market for students, and to provide staff and students with facilities capable of meeting current and future requirements. Salford has recently become a regional centre for media and broadcasting, spurred by the move north by the BBC. With the new media building, Edge Hill will be ideally placed to take advantage of the opportunities this will provide for students.”

An Edge Hill spokesman said: “Creative Edge will be a state-of-the-art building housed on the landscaped Eastern Campus, providing high-spec suites of industry-standard facilities for students studying Media, Film, Animation, Advertising and Computing. Subject to planning permission, the development will provide a place where future employers and students will come to give expert workshops, recruit students for work placements and work with academics on research projects.”