Final details on multiversity set to be approved

Final plans for the construction of a £65m multiversity are due to go before councillors who are being advised to support the scheme.

As well as delivering a state-of-the-art education campus, the development in Blackpool will see the creation of a new public plaza landscaped with trees.

Outline planning permission was granted last year but reserved matters for the first phase, submitted last October, are due to go before the council's planning committee on 1 April.

Members are expected to support the application and delegate final approval to the council's head of development management, subject to conditions being met.

The multiversity, which will be home to around 3,500 students and staff and be part of Blackpool and the Fylde College, is due to open in September 2027.

It takes its name due to having the capacity to teach various disciplines and will be known as University Centre Blackpool.

Details before the committee include the closure of George Street in order to create a public plaza linking the multiversity and the council offices at Bickerstaffe House.

The mainly five-storey building is set to fill a wedge-shaped footprint narrowing towards Cookson Street facing on to the proposed public plaza.

To the rear of the building, a parking and servicing area would be created on what is now Charles Street.

Details recommended for approval include

• Ground floor – an entrance lobby, cafe, a broadcast studio and work and education spaces
• First floor – computer rooms, teaching spaces; laboratory areas and a rooftop terrace for use by students and staff
• Second and third floor – computer rooms, teaching spaces, laboratory areas and offices
• Fourth floor – studio spaces, teaching spaces, computer rooms and offices

An assessment of the application due to be considered by the committee said: "The creation of a pedestrianised, landscaped plaza, allowing for emergency vehicle access only, would be a positive aspect of the development.

"Such a plaza would link into the public realm currently being created to the west, and the existing green space to the north. It would provide an attractive civic space and some much needed green infrastructure within the town centre."

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