Blackpool Council has appointed Morgan Sindall as the main contractor to build a £65m state-of-the-art education campus in Blackpool.
The ‘multiversity’ mixed-use development will house up to 3,000 students and staff in Blackpool’s city centre. It will relocate Blackpool and The Fylde College from out-of-town facilities into a new campus off Cookson Street.
Morgan Sindall said that the main campus will be designed to be carbon-neutral in operation. The multiversity has been designed by Hawkins Brown. It is part of Blackpool Council’s £350m regeneration of the Talbot Gateway area around Blackpool North train station.
‘Multiversity’ is a term coined in the 1960s by US economist and academic administrator Clark Kerr to define academic institutions that go beyond teaching and also serve as research and engagement centres.
The Blackpool multiversity is designed to offer more than 70 courses, from further education through to higher education, as well as adult learning linked to local employment needs.
The proposed development includes two phases: an education campus on the corner of Cookson Street and George Street; and a future development across the southern end of the site by Milbourne Street and Grosvenor Street.
The plans could deliver up to 32,600 sq m of education and commercial space across several phases, starting with the new multiversity building.
Outline approval for the scheme was granted in April 2024, with a reserved matters application to follow later this summer.
