Reference visit to Republic London

25 September 2024

Republic - an 'accidental' university campus.

On the face of it the Republic was typical venue for a tour and presentations, for the University Design Forum. Located in Tower Hamlets, near East India Docks and developed by Trilogy Real Estate it is the London home of a number of universities from across the UK including York St John, Anglia Ruskin and University of the West of Scotland. What made this unusual, revealed through the presentations, was the gestation and creation of the campus, originally aimed at a different market. The super-sized retro-fit was aiming to create offices, in the image of developments in Shoreditch - but more cheaper, and located in East London and near Canary Wharf.

The design was focused on place making, wellbeing and resource efficiency, updating the outmoded and out-of-date office buildings for new and emerging businesses. The office occupiers, however, did not come. Interest came from Universities seeking a base in London. The design approach with a combination of a quality campus environment, location and pricing meant that made this an attractive place to be for Universities.

Robert Wolstenholme of Trilogy, alongside the team including Dickon Hayward of Material Works (architects) with Milena Obradovic from Trilogy Campus Ltd and Eleanor Newton of Workman (management company) outlined the challenges of running a multi-university campus. Together they described the huge learning curve, the responses to various (urgent) concerns, their regular reviews and feedback sessions with the university teams. A fascinating, useful series of talks and informative tour.

Written by Rupert Cook.

Images credited to Simon Fraser.

University Design Forum extend their thanks to the host and sponsor, Republic London.