Reference visit to the Creative Centre, York St. John University

30 October 2024

York St. John University, Creative Centre case study: Connecting the campus using a low carbon, flexible building

York St John University has its roots in two Anglican teacher training colleges founded in York in 1841 in 1846. It has grown and developed over the years and, in 2006, was given degree-awarding powers and the right to become the university it is today. Reflecting its origins, the university has a strong focus on social justice.

The university has been developing its campus on Lord Mayor’s Walk, which is close to York Minster and the city centre in one direction and residential areas in the other, to support its expansion in student numbers, which has risen from 5,500 in 2016 to 12,000 in 2024, and improve the quality and sophistication of its facilities.

Contributors to the visit were Andy Baker-Falkner, Director at Tate+Co Architects, Dr Anne-Marie Evans, Head of School: Humanities, and Dr Rob Hickey, Chief Operating Officer at the University.

Key to the university’s strategy, and a lynchpin of the campus masterplan is the new Creative Centre, following on from De Grey Court which was designed by Rivington Street Studio Architects and completed in 2008.

The Creative Centre was briefed pre-Covid in 2017. Key objectives were to support expansion, radically transform creative/arts facilities, grow key subject areas, contribute to a significant improvement in NSS scores and ensure that the university was at the top of its game in teaching and learning.

The design team was selected through an architectural competition which the university chose to enable architects to demonstrate new and innovative thinking, and, in discussion, the university confirmed that it would use this again for a similar project. Key aspects of the brief were:

• Space efficiency, balanced with quality;
• High quality facilities that matched the commercial creative world in which the students would work;
• Environmental sustainability;
• Inclusive design supporting the needs of different students;
• A high-quality user experience where users would feel special in a unique flagship building on the campus.

The building has already proved flexible as spaces have adapted and changed in the few years since it was opened, and the feedback is that it has been transformative for the university. It has also supported community events such as activities by local schools in the auditorium and hosting the International Shakespeare Festival. Such is the Creative Centre’s success that it was difficult to find free space in the timetable to book the auditorium for the Reference Visit.

The building has a strong focus on environmental sustainability and on the use of timber, which raised technical challenges, in terms of fire engineering. Structural steel reflects the railway history of York. There was a strong emphasis on off-site prefabrication, for the external cladding which has no doubt contributed to the project’s success. One of the items of feedback suggested by the architects if they were doing the project today was to push harder on the balance between timber and concrete, to achieve greater sustainability as technology changes.

The building was constructed during the difficult restrictions of Covid, which had one advantage in that the campus was not occupied by students, so the problem of disruption was minimised. There were also challenging materials delivery problems due to subsequent international events and the impact on shipping.

Future developments include a new Design Centre and further landscaping to the campus while the Creative Centre is designed to enable a future extension on the last available site on campus.

Written by Ian Caldwell.

Images credited to Simon Fraser.

University Design Forum extend their thanks to the host and sponsor, York St. John University and Tate+Co.