The draft Campus 2020 Masterplan – a copy of
which was obtained by The Australian Financial Review – envisages a new style
of campus divided into disciplinary-based precincts, proposes the demolition
and rebuilding of the entire Darlington site, and names nearby North Eveleigh
and Harold Park as potential acquisition and development sites.
The University of
Sydney is not alone in
feeling the space squeeze. Just a few kilometres down the road, the University of Technology,
Sydney, is
trying to rustle up $800 million or more to revamp an ageing and fragmented
campus and increase useable floor space by 25 per cent.
In the heart of Melbourne, RMIT University has also embarked on major renovations and new construction worth $500 million.
Among the biggest campus facelifts in a century, they follow bipartisan federal
commitment to educational infrastructure and growing surpluses, which the
universities are ploughing back into infrastructure as they try to accommodate
growing student and staff numbers in ageing and increasingly inappropriate
buildings.
“We’re trying to achieve almost the impossible: enhance green space and
get more floor space,” the chief operating officer and deputy
vice-chancellor at the University
of Sydney, Bob Kotic,
said.
While inner-city campuses represent an enviable competitive advantage, they
carry significant infrastructure challenges. CBD property is highly sought
after and expensive, so institutions wanting to expand either pay a hefty
purchase price or redevelop existing facilities.
Traffic and congestion are other major factors, as is preserving open and green
space and minimising impact on neighbours, be they residents or businesses.
RMIT vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner said the creation of the Higher Education
Endowment Fund, which has since been rolled into the $11 billion Education
Investment Fund, had allowed universities to make bolder plans.
“We were already in planning before the HEEF fund was announced but what
it has allowed us to do is to expand and accelerate our plans,” she said.
“You get to think clearly and seriously about what strategically you need
without having to consistently constrain it.”
The activity in Sydney and Melbourne follows significant campus development in Queensland, including an
investment of about $900 million in Queensland University of Technology’s
Kelvin Grove campus over the past six years. QUT vice-chancellor Peter
Coaldrake said QUT had raised the money by partnering with the state
government, the private sector, and The Atlantic Philanthropies – which has
become a major financial supporter of a select group of Australian
universities.
QUT ploughed about $120 million of its own money into the campus, received $100
million from the state government, over $40 million from The Atlantic
Philanthropies, and $600 million from the private sector.
The “urban village” includes a creative industries facility, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, a
student learning and support centre, student accommodation, and retail outlets.
Development is continuing at Kelvin Grove, and QUT has also turned its
attention to the rejuvenation of old and dilapidated buildings at its Gardens
Point campus. It is understood that this latter work will cost about $200
million.
Sydney’s draft masterplan, approved by the university senate earlier this
month, sets out measures aimed at adding 250,000 square metres of useable floor
space to accommodate a full-time equivalent student body expected to reach
40,000 by 2010.
The university’s capital budget for 2008 to 2010 totals $882 million, which
includes $311 million for Campus 2020, $88 million to finish off works under
its predecessor, Campus 2010, $151 million for property acquisitions, and $224
million for other maintenance and capital works.
Work under Campus 2010 has included a new law school, information and
technology building and student services centre.
Mr Kotic said the university needed nearly double the amount of useable floor
space it had at the moment, which meant buying new property and making better
use of existing land.
It was only because Sydney had a healthy surplus that such large-scale plans could be undertaken, Mr Kotic
added.
The expectation was to reinvest $150 million to $170 million a year in
infrastructure over the next decade or more.
“If we have a really dream run on the revenue front and nothing dastardly
happens, we could comfortably reinvest about $1.7 billion over the decade and
that’s quite a substantial rejuvenation program,” he said.
RMIT has committed to its largest investment to date in academic
infrastructure, spending $230 million on two new buildings on Swanston Street in Melbourne’s CBD.
It is also spending more than $72 million on refurbishment across the rest of
its campus, including a $12 million upgrade of its landmark original building,
which opened as the Working Men’s College in 1887.
Professor Gardner said RMIT had commissioned leading-edge architects for the
two new Swanston Street
buildings and all work was being done with Melbourne’s urban planning strategies,
including the laneway approach, in mind.
RMIT’s combined budget surplus for the past two years is $108.5 million.
“Much of what we do is going to be dependent on bigger expenditure than we
can generate through our surpluses, so we’ve been able to start with the
surpluses – but they won’t sustain this for the future,” Professor Gardner
said.
UTS recorded a surplus this year as well, $37 million, but it will need help if
the full suite of renovations and building is to be realised.
Patrick Woods, deputy vice-chancellor of resources, said the rejuvenation works
would go ahead even if state and federal funding wasn’t forthcoming, although
the result would be a “less grand” campus.
UTS hopes to spur urban renewal in surrounding areas and encourage more
businesses to set up shop nearby. “If we don’t do it [redevelopment] it is
a massively missed opportunity. It is absolutely ripe for redevelopment,”
Mr Woods said.
For the universities, fitting seamlessly and attractively into their surrounds
is important.
“I envy universities like McGill [University] in Montreal
and Toronto where they are integral to the city, and I think UTS and ourselves have a
wonderful opportunity to be a very important and stimulating part of our
city,” Mr Kotic said.
Consultation for the Campus 2020 Masterplan will continue throughout the year
before a final version is approved by senate.