• Five teams shortlisted to create master plan for new University College London campus at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park • UCL East will realise University College London’s vision to create 21st century campus with world class facilities in the south of the Park • Campus is key part of the 'Olympicopolis' cultural and educational district involving the Victoria and Albert Museum, University College London, University of the Arts London and Sadler’s Wells

The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) has today (Monday 12 January) announced a shortlist of five creative teams to develop a master plan for the UCL East university campus on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

A key part of the Mayor of London’s Olympicopolis plans, the new campus – UCL East – will create new academic facilities and student accommodation for University College London (UCL). The five shortlisted teams are led by:

• AECOM
• Lifshutz Davidson Sandilands
• Make
• LDA Design
• Allies & Morrison

A pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) was issued in October 2014 to teams of master planners, designers and architects to create the master plan for the 125,000m2 campus across an 11 acre site to the south of the ArcelorMittal Orbit and the London Aquatics Centre.

The five shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit formal tenders with the aim of appointing the winning team in April 2015.

A design competition for the Stratford Waterfront element of Olympicopolis is also entering its final stages with a shortlist of six design teams announced in December 2014.

David Goldstone, Chief Executive of LLDC, said: “It’s great to embark on this latest phase of the Olympicopolis project which will see the creation of a new campus in east London for one of the world’s leading research universities.”

Professor Steve Caddick, Vice Provost-Enterprise, University College London said: “UCL East will be a university campus of the future – open, connected with businesses and embedded within the local community. We are looking forward to seeing what the shortlisted teams put forward; mirroring this vision for how the new campus will operate in the way it’s designed for the people and communities who’ll use it.”

UCL East will provide 125,000m2 of space. The first phase of 50,000m2 will bring together expertise across disciplines, with the aim of forging new connections between researchers and business; fostering radical innovation, new insights and new industries. They will include the UCL Generator the university’s first School of Design; the UCL Museum of the Future, a reinvention of the university museum for the 21st century; and the UCL Centre for Experimental Engineering, which will be established to address the acute skills shortage in engineering and develop new approaches to experiential learning in engineering, alongside prototyping and manufacturing facilities.

In addition, UCL Innovation will focus on technology development and commercialisation and UCL Living will comprise living space for undergraduates, postgraduate research students, as well as early career academic staff.

LLDC will be the Contracting Authority for the master planning, securing planning permission and delivery of the academic elements to shell and core.

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For more information contact the Press Office at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on +44 (0) 20 3734 9010 or email press@QueenElizabethOlympicPark.co.uk

Notes to editors

The full teams shortlisted are:

• AECOM with Stanton Williams, Fluid and Access = Design
• Lifshutz Davidson Sandilands with Expedition Engineering, WSP Group, Townshend Landscape Architects, Useful Simple Group, Gardiner & Theobald, Quod, PFB Construction Management Services, Arup University, Sturgis Carbon Profiling, Alexi Marmot Associates, People Friendly Design, Space Syntax and PPS Group
• Make with Gehl Architects, LDA Design, AECOM, London Communications Agency, The Neighbourhood, David Bonnett Associates and Quod.
• LDA Design with Nicholas Hare Associates, BuroHappold, Momentum Transport Planning, EC Harris, Soundings and Studio Weave
• Allies & Morrison with O’Donnell + Tuomey, BuroHappold, GROSS. MAX. and Gardiner & Theobald

In December last year the Mayor unveiled his vision for ‘Olympicopolis’ which takes its inspiration from the achievements of Prince Albert, who used the proceeds of the 1851 Great Exhibition to create ‘Albertopolis’ – the 86 acre site around Exhibition Road in South Kensington that is today considered one of the world’s pre-eminent scientific, educational, artistic and cultural hubs. The Mayor’s aim is that this will be a dynamic new hub for 21st century London, attracting prestigious institutions and businesses to the site to foster collaboration and innovation. As well as creating new visitor attractions, it will seek to attract knowledge based industries to the Stratford site, linking to Tech City, Here East and beyond. It’s projected that the cumulative effect of these plans will generate 3,000 jobs in the Park and an extra £1.8 billion of economic value from the area. 

London’s newest visitor destination, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, is a place unlike any other. Visitors to the Park are able to enjoy beautiful parklands and waterways, world-famous sporting venues, arts and events and spectacular views from the ArcelorMittal Orbit. As a new heart for east London, the Park will also provide new homes, jobs and a cultural and education quarter.

The London Legacy Development Corporation promotes and delivers physical, social, economic and environmental regeneration in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the surrounding area, in particular by maximising the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

For more information visit QueenElizabethOlympicPark.co.uk, follow us on Twitter @noordinarypark and like us on Facebook facebook.com/QueenElizabethOlympicPark

Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. We are among the world's top universities, as reflected by performance in a range of international rankings and tables. UCL currently has 27,000 students from almost 140 countries, and around 11,000 employees. Our annual turnover is nearly £1 billion.

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