Ushaw to be temporary home for Business School

Ushaw Chapel

Durham University and the Trustees of Ushaw College have announced today that Durham Business School (DBS) is to temporarily relocate to the former Seminary, Ushaw College, while a rebuilding and extension of the School’s current home takes place.

In a statement, the College says: "This move represents an important step in the new relationship between the University and the Ushaw Trustees who are now working in full partnership to secure a long-term education-based vision for Ushaw College.

"A Licence agreement was signed by the Trustees and the University in November to allow enabling works to be carried out in preparation for the arrival of DBS at Ushaw in April 2012. This is being followed by a lease agreement.

"Work will then begin on the £16.6million rebuilding and extension of the DBS’s current Mill Hill Lane home in Durham. Ushaw is set to be home to the Business School until these works, which are expected to take two years, are completed.

"The redevelopment at Mill Hill Lane includes construction of a major new extension which will include seminar rooms, offices and catering facilities. The plans also include alterations to existing buildings to create lecture rooms, seminar rooms, a library, IT laboratories and offices.

"At Ushaw Durham University is investing in upgrading the facilities to ensure that it can support the vibrant Business School and its operations."

Professor Rob Dixon, Dean of Durham Business School, said: “We are delighted that Durham Business School will soon be brought into association with the rich history of learning at Ushaw College. We will be investing significantly in the facilities that will leave a positive legacy at the college, thus making our own contribution to the promising future of the site.”

At the same time University is also providing specialist resources to undertake the substantial task of cataloguing and archiving the Ushaw library to modern standards and inventorying the other collections to ensure their preservation and specialist conservation.

The Centre for Catholic Studies (CCS), Durham University, which is coordinating and overseeing these recording activities at Ushaw, is developing plans to open up the magnificent collections at Ushaw for full scholarly use and public benefit. An International Development Board for the CCS which will support the University and the Trustees to realise this significant vision is being appointed and will be announced later this year.

The CCS is working closely with the Project Group established by the Ushaw Trustees in June to secure a viable future for Ushaw College. The Project Group is chaired by the Right Reverend Bishop Mark Davies, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury and himself an alumnus of Durham University.

Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury said: "This announcement by Durham University is very much to be welcomed and there are solid grounds to be confident that this temporary re-location of staff and students will prove to be successful.”

"It is securely based on the ever stronger working relationship between Durham University and Ushaw College as the future of the whole Ushaw Estate is addressed."

On the recommendation of the Project Group, the Trustees of Ushaw and the University have jointly commissioned a leading firm of advisors, Malcolm Reading Consultants, to oversee a feasibility study for the site working closely with the CCS and other key stakeholders.

Malcolm Reading Consultants has enormous experience in providing strategic advice and project oversight with complex sites including major historic buildings. Other major projects have included St Martin-in-the-Fields and the UK Supreme Court in central London, Stowe House Preservation Trust and Stowe School in Buckinghamshire and recently Exeter College, Oxford.

Source: CCS