Work to transform a Grade II listed Government tax office in Nottingham to form a new university campus is “well under way”.
What’s now known as the Castle Meadow Campus was once home to around 1,800 tax office staff, who at the time worked for Inland Revenue (now HMRC) following its decision to expand outside of London.
The offices were put up for sale for £36m after HMRC moved to its new Unity Square tower block off Sheriff’s Way, close to Nottingham Station, in 2021.
It was sold to the University of Nottingham, which has been working on turning the site into a new campus.
The site is made up of a series of buildings, all of which have intriguing architectural features – including self-cooling glass towers and a central building covered by a fabric roof.
The university is planning to open the central building this summer, and has now been given permission to begin the transformation of ‘building D’ – which sits closest to Wilford Road.
The building will be used as a physical campus by Arden University, which offers a combination of long-distance and blended learning degree courses to students in the UK and globally.
It will feature 29 classrooms spread across the ground, first, and second floors, as well as 44 staff desks.
“The renovation of the campus is well under way, with the University of Nottingham officially opening the Central Building in summer 2025,” planning documents say.
“The vision for the campus is to capitalise on the city centre location and develop new opportunities for teaching, research, and partnership activity.
“The hope is that the campus can also be opened up as a creative and community-orientated space for events, installations, demonstrations, and digital showcasing.
“Building D will be used for a Nottingham Campus for Arden University. Having received degree awarding powers from the UK Government in 2015, they now have more than 27,000 students learning online and at their campuses throughout the UK, including London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.
“The Nottingham campus will comprise of classrooms, meeting rooms, student support areas, staff areas and breakout spaces.”
As part of the renovation, artwork that sits outside the building will be retained as a featurw, documents add.
Nottingham-based artist John Newling was commissioned to create a public piece of artwork, which he installed in the grounds, based on the moulds that Trent Concrete used for the building components.
Upon hearing that the site was to be re-purposed, the Nottingham Civic Society and Twentieth Century Society managed to get it protected due to its architectural merit.
Historic England granted the site Grade II protected status in May 2023.
The site, designed by Sir Michael Hopkins and Partners, was protected due to its unique features, which helped it land a series of awards for environmental impact and energy conservation.
Many of the buildings did not require air conditioning due to materials used and the introduction of triple-glazing and underfloor fans.
Glass block stair towers at the corners of the office buildings also helped form part of a ‘high-tech’ ventilation system. These so-called ‘solar chimneys’ allow hot air to be expelled around the edges of the turret roof, which can be hydraulically lifted.
Sir Michael and his team were originally awarded the contract to design the building following a competition.
Nottingham’s planning committee had decided the original plans had “too much ugliness”, and six architectural practices were short-listed in a competition in October 1991.
He was announced as the winner in February 1992.
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