The Christchurch Campus re-development project involves constructing a new six-storey building on Oxford Terrace.
The project commenced Detailed Design for the new Oxford Terrace building in February 2021 and works are forecast to start on site in early 2022.
This re‑development is currently the largest project in the University's history.
Aims
The new building will enable:
- The Christchurch University campus' world-class health science research and education programmes to grow
- New opportunities for collaboration with other important partners in the Health Precinct
- Moving and co-locating departments dispersed around the University's Christchurch campus into the Health Precinct
- The University's commitment to the Health Precinct (a physical area and partner organisations involved in health activities in Canterbury)
Who is it for?
The Christchurch campus is a training base for medical students during the three years of their undergraduate degree. It is also a research-intensive campus, hosting postgraduate health science students and world-class research groups whose work benefits patients nationally and internationally.
Currently, more than 1,000 students study at the Christchurch campus, which has more than 500 staff.
New building
The new building will be on the former Tillman's furniture store site, which the University bought after the 2011 earthquakes as its contribution to Christchurch's rebuild.
The new building will house:
- Laboratories for most of the campus' health research groups
- Specialist radiology equipment, including a MARS scanner co-invented by a University of Otago, Christchurch professor, and MRI technology to study neurological diseases such as Parkinson's
- Groups commercialising their health science discoveries, such as Upstream Medical Technologies which develops and markets tests to speed up the diagnosis of heart conditions
- Clinical research department
- A hub for post-graduate nursing studies
The building will also encourage interaction and collaboration by bringing staff and students together, while providing:
- new workspaces
- social spaces
- a variety of teaching spaces including large flat floor lecture theatre
- a grand staircase for University and public events
Campus and precinct
The overall re-development will create a true campus feeling for staff and students as the new and existing buildings will be less than a minute's walk from each other. Currently, staff and students are spread between the main building and several smaller buildings.
The new building will be a central pillar of the Te Papa Hauora/Health Precinct and enable greater collaboration with other organisations in the precinct.