Co-location of business and industry will form part of the next phase of the University of Tasmania’s $260 million campus move.
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The Northern Transformation project has engaged community consultation on the project, with changes made to the use of some parts of the site.
UTAS pro-vice-chancellor David Adams said as part of the community consultation process had shown the community and the business community were keen to be more involved in the site.
“They wanted it to be a place where they felt welcome and were able to access, rather than it just being a university campus,” Professor Adams said.
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“So we have begun discussions with the business community about who is interested in co-locating with us.”
The Northern Transformation project is about more than the bricks and mortar campus, but the project is still on track to meet its construction targets, Professor Adams said.
“We are about to ramp up community consultation again as we move into the next phase and get the architects in,” he said.
Architects are expected to begin work on the final design for the campus by the end of the month.
Project director James McKee said testing was still being done on the site, to ensure there was no contamination from its previous use.
Soil testing was conducted in February, with positive results.
The site was previously an industrial precinct, so extensive testing needed to be done to ensure there were no pathogens in the soil or anything else that would impede construction.
Flooding of UTAS’ Sandy Bay campus has raised concerns about the viability of a new campus at Inveresk, an area of flood risk.
However, Professor Adams said it wouldn’t impact the new campus.
“The Hobart campus was built in the 1970s to standards that are not in place today,” he said.
“When the [Inveresk] site was first developed, the same concerns were raised, but 150 years later it is still here, as strong as ever.”
Mr McKee said flood mitigation would be built into the final designs of the campus.