Development applications for the second two stages of the campus build have been lodged to the City of Launceston council, and construction of the first building, the library, has begun.

Victorian architect firm John Wardle Architects was named in 2018 as the lead of a consortium of architects who would design the campus buildings, supported by Tasmanian firms 1+2 and Room 11.

However, the architects faced a unique challenge with the second two phases of the campus, dubbed the River's Edge and Willis Street concepts, with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic.

JWA design principal James Loder said the second two buildings had been designed entirely during lockdown, which had meant the teams needed to find creative collaborative solutions.

Typically, teams would meet together weekly with each other and clients, and in times past the JWA team would also meet at the site.

That has not been possible during the pandemic, however, Mr Loder said he didn't think it had been the death of creativity.

"It's been more collaborative and more efficient, we have been able to get a lot done during lockdown," he said.

He said the Rivers Edge and Willis Street buildings, along with the library, all formed a cohesive story of the collaborative future of higher education at UTAS and hoped they would inspire curiosity.

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"Their positioning [the three new buildings] on the site creates a unique journey from the city to the edge of the campus and accommodating the existing buildings," Mr Loder said.

"What they represent is the collaborative future of the university, previously with higher education faculties would have their own buildings and would be quite separate but that will not be the case on this campus."

He said in terms of design details, all three buildings drew upon Launceston and the Inveresk site's industrial heritage.

"The next two buildings will share details that will be repeated throughout the design," he said.

Mr Loder said an example of that was the sawtooth roof, which is a design feature of the library building and had been inspired by the existing buildings around where the library is being built.

On the River's Edge building though, that sawtooth concept does not feature on the roof but will be seen on windows to create the effect of shifting walls on the side of the building.

The second stage of the campus and the next building to be constructed after the library is the new River's Edge building.

John Wardle, who was recently awarded the Australian Institute of Architects gold medal, said his team had received a theme for this building: from point to panorama,

"The River's Edge building will link the centre of the campus to the river, it shares a common university square open area with the existing architecture building and the library building," he said.

River's Edge is a new academic area that will sit between the existing Architecture and Design building and the railway workshops.

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The building will house innovative learning spaces, collaborative teaching and research spaces for the College of Arts, Law and Education, break-out spaces for students to encourage collaboration and social interaction, workspaces for UTAS divisional and support staff and a consultation hub for disability and accessibility support.

However, a key feature of the River's Edge building will be that it will incorporate a new home for Riawunna - UTAS' support centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

Mr Wardle said Riawunna was its own entity and had its own needs but his team had engaged with the Riawunna staff to make sure this purpose-built space meets their needs.

Riawunna students will now have access to a purpose-built area, which includes ceremonial gardens that opens up to the river.

However, the piece-de-resistance for the River's Edge building is the lively central atrium, which will be at the building's heart.

The atrium will be a flexible gathering space, open for student events and community use. River's Edge will be over four levels.

The Willis Street site is the largest of the three buildings commissioned by UTAS for its new campus.

It will house several disciplines, student and teaching areas and the Launceston Institute research centre.

Mr Wardle said it would take cues from the other two buildings to connect the site cohesively.

He said he wanted to evoke the curiosity of not only the students who study here but also the general public.

"Both of the two new buildings have this open centre, designed to bring the public inside as well as students and staff," he said.

Willis Street will house allied health, food, science and physical education and a major feature will be the physical education running track on the ground floor, which will be highlighted by floor-to-ceiling windows, to showcase the research done there to the public.

"We are trying to harness an expression of the innovation that will be going on inside this building," Mr Wardle said.

"It appears shed like but there is something about it, its details, that will invite curiosity. It's important buildings like this evoke that."

Mr Loder said Willis Street had an important role to play in the cohesiveness of the campus as it would connect to the pedestrian bridge and bring the site's industrial heritage to the city's fringe.

"The history of that site is that it was the railway station, it was the end of the line, but over the years a lot of that heritage has been lost," Mr Loder said.

"Willis Street is a platform for learning and research, with teaching and learning occurring at the same place as world-class research."

The building will have a forecourt and main entrance from Cimitiere Street which will connect the campus with the city.

A plaza walkway will create a continuous journey via the new pedestrian and cycle bridge travelling over Boland St and cross the river, creating a vibrant streetscape and unique experience for people of all ages and abilities.

The building is designed in two wings: one which focuses on students and staff, the other on laboratories and research. They are connected by a bright, large atrium as a central meeting place, accessible and democratic, acting as the single point of entry and a place for multiple modes of operation for small to large gatherings.

The Willis Street building includes nursing simulation labs co-located with TasTAFE, food science facilities including a sensory lab to provide hands-on skills and testing, allied health clinics to support new courses being developed in Dietetics, Speech Pathology, Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy, spaces which enable community health education programs for children and older adults, and professional development workshops, sports science testing and wellbeing initiatives. Willis Street will be over three levels.

Launceston-based pro-vice-chancellor Dom Geraghty said the Inveresk campus personified UTAS' commitment to modernising its curriculum and method of delivery.

"This campus will feature tech-enabled spaces for student learning, for example, you won't see any lecture theatres here," he said.

Professor Geraghty said the River's Edge building will be the main location for UTAS staff and was sympathetic to the existing buildings. "Something we need to remember is that this is really shaping the industrial precinct at Inveresk, but UTAS is not the only tenant on that site," he said.

"We are really conscious that we want this to be the university as part of that industrial precinct, not the precinct becoming the campus."

Final elements of the campus are coming together, with UTAS submitting the development application for an 800-space car park on the ground formerly leased by the Royal Launceston Show Society. With that work ongoing, Professor Geraghty said the hope was to encourage the campus to be an "active campus" by encouraging pedestrian and cycling.

Existing UTAS buildings already on the site will also be refurbished to be given a new look to fit in with the new buildings. The Northern Transformation project, which includes new campuses in Launceston and Burnie are expected to create about 400 jobs during construction and 250 ongoing positions.