Morgan Sindall Construction has successfully completed the first phase of transforming Gloucester's iconic Art Deco Debenhams building, creating a sustainable new City Campus for University of Gloucestershire.
Designed by ADP Architecture and delivered through the Pagabo Major Works framework, the adaptive reuse of the former department store offers a state-of-the-art centre for teaching, learning, and community services.
The scheme is set to be a major catalyst in the reinvigoration of Gloucester's high street and its wider city centre regeneration.
The City Campus in Kings Square is home to University of Gloucestershire’s Education, Psychology and Social Work programmes, forming a new city-centre base for 1,200 students and staff. It is also set to house public-facing services, including Gloucester's central library, and is already home to a new Arts, Health and Wellbeing Centre. These developments are anchoring the University firmly in the community to create a thriving city hub.
The project has embedded learning and innovation into the everyday life of the city, making education a visible and integral part of urban regeneration.
To date, the team has completely transformed the ground and first floors of the building to offer lecture and seminar rooms, study spaces, and space for a city library, while upgrading the whole building envelope. Future phases of the project will see all five-storeys of the 20,000m² building fully modernised.
The complex retrofit has been sensitively carried out across different sections of the site, dating back to the early 1900s, 1930s, and 1950s. Working closely with a conservation officer, the team retained original features to preserve the heritage and character of the iconic building, which sits in the heart of Gloucester City Conservation Area.
To bring the scheme up to contemporary energy standards, low-carbon design technologies and intelligent building systems for heating, cooling, ventilation, and lighting, including air source heat pumps, were implemented throughout. The team also carried out upgrades to ensure fire safety regulations are met in the conversion from retail to educational use. Externally, the team renovated and enhanced the building's iconic Art Deco elevation, including restoration of the leaded tracery from the original shop windows.
Since construction began, the Campus has delivered over £44 million in social value to the local community, which is a 74% return on the total project cost. This has been achieved through job creation, strengthened partnerships with local businesses and the third sector, and environmentally conscious building practices. A key driver of this impact has been the active engagement of 53 SME's, helping to boost local supply chains and support inclusive economic growth.
By bringing university students into the heart of Gloucester, the development is revitalising the high street, boosting footfall and vibrancy, and fostering a renewed sense of local pride.
Richard Fielding, Area Director for Morgan Sindall Construction in the Midlands, said: "It's been brilliant to see this old Debenhams building get a new lease of life as a university campus. These big retail spaces have sat empty for too long, so to transform one into a place that will bring thousands of students into the heart of Gloucester is exactly what the city needs.
"The building had real character that we wanted to preserve – working with those Art Deco features and the different sections dating back over decades was a fascinating challenge. It's always satisfying when you can retain that sense of history while creating something completely new and fit for purpose.
"The University has been fantastic to work with, and knowing that it is now home to more than 1200 students and staff makes it a really meaningful project for the local area."
Dame Clare Marchant, DBE, Vice-Chancellor of University of Gloucestershire, said: “The opening of City Campus is a proud moment for University of Gloucestershire. This landmark building provides state-of-the-art facilities to support our students’ learning, whilst also offering flexibility to accommodate future needs. As a community campus, it is the embodiment of our vision of being the Connected University. With shared spaces open to all, it places us right at the heart of Gloucester and creates new opportunities to work in partnership with local businesses, organisations and the communities we serve.”
Natalia Lopez, Associate Director at ADP, said: “We are so pleased to be part of this flagship project, which has transformed a landmark building in the centre of Gloucester into a dynamic, future-facing university campus.
“The project is more than a retrofit, it’s a bold statement about the future of our cities, where underused retail spaces can be reborn as engines of education, community, and renewal. This is architecture as urban repair, reactivating the high street, creating opportunity, and showing what’s possible when big-box retail buildings are reimagined for public good. It’s a model for regeneration everywhere.”
