Refurbishments and upgrades to the university’s Florence Boot Hall (FBH) on University Park Campus are due to commence from Monday 27 September 2021.

During this time, the accommodation will be closed to students, re-opening in time for September 2022’s new intake.

The works will involve a total refurbishment of the building, including overhauling the building fabric, installing new en-suite and shared bathrooms and updating the interiors.

The building will also boast significant sustainability upgrades, including new air source heat pumps, increasing wall insulation values and introducing triple glazing for windows.

Professor Todd Landman, Pro-Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Social Sciences at the university, said: “We are delighted to commence the refurbishment of our heritage student accommodation Florence Boot Hall.

The project team has engaged in a meticulous planning process with wide consultation across the university community in line with our Estates Development Framework, our sustainability commitments, and our commitment to our students.

The newly refurbished hall will offer our students accessible, comfortable, digitally enabled, and modernised accommodation that also embraces the history and tradition of the hall.”

As part of our commitment to delivering excellent facilities to our students, two surveys were run in 2019 to gather student views on accommodation at the university – and after reviewing the feedback, the decision was made to upgrade the building.

As Florence Boot Hall was part of the Willoughby Hall Welcome Point last year, some staff members from FBH will join the Welcome Point West team during the closure, with other members of the team moving to other Welcome Points.

Florence Boot Hall will be the first of the on-campus halls of residence to be renovated under a wider refurbishment project as part of the university’s commitment to improving our on-campus halls of residence offering.