University of Hertfordshire – De Havilland Campus

Designed to be a new centre for the University of Hertfordshire, the de Havilland Campus features academic facilities to accommodate 5,500 students and 900 faculty members within the University’s Business School and the faculties of Humanities and Education. The University appointed Turnberry to provide a strategic development plan for the new campus, working on the selection of the architects, guiding crucial funding and procurement transactions including the disposal of key real estate assets necessary to finance the capital programme. The development of the de Havilland campus was a significant milestone for the University, which previously operated across five scattered locations.

From conceptual planning in 1996, the scheme advanced to completion on schedule and under budget in the Autumn of 2003. This financially and logistically ambitious undertaking involved levering the capital out of existing sites whilst remaining operational in order to forward fund the new scheme. The project was further complicated by the nature of procurement of the new campus, as the academic buildings were to be directly developed by the University and the sports facilities and residences delivered through the Government’s Private Finance Initiative. However, these two elements were still delivered through a single master plan.

The success of the new de Havilland Campus has been a major factor in attracting staff and students to the University of Hertfordshire. Turnberry has continued advising the University on estate matters, including upgrading the University master plan and securing planning permission for additional new buildings on the campus.