Reading University plans £50m life sciences building

Plans have been published for a new £50m Health & Life Sciences Building at the University of Reading.The four-storey building will have 7,557 m2 of lab and teaching space, and will bring together health and life sciences teaching with the School of Biological Sciences – currently spread across six buildings on campus. It will also become the new site of the Cole Museum of Zoology.Subject to planning permission, construction is expected to be complete by summer 2019. The site of the building will be in place of the current Engineering Building, which will be demolished in early 2017.As it is situated between Wokingham and Reading borough councils, Wokingham is acting as the lead council for the planning application. The project forms part of the university’s £400m capital investment programme to 2026; once the new building is completed, the older AMS Tower, Knight and Harborne Buildings will be demolished.