Health and Innovation Campus plans get the go-ahead

Proposals for a new flagship Health and Innovation Campus on a key site in Huddersfield have moved forward with outline planning permission granted.The University of Huddersfield submitted an outline application to Kirklees Council earlier this year for the redevelopment of the Southgate site.The land was previously occupied by two 11-storey housing developments, a sports centre, multi-storey car park and various other buildings, but was cleared and re-graded by the council in 2016. Part of site was recently used as a 166-space temporary car park.The university is aiming to develop a flagship Health Innovation Campus on the site to enable it to offer higher education degrees in the field of health and well-being.The campus would comprise more than 800,000 sq ft of space across a series of blocks, the tallest expected to stand at about eight storeys.The site would be sub-divided into seven key development plots. The first phase, which is currently subject to an architectural design competition, would comprise a landmark building of about 54,000 sq ft adjacent to Crown House at the gateway to the site.A multi-storey car park would be located to the rear of Crown House, with the five remaining plots arranged around the north- eastern section of the site and separated by landscaping and public realm.The council’s Strategic Planning Committee voted to grant planning permission, subject to conditions, at a meeting on 26 August.The decision to approve was in line with the recommendation of a planning officer’s report prepared for the meeting, as previously reported by Insider.