Director of Property Mark Broomfield couldn’t be busier; he’s overseeing around $60 million worth of campus development projects this year.

“The projects are a mix of upgrades and expansions of our teaching and research facilities, as well as some far-horizon works that will improve the day-to-day student and staff experience of being on campus,” Mark says.

The rerouting of University Avenue to the south of the Creek, which commenced last year, is an example of the latter.

“This is the first of a series of steps to take traffic out of the core of the campus, with Macquarie Drive becoming more pedestrian-friendly as a result and helping to make the campus a safer and more peaceful place,” he says.

“Next steps include the transformation of the main entrance at Waterloo Road, for which planning is underway. A design competition has also commenced to replan the central courtyard and surrounding buildings.”

The largest investments in 2015, however, will go into improving teaching and research facilities, including $3.8 million for the refurbishment and upgrade of C5A, E7B, C5C, E8A, E4B and W5C to create new or refurbished teaching and tutorial spaces, and $5 million for the Australian Hearing Hub to be used as a decant space.

Headlining the works for the Faculty of Science and Engineering will be an estimated $30 million for the first ‘whole of building’ upgrade to E7A, one of the first buildings on campus, including a new external lift and amenities core, which apart from servicing E7A will also provide disabled access into E7B upper levels. This is scheduled to commence in the middle of the year and the result, to be completed in 2016, will provide world class working space for the Departments of Earth and Planetary Science, Environmental Science and Geography, and Maths and Statistics. It will also be home for the Faculty’s Student Centre, situated adjacent to an informal meeting/learning space linking E7A and E7B via an atrium, fronting the central courtyard.

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering spaces to get a makeover in 2015 include the Seawater Facility in E8C, and E8A Chemistry and Biology laboratories.

“Our main goals are to ensure the campus has the facilities required to attract and retain the best students and staff, and to support world-class research,” Mark says.