The Heart of the Campus project proposes public realm improvement works including provision of a covered walkway, seating and performance space, raised walkways and regrading of gardens, planting and tree works and pedestrian prioritisation of Rottenrow, North Portland Street, and Richmond Street.

A project team including Armours, Pick Everard, Stantec and Raeburn Farquhar Bowen have been assembled for the public realm job.

Design documents state: “The proposed development is driven by a strategic ambition to provide an outstanding student experience supported by the transformation of the campus.

“The Heart of the Campus project will continue this and will specifically improve the visual appeal and biodiversity of the university’s surroundings and create an engaging campus where students will want to stay.”

The university added: “Heart of the Campus will embrace the sustainable management of rainwater throughout the gardens, positively expressed through the landscape, both in a functional and attractive way: cleaning, slowing and integrating the rainwater through rain gardens, swales and channels, and enhance biodiversity in the Gardens.

“The walkway will be a bespoke, elegant feature within the gardens and will be a mass timber structure with a green roof.”