Hild Bede redevelopment

Accommodation for 24/25

We’ve got exciting things planned for the future of St Hild and St Bede, with the redevelopment and refurbishment of the College’s historic home planned for the academic year 2024/25.

We’re really pleased to say that while this work takes place, the College will be based at Rushford Court. This purpose-built student accommodation, within walking distance of the city centre, provides students with en-suite rooms on a self catered basis. A range of college facilities are currently under development on site including a cafe-bar, common room, gym, music room and study spaces.

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Refurbishment and redevelopment ​​​​​​​

Our project team, which includes representation from The College of St Hild and St Bede, has been actively involved in a market engagement exercise to progress with the refurbishment and redevelopment of Hild Bede and the Leazes Road site. This work is currently scheduled to start in 2025.  

We are pleased to announce that after a competitive process, we have selected UPP to work with the project team as our preferred bidder. Working in partnership with UPP, we will develop and deliver a refurbished new home for Hild Bede on its historic Riverside location, alongside proposals for a new college neighbour for the College on the site. In addition, we are seeking to develop postgraduate accommodation as annexes to the existing Hill Colleges at Elvet Hill. 

UPP is a multi-discipline, full-service Design, Build, Fund and Operate (DBFO) company that is dedicated to the Higher Education sector. With over 25 years' operating in the sector and having invested over £3.5bn, they have a long-established reputation for delivering campuses at scale, including an interest in developing college estates. They currently support 35,000 students on their journey through higher education with a commitment to partnership working.  

UPP was chosen as result of their comprehensive bid including some very important factors: 

• The bid demonstrated a strong commitment to adopt a partnership approach in the renovation of Hild Bede  
• A sympathetic design approach which respects the community, heritage and parkland aspects of the Leazes Road site 
• A commitment to delivering on the University’s Sustainability and Net Zero aspirations  
• The UPP team includes a local construction partner 

Plans for the sites are not yet confirmed and over the coming months we will continue to actively engage with key stakeholders to ensure we work together to develop an exciting proposal for Hild Bede that respects its history and readies it for the future.  

We will keep you updated as this work progresses. 

Find out more about UPP.