Roof at university building will be topped with wild flowers and grass

7:06am Sunday 3rd December 2006

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A wild flower roof is to be the crowning feature of the new £13.8m extension to the Tremough campus of the Combined Universities in Cornwall at Penryn.

Contractor Leadbitter is making good headway on the construction work, which began in July, and is on target to have the academic block ready for students next autumn.

To lessen the visual impact of the structure, it has been dug into the side of a hill, and will feature a wild flower roof and other external finishes to help it to blend into the landscape.

The roof at the Tremough campus will be a non-access area, topped with a shallow layer of soil and planted with the seeds of meadow grasses and wild flowers that require little or no irrigation, fertilisation or maintenance.

Rob Bradley, Leadbitter's regional director, said: "The impact of the building has always been an important consideration. A wild flower roof is unusual but I think with this and the other low-impact design features, this new building will be a fitting and popular addition to the campus.

"We have deliberately chosen a variety of local plants to encourage them to flourish in the maritime climate. We are on target to have the concrete frame of the building completed by Christmas."

The new building will incorporate purpose-built laboratories, dark rooms and studio facilities to accommodate the relocation of University College Falmouth's photography degree and new degree courses in press photography and marine and natural history photography, as well as sound studios and media rooms for the expansion of its broadcast industry standard media centre.

The building will also include lecture theatres and seminar rooms to be used by Exeter University, who will introduce new degree courses in 2007.

The extension is part of the £55 million second phase of the CUC initiative, which is also creating university-level facilities at Truro College, Penwith College and at Cornwall College campuses in Rosewarne, Camborne, St. Austell, Newquay, Stoke Climsland and Saltash.