Introduction By John Cater, the Vice-Chancellor

Thank-you for looking at this website.  Edge Hill University is proud to share its exciting proposals for replacement and enhanced sports facilities with you.

The last ten years has been a period of considerable success for the University.  We are increasingly regarded  by many students as their  preferred place to study  as evidenced by the fourfold growth in applications and have received numerous awards  recognising  the quality of our teaching and learning. We are the third largest employer in West Lancashire and over the last 5 years have contributed up to £800m to the local economy.  Over £130m has been invested into the physical environment over the last decade which has led to a high quality sustainability-led campus where students, staff and the local community can study, work and play. These are achievements of which we which we can all be proud.

To remain competitive and meet the needs of students, the University needs to continue to improve the campus experience.  We are now in the position where we need to relocate our existing sports facilities eastwards to release areas within the existing campus footprint for redevelopment.  This also however, presents an opportunity to improve and enhance these facilities to service both our rapidly developing Sport and Physical Activity Department and the local community which make over 160,000 visits to the current sport facilities each year. 

What we propose is a state of the art sporting facility for the University and for the community.  As with all campus development, we have applied robust sustainability principles to create an exciting facility set within a high quality and sympathetic landscape and ecological/wildlife setting. We have also taken the opportunity to create new and improved access arrangement onto the campus thereby seeking to relieve access issues from St Helens Road.

We hope you can support the University in continuing to play its part in the success of the region.