NTU to build new skills centre on Clifton Campus

Nottingham Trent University has been granted planning permission for a new building on its Clifton Campus.

The building will act as a ‘clinical skills centre’ and will house 120 staff members.

The development will measure 34,000 square feet and will be located next to the Lionel Robbins building.

This means the current Catalyst and Nanoscience laboratory, which is “underused” according to The Business Desk, will be demolished.

The Business Desk reports: “The new facility will support teaching, assessments and learning opportunities in a variety of clinical and simulated settings for training of healthcare professionals.”

The development will also lead to the relocation of the campus bus shelter which is currently located in the building’s position.

This new building on Clifton campus comes after the recent redevelopment of the Clifton Students’ Union and the construction of the Engineering building, which opened last academic year.

One entire floor will be dedicated to simulated healthcare environments including hospital wards, consultation and counselling rooms, and even a flat for home and emergency care scenarios.

The settings will also feature lifelike patient manikins to give students the experience of working with men, women and children with a variety of injuries.

Two additional floors will provide office and flexible teaching spaces, including removable seating in lecture theatres to allow for creative learning approaches such as role play.

The centre will allow NTU to equip future healthcare professionals with the knowledge and skills needed for modern healthcare.

The interior will feature a variety of healthcare settings for practical experience. (Credit: Nottingham Trent University)

Dr Anne Felton, head of the Institute of Health & Allied Professions, said: “Contemporary registered healthcare professionals are required to be dynamic and flexible.

“As well as providing compassionate care, they need to be able to think critically, make complex decisions and lead.

“Fostering these skills in the next generation of nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals requires universities to use a range of teaching and learning strategies which complement and enhance the time students spend in practice during their courses.

“The facilities in this cutting-edge new building will enable us to recreate a ward setting, or a persons’ home environment, so students can practice and apply the skills they are learning in a safe way and in a realistic context, as well as creating scenarios for students that may be rare in a real world situation.”

Executive Dean of the School of Social Sciences at NTU, Professor Sara Owen, added: “Simulations and virtual reality are providing huge opportunities in healthcare education and we are proud of the technological advances and facilities on offer in this building.

“They will enable us to make these creative and innovative approaches an integral part of our education and give our students the best possible experience.”

The scheme is being led by NTU’s capital projects group within the Estates Department and the delivery team includes external project managers, Edge, together with architects, Pick Everard, and Turner & Townsend, Atkins and Waterman Group, as well as the main contractor Henry Brothers.

The project is due for completion by January 2022.

By Faith Pring

Featured image credit: The Business Desk

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