UCL announces second campus - UCL East - on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

UCL is to build a new second campus on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, to form part of a wider Education and Cultural Quarter following the government's announcement of £141m in support of the project. UCL East, expected to open in 2018, is envisaged as a radical new model of how a university campus can be embedded in the local community and with businesses, as well as providing world-leading research, education, entrepreneurship and innovation. It is anticipated that the new UCL East site south of the ArcelorMittal Orbit will cover 11 acres and provide up to 125,000m2 of space, with the first major construction phase of the development establishing an operational presence on the Park by autumn 2018. With the project now confirmed, UCL will be seeking to develop some immediate initiatives that can be developed ahead of the main building project, building on community engagement initiatives that have been taking place over the last year, including summer schools, activities by the Grant Museum of Zoology for families, a mentoring scheme and taster days to encourage young people across Newham to consider going to university. The first phase of the UCL East site - totalling 50,000 m2 - will bring together expertise across disciplines, with the aim of forging new connections between researchers and business; fostering radical innovation, new insights and new industries. They will include: The UCL Generator which will build on UCL's existing world-class activities in design to open the university's first School of Design.