Advancing Educational Excellence

In July 2023, The Irish Government committed €44.5m from the Shared Island Fund, supported by circa £7m from University reserves, for a major investment for the campus to expand higher education on both sides of the border. The project will involve the construction of new teaching and student services centre adjacent to the library at Northland Road.

The new facilities will promote a creative, innovative, transformative and vibrant environment that will stimulate, inspire and add value to our core activities of teaching and learning, and research and innovation.

Facilities will include:

• Interactive and flexible teaching and seminar spaces to accommodate 15 – 350.
• Cutting edge computer labs designed to support learning, creativity and research.
• Mix of modern open plan and private break out spaces for collaborative working.
• Welcoming student services hub and office spaces  designed to encourage students to access support.
• A vibrant café  providing a relaxed environment for students  to catch up and connect.
• Landscaped surroundings with terraces and courtyards  to relax and enjoy campus life.
• Link bridge to library building for seamless connectivity to existing student facilities and teaching spaces.

McAdam Design has been appointed as the Integrated Consultancy Team and Atkins Realis as Consultant Project Management team and have shared designs for what the teaching and student services building might look like.

In July 2026 planning permission was granted and next steps for the project include finalising the technical design and completing the contractor appointment process.

The project will now progress into the contract award and pre-construction phase, with the successful contractor being appointed to commence enabling activities and site preparation works ahead of construction commencing in late 2026.

In February 2025, the Department for the Economy and Ulster University acquired land necessary to drive forward the expansion of the Derry~Londonderry campus to achieve 10,000 students. Due to rapid growth in student numbers the campus is at maximum capacity and more space is required to accommodate this need.

Ones of the sites, Timber Quay has been transformed into computing laboratory-based teaching and learning environments for new and returning students from the School of Computing, Engineering and Intelligent Systems. From early 2026, a second stage of development will introduce further teaching spaces for students, ready for September of the same year.

The additional land acquired in partnership with DfE around Queen’s Quay will help add additional spaces in the future.