Transforming our Inveresk campus

The University already has a significant presence at Inveresk, including the School of Creative Arts, the School of Architecture and Design and the 120-bed student accommodation. The move of the rest of the campus will create a university city, with easy pedestrian, bike and public transport access, high visibility and integration with community and industry.

This development provides a historic opportunity to design a modern fit-for-purpose campus, lift educational attainment and revitalise the region. We are building a contemporary, vibrant campus that is distinctive to Northern Tasmania and provides a unique experience to future students, staff and the community. CBD-located campuses mean that all members of the community – not just students – can benefit from the facilities.

The Newnham campus is poorly designed for contemporary learning, teaching and research, underutilised, with run-down infrastructure and facilities. Refurbishing Newnham would be more expensive than developing a new campus. Inveresk provides the ability to create learning spaces which support face-to-face learning, digital connectivity and a village atmosphere which encourages informal learning and collaboration.

New courses will be supported by purpose-built facilities at Inveresk, including:

• Diploma of Paralegal Studies
• First year Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery (4th and 5th year already in North)
• Associate Degree Social Sciences - Policing Practices
• Bachelor of Agricultural Science
• Bachelor of Pharmacy
• Master of Clinical Psychology / Master of Professional Psychology
• New Allied Health Masters courses (Physiotherapy, Speech Pathology, Occupational Therapy)
• Master of Professional Engineering (Timber Design)

The new Northern car park at Inveresk is now operational with 752 spaces available. Entry is via Forster Street with a 5min walk 450m to the heart of Inveresk Precinct. Casual payment is available for students, staff and the community for $1 an hour up to a maximum of $4 per session. Alternatively, staff can use their salary sacrificed University of Tasmania parking permit. Accessible parking is available in the Inveresk circle car park with entry via Invermay Road.

Active transport options are encouraged to Inveresk including public transport, walking, cycling or scooter to campus with end-of-trip (shower and change room) facilities being developed.

To support the transition between campuses, students and staff can enjoy free Metro bus service between the Inveresk and Newnham campuses. Stops are located on Maritime Way at Newnham and Invermay Road at Inveresk with Metro Route 110 buses available every half hour during the week, and every two hours on a Saturday. All buses on this route are accessible with low floor plates. A current University ID card must be shown to access the free ride.

It is important to design and build - and crucially to innovate - in places just like Inveresk. The challenges of the site are common on a global scale, and the University is confident in the ability of contemporary engineering to address these challenges.

The benefits of Inveresk as a location for educational opportunities extend to the entire community, creating a hive of activity, connections to the city and a destination of choice for locals and visitors to the region.

Flood resilient design and materials will be incorporated on the lower levels of the buildings and flood mitigation, prevention and response will be considered throughout design, construction and occupancy for every part of the new campus.

The ground floors will be elevated 500mm above the existing relative level (RL), considering projected 2090 flood modelling (released by City of Launceston in 2019). The ground floors will be designed to be easily decantable in the event of an evacuation being required.

The University of Tasmania Inveresk/Invermay Planning Report (Flooding) is an independent report which outlines how new development and intensification of existing buildings at Inveresk within the area potentially exposed to flooding can be risk managed in accordance with contemporary flood risk management principles.

The intent of the report is not to justify the University’s relocation but to identify, document and control the associated risks to levels considered acceptable to the community and reflect national best practice.

Key points in the report include:

• Categorisation of flood risk: The prime criterion is the safety of people. The ext criterion is, as far as practicable and reasonable to do so, to ensure the structure and materials are flood resistant.
• Likelihood of flooding: Updated flood frequency analysis identified in the 2018 BMT Flood Risk Summary is prudent for consideration during campus design.
• In he event of flooding: Heavy rain forecasts are now possible several days in advance, generating enough information for the Bureau of Meteorology to issue warnings as required. Evacuation is the responsibility of the Tasmanian Police, with action and advice from State Emergency Services and City of Launceston through their well-equipped Municipal Emergency Management Plan (MEMP) and knowledge of the levee system& and procedures, the most recognised flood control measure in Launceston.

The University is developing a flood emergency management plan which is consistent with City of Launceston’s processes. This plan details risk to life in the event of flooding, forecasts and warnings, pre-flood actions, evacuation and reoccupation timelines and procedures.

The following report was submitted to City of Launceston in June 2019, as part of the development application for Stage 1:

Library and Student Services building – Flood study report (PDF 4.9 MB)

The Australian Maritime College and Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture will remain at Newnham. Work is underway to create a vibrant, mixed-use Newnham Precinct which supports research and industry engagement, in addition to community facilities and new housing.

Find out more about Transforming our Newnham campus

The three new buildings which are being brought to life at Inveresk place a strong emphasis on sustainability principles, collectively delivering over a 30% reduction in embodied carbon. Around 6.5 km of surplus gas pipelines have been repurposed into more than 366, 18-metre length piles for the building foundations, while low carbon concrete, water-efficient fittings, a high-performance insulating façade system, and maximised daylight coupled with sensor-driven lighting to reduce energy consumption have been included. Tasmanian timber is also used extensively throughout both the structure and internal finishes, lowering the carbon footprint of each build because of low emissions associated with its production and sequestering of carbon. Our circular economy focus is also on display with smart bins incorporated into each new building at key entry spaces to gather and sort waste, food organics, and recyclables with interactive monitoring and display for users to help reduce contamination. The building designs also focussed on ‘deconstructability’ for the re-use of materials in the future when buildings are decommissioned, such as carpets throughout being recycled and recyclable.

A series of outdoor spaces – known as the Urban Realm – will help green the Inveresk Precinct with many new native tree plantings. It will include a community food garden encouraging visitors to engage directly with the cycles of growing local produce. The food garden will include a composting facility able to turn raw organic material and compostable café serving ware from across the precinct into garden compost for use on site. The new car park bordering the Northern end of the precinct has been sealed with Reconophalt – a surfacing material comprised of crushed, recycled items that diverted around 710,000 plastic bags and 20,700 toner cartridges from landfill. The car park will also have 8 electric vehicle charging points. End of trip facilities for active transport such as cycling and running include showers, lockers and electric bike charging points.