PLANS for the University of the West of England to leave its Glenside campus in Fishponds are under discussion again.
UWE first announced that it wanted to relocate its School of Health and Social Wellbeing from the former Glenside Hospital on Blackberry Hill to its main Frenchay campus three years ago.
The move was shelved a year later, with the university citing increased costs and spending cuts made necessary by its financial position, although it said it still intended to move in the long term.
Now UWE’s leaders have told staff they are looking at ways to “bring our campus-based activity together at Frenchay over the next five to seven years, creating a single, integrated and business-facing enterprise campus”.
They added: “This would mean a phased transition from our Glenside and City Campus sites, including Bower Ashton, into a reimagined Frenchay Enterprise Campus.
“We will be revisiting the original relocation plans for Glenside as part of this work.”
UWE’s board of governors will discuss the plans in November.
No decision yet
A UWE Bristol spokesperson said: “We are currently developing the Frenchay campus estate masterplan, which includes consideration of the potential consolidation of the School of Health and Social Wellbeing, currently based at Glenside campus, onto Frenchay campus.
“No decisions have been made at this stage.
“Should such a move proceed, it is not anticipated to take place within the next five years.”
The initial relocation plan was announced alongside a project to create an ‘Integrated Care Academy’ in cooperation with NHS, commercial, charity and independent organisations from the health and social care sector.
UWE says that if the move proceeds, it would involve the School of Health and Social Wellbeing relocating to Frenchay campus, while the Integrated Care Academy project is pursued as a separate initiative.
The university is “reviewing potential options” for Glenside after that.
The spokesperson said: “No decisions have been made in relation to the future of the site.”
Homes plan
Soon after the original relocation plans were announced in 2023, the campus was earmarked as a potential site for 300 new homes in the council’s draft Local Plan blueprint for future development.
Both the former hospital buildings and grounds are Grade II-listed, which gives them a degree of legal protection.
Around 5,500 students study at Glenside, 275 living on site, and 300 staff work there.
UWE is currently celebrating 30 years since the campus opened as the Faculty of Health and Social Care in 1996.
The history of healthcare on the site dates to 1861, with the opening of Bristol Municipal Lunatic Asylum. It was used as a military hospital during the First World War, before returning to the treatment of mental illness as Bristol Mental Hospital and then Glenside Hospital, which closed in 1994.