An ‘intellectual turbocharger’

THE University of Tasmania’s STEM centre is a head-turning project, says Infrastructure Australia’s Mark Birrell, in response to the UTAS business case submitted last year.

Priced at about $400 million, the proposed Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) centre would fill a 23,000 square metre site on the corner of Argyle and Melville streets in the Hobart CBD.

It has been described by former UTAS vicechancellor Peter Rathjen as like putting an intellectual turbocharger into the middle of Hobart to fire up the city and make it sciencecentric.

It would likely result in 3000 students and 700 staff adding vibrancy to the CBD.

The project has support from the councils around Hobart, which believe it would help students from their municipalities who find transport to the UTAS Sandy Bay campus difficult to negotiate. A new centre in the CBD would mean the university would not have to undertake $500-$600 million renovations to the existing campus and arguably allow the sale of land above Churchill Ave.

Experts believe the industries of the future will require more graduates in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics and the STEM project would be a significant driver of productivity for the state and the nation.