Uni dream comes alive
BURNIE’S $52m new UTAS campus has officially opened – 10 years after talks were first held about moving it into the city.
Tasmania’s North-West has one of the lowest posthigh school education uptakes in the nation and it is hoped having a modern new campus on the waterfront will bolster higher education rates.
The development is the first building to be brought to life through the Northern Transformation Program and has been funded through contributions from the Tasmanian and Australian governments, Burnie City Council and the university.
The former campus in the Mooreville Rd education precinct is set to be redeveloped too and will become Burnie’s new court complex.
University Vice-Chancellor Rufus Black said students in the North-West now had modern facilities as good as anywhere in the world.
“It is also a building you could find nowhere else – a building about the coast. Its design reflects the headlands that stretch along the rugged Bass Strait coastline, the rolling
fields and the industrial heritage of Burnie,” Professor Black said.
When discussions were first held about moving the UTAS campus into the CBD, the former pulp mill site was also considered before West Park was named as the preferred
option. Burnie Mayor Steve Kons said the new facility meant young people could stay on the NorthWest Coast to get a university education and having students so close to the CBD would also enliven the city.
Minister for State Growth
Roger Jaensch said former prime minister Joseph Lyons stood on the same site in 1928 to announce a new Burnie high school would be built.
Part of that building remains and is the Domestic Arts faculty.
“I call on the people of the
North-West to fill this space and bring it alive,” Mr Jaensch said.
Construction was overseen by local firm Fairbrother and designed by John Wardle Architects with support from Philp Lighton.