We have been appointed as Architect and Lead Designer for relocating some of University of York’s academic departments and centres to the main campus.

The departments and centres are currently based in different parts of campus, mainly in King’s Manor – a city-centre location that is historically significant but a highly constrained building due to its Listed status and accessibility challenges.

Staff and students will be co-located onto the main campus to make sure Arts and Humanities at York has exceptional space to support teaching, laboratories, academic workspace, community events and a strong research environment.

The transition will take place in two phases, with the first involving the development of Heslington Hall. GSSArchitecture conducted an initial feasibility study in collaboration with the University to integrate a wide range of academic activities, including the Humanities Research Centre, the Centre for Medieval Studies, the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies, History of Art and Liberal Arts, as well as office space.

This move will pave the way for the second phase: the Department of Archaeology’s relocation to the Berrick Saul Building. This will further develop the Department’s facilities, including its digital research and teaching labs, Human and Zooarchaeology teaching and research, and state-of-the-art immersive VR facilities. A key highlight of this project are plans for its impressive DNA lab.