Loughborough University

Looking to the future

Ground-breaking Sports Technology Institute created

A £15 million state-of-the-art Sports Technology Institute, established this year at Loughborough, in partnership with the East Midlands Development Agency (emda), is set to become a world leader in sport and leisure research, innovation and enterprise.

The Institute is home to the University's Sports Technology Research Group, which has an international reputation for its work with global brands on the design, simulation, testing and manufacture of sports equipment. Among its recent high profile projects are the development and validation in partnership with adidas of the 2006 World Cup football; the development of personalised football boots for premiership players; and work with Nike and Umbro on next generation garments for England's rugby and football teams.

Staff at the Institute will assist the country's elite athletes in their preparation for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, providing them with state-of-the-art training equipment, performance monitoring devices to enhance coaching and customised clothing and footwear. After the 2012 Games the legacy of an elite athlete support centre and technology hub for regional sports enterprise activities will remain.

The Institute will be officially launched next year.

Towards 2016 - a vision for Loughborough

The University this year published its Strategic Plan to 2016, outlining the way it will work and the outcomes it aspires to achieve over the next ten years.

Internationalisation – strengthening Loughborough's overseas profile and ensuring a multi-cultural experience for all the University's students – is a key theme of the plan. Global opportunities such as the 2012 Olympics will be maximized; high-level institutional partnerships will be developed further; and the University will work to ensure its students are fully prepared for the global workplace.

Producing research that matters will continue to be a crucial part of Loughborough's activity, and will support its aim to be a leading international research-intensive institution by 2016. The University will continue to offer its students a first class campus based education, delivering inspirational teaching and learning.

It will work to establish an international reputation for innovation and technology transfer, an area in which the University already has much expertise and success. The campus will be an environment that allows new companies to thrive, and partnerships with business and industry will be extended.

Loughborough's reputation for sports performance, education and research will be consolidated, and sports participation will be encouraged at every level. The arts will be prominent and, working with the local authority, the University will provide a culturally enriching environment for staff, students and local residents alike.

Plans will be developed for the University's estate, with environmental sustainability in mind and recognition of the need to maintain green, open space, and advancement and fundraising will be embedded throughout all the University's activities.

Science and Enterprise Park plans progress

Plans to create a Science and Enterprise Park at the University moved a step closer this year. An outline planning application was submitted to the local authority in the autumn to develop the 23-acre area of land, purchased in April 2006 with financial support from emda. A detailed business plan is now being drawn up.

The Park would allow the University to further develop its science and enterprise links with industry, by attracting research and development activities which require access to university expertise, and by providing facilities for its own researchers to develop their ideas.

Part of the land will also be developed to accommodate the national offices of various UK sporting organisation in a multi-million pound Sports Park.

Loughborough chosen to host £1 billion energy institute HQ

The Science and Innovation Minister announced in September that Loughborough had been selected to host the headquarters for the new Energy Technologies Institute (ETI).

The bid to bring the ETI to the region was coordinated by the Midlands Consortium, comprised of the universities of Birmingham, Loughborough and Nottingham – three world-class partners, all with extensive and complementary energy related research activities. Financial support has been provided, in a unique cross-border arrangement, by Advantage West Midlands and the East Midlands Development Agency (emda).

The ETI is being established to deliver solutions to help make the energy in homes and businesses safer, cheaper and more sustainable for the future. By bringing together skills and expertise from the public sector, businesses and the wider research community, it will help the UK to cut CO2 emissions to tackle climate change, deliver more efficient energy, and guarantee the country has the energy supplies it needs now and in the future.

The ETI will bring together some of the world's biggest companies, including BP, Caterpillar, EDF Energy, EON, Rolls-Royce and Shell. Their funding contribution, along with that of the Government, provides the Institute with a potential budget of more than £600 million over ten years. The involvement of other private companies could boost the cash pot up to £1 billion.

Bids to host the Institute were judged on energy research capability, reputation and culture; space, facilities and accessibility; and commitment to the ETI. Loughborough was selected to host the initiative as it offers an outstanding energy innovation environment, based in the University's Science and Enterprise Park.

Ian Pearson, the Science and Innovation Minister, said: "I am delighted that Loughborough is to be the home of the Energy Technologies Institute. It will be the hub for this critical research, development and deployment programme, which will develop secure, reliable and affordable low carbon energy technologies. The ETI will help to establish the UK as one of the leaders in global clean energy development and deployment."

The ETI is expected to be fully operational in 2008.

Loughborough shortlisted as Team GB training camp

Loughborough was this year shortlisted as one of four possible training camps for Team GB ahead of the London 2012 Olympics. A decision is expected at the start of 2008.

"If we are successful this will be a very big deal indeed; the eyes of the world would be on Loughborough, Leicestershire and the East Midlands in the weeks before the games when the British athletes would be here," said the University's Director of Sport, Chris Earle. "Loughborough probably has the best facilities in one square mile anywhere in the world. We would hope to work with the British Olympic Association to make additional improvements to help our Olympic team perform at its very best."

Many of the British athletes who are likely to feature next year in Beijing and at London in 2012 are either already studying at Loughborough or using its world-class facilities and support services.

As well as leading the way on the sporting field, the University is also at the forefront in sports science research. The campus is home to the Centre for Olympic Studies and Research, a joint initiative between Loughborough and the British Olympic Foundation, and boasts a wealth of internationally acclaimed academic experts in this area.

Development of new facilities moves forward

Construction of 1,300 new student bedrooms on the University campus began in June. The £68 million accommodation project is being developed in conjunction with the University Partnerships Programme (UPP) – the country's leading university partner in student accommodation. UPP will own and service the accommodation, while the University will be responsible for its management. The project is the largest single estate investment made by the University.

The development will provide three halls for undergraduates and one for postgraduates, in a mix of four and five storey buildings, arranged around a courtyard to identify the individual halls. The halls will be provided with self catering facilities but two of the halls will include flexible packages for the nearby restaurant and social centre.

Two halls will be ready for their first students in October 2008, with the third taking students in January 2009 and the fourth in October 2009.

Work also began on a new £12 million Health, Exercise and Bioscience building, which will create a world class facility to support the work of leading physiology and biological science researchers at the campus. Bringing together experts from the University's existing School of Sport and Exercise Sciences in a single location, the development will substantially enhance research capability.

The new building will include a number of laboratories, lecture theatres and office accommodation for staff, and will also house two climatic chambers, which can maintain constant temperature and humidity for environmental physiology research.

A £4 million, environmentally-friendly extension to the University's Business School was completed in September. The extension provides a high quality home for the Professional and Management Development Centre, which runs a wide range of executive education programmes, and nearly doubles the building's previous size, adding new teaching and seminar facilities, break-out areas, a café and staff offices.