Defence Online

The latest phase of Cardiff University’s £300m Innovation Campus has been given the green light.The two 130,000 sq ft buildings will bring researchers, businesses, public sector backers and students together in a bid to unlock ideas that drive economic growth.The £135m project on the city’s brownfield Maindy Park site is the latest phase of a wider development.The project, outlined two years ago by vice-chancellor Colin Riordan, aims to establish centres of excellence that help the economy to create a self-sustaining cycle for growth.It will include a range of facilities including semiconductor research centte, the Institute for Compound Semiconductors, and Cardiff Catalysis Institute.It will also include Spark, a new social science research park, and the Innovation Centre, a creative base for start-ups.The campus is the third phase of development at Maindy Park following the Hadyn Ellis Building, opened in 2013, and Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, opened by the Queen in June 2016.Architecture practices HawkinsBrown and HOK worked on the project alongside site masterplanner BDP and town planning consultancy DPP.