Look around at The Lab at ARU Peterborough with Professor Ross Renton, principal.
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00:00Peterborough is a really interesting city. It's a cathedral city. We've got some fantastic
00:23green spaces and we've got a really great community, a really diverse community. But
00:29also it's got a range of challenges. It's one of the coldest spots in the country for
00:33higher education. That's why what we're doing at the moment is so important, so vital for
00:38changing those opportunities. The city deserves a top-notch university. We've got to think
00:46not just for the next five years, ten years, it's decades. You know, universities are weather
00:52vanes. They don't move around in the wind. They are a direction for this city and an
00:58anchor for its future. So we want to make sure we're creating something that is important
01:02now but will be important in the future. ARU Peterborough is probably the most mission-driven
01:10institution I've ever been at. We are providing a future for so many Peterboreans and people
01:17from the surrounding areas. So we are inspiring the future, creating those opportunities by
01:22having our phase three building, The Lab, which really is a phenomenal building. Each
01:28building is different but I think this third one has taken that to another level. It's
01:33the first time we've had a category two lab in the city. It means it opens up opportunities
01:38for course provision but also collaboration with industry. The building also includes
01:42the Living Lab. The research that we'll be doing here, the research we're already doing,
01:47it's really starting to shape what the opportunities are and making sure this city really is standing
01:52out on the map. Every single metre of space has been very carefully thought about. The
02:00design of it, the approach that's been taken, it means we've got something that now feels
02:04that you are part of a university campus. We've got these beautiful, beautiful ceilings,
02:10lighter walls, a lot of glass. Look out to our city. You can see the cathedral and you
02:16can see the rest of the campus. You've got nature around you and that's so important.
02:22But it actually only comes to life when students go in and start to use it. Seeing their eyes
02:28lighter, they are so excited by it. The scale of it, the feel that you get from the natural
02:33materials that are used. Having a high quality environment around you makes such a difference.
02:38Looking at all the students in their classrooms, I'm so grateful to have been a part of that.
02:43This building is an important building block in what we're doing. We need to have the right
02:47facilities. It's a set of ingredients if you like. If you've got all of those, then you've
02:52got a world-class university at the heart of this city and that really is a future I
02:58think we can all be proud of.