The17,000 m² scheme will sit on a 0.64 hectare site between Stockwell Street, Nevada Street and King William Walk and will also house the university’s 7,000 m² library which currently occupies the former infirmary building designed by James ‘Athenian’ Stuart’s (built 1794).

Professor David Wills, the university’s deputy vice-chancellor, believes the contest - launched through the European tender process (OJEU 2009/S 84-121373) – will attract a wealth of talent.

He said: ‘In any circumstances we would expect this to be popular with architects: it’s a high profile project, in London, based within a World Heritage Site [Maritime Greenwich ]and with a lot of scope to come up with interesting ideas for a new school ofaArchitecture & construction and a university library.


‘In the current environment, with a downturn in the building industry, of course we are expecting especially high levels of interest in a development on this scale.’

He added: ‘On the whole, we welcome that – increased competition will enable us to ensure that we get the very best architectural design for the site. The university hopes to attract a broad range of talent.’

Wills did not rule out smaller firms entering. He went on: ‘There is no limit on the size of the practices that we will consider for this opportunity, we will judge bids on their capability and capacity to deal with this complex project.

‘Where smaller practices may not be able to achieve this on their own, we are happy to consider bids from small practices in collaboration with larger ones.’

He concluded: ‘We hope that this opportunity will produce innovative ideas for an inspiring piece of contemporary architecture.’


The deadline for requests to participate is 22 May.