Sandygate Mill welcomes UCLan students

The Mill, which is situated on Sandygate Street, near to the 136-bed Sandygate Halls and UCLan’s state-of-the-art medical teaching centre at Victoria Mill, is now home to the Burnley Campus Library and Students’ Union (SU), as well as providing office space for around 30 members of staff.

The trio of UCLan buildings based around Sandygate Square form a central canal side Campus hub for students based at UCLan Burnley. It marks another key milestone in the drive to transform Burnley into a university town, and part of UCLan’s ambitious plans to increase student numbers to 4,000.

The Pro-Vice Chancellor and Provost of UCLan's Burnley campus, Professor Ebrahim Adia, said: “With student numbers currently in the region of 1,850 and plans for further growth already in place, there isn’t a better time for UCLan to invest in the Burnley Campus.

“We continue to grow our course portfolio to meet the existing and emerging skills’ needs of Burnley and East Lancashire, particularly around health and medicine, and having the building infrastructure to support this is essential for developing a university town. As always, we have received nothing but support from our key partners in Burnley.

“We are now turning our attention to adding a further building to our growing University Campus around Sandygate. We are grateful for the support from the Levelling-Up Fund which will help to create further teaching capacity, staff offices and a business engagement space to help local businesses connect with expertise in the university.”

The University bought Sandygate Mill from Barnfield Construction as part of a wider multi-million pound boost from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund announced last October. UCLan has spent the last few months renovating the Mill ready to welcome students and staff. This includes new floors, ceilings, partitions, and furnishings for all four floors, as well as new IT infrastructure security.

UCLan Students'​Union President Zuleikha Chikh said: “The developments taking place at the Burnley Campus are promising and it is ideal for students to have access to the Students' Union, library, prayer and study space all located in one building.”