Case study

£20 million for Peterborough’s new interactive science lab

A city centre brownfield site is being transformed with £20 million from the Levelling Up Fund.

A new and interactive science lab will be created with education space for up to 1700 students studying:

  • science
  • technology
  • engineering
  • maths

Peterborough’s Living Lab

The Living Lab forms part of the new Anglia Ruskin University’s Peterborough campus.

The Living Lab will host events and exhibitions such as a festival of ideas. This will showcase the city’s Net Zero future by using:

  • immersive displays
  • evening classes

The Living Lab will also help to:

  • attract up to 50,000 public visitors per year
  • develop skills for the future
  • create more than 500 jobs

Professor Ross Renton, Principal of Anglia Ruskin University Peterborough, said:

This funding will help us deliver a fantastic learning environment. A first-class university will help increase opportunities, improve social mobility, and provide an economic boost to the local economy, while the Living Lab will offer a unique, hands-on science space that will be a fabulous asset for the city and wider region.

Awards from the Levelling Up Fund will support all 3 phases of the Peterborough campus development.

Benefit to the local area

The investment will re-establish the embankment, making a community green space.

Other regeneration projects in the city will focus on:

  • attracting higher skilled jobs to the area
  • addressing the city’s skills gaps
  • boosting visitor numbers

The first phase of the new university campus opened in September 2022. The Living Lab is expected to open in 2024.

Find out more about levelling up.

Updates to this page

Published 17 January 2023