UTAS Vice-Chancellor Professor Rufus Black unveils four campus sites for Hobart

In an email to staff, the University of Tasmania has revealed plans for four campus sites in Hobart. Read what is planned.

Professor Kristyn Harman chair of Academic Senate, Professor Rufus Black Vice Chancellor, Professor Nicholas Farrelly Pro Vice Chancellor (southern Tasmania) at the UTAS Sandy Bay campus. University of Tasmania will reveal its shift in planning for the future of city and Sandy Bay campuses. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

• Plans to sell former K&D site

The University of Tasmania has unveiled four new campus sites in the south, including plans for a $500m STEM facility at Sandy Bay, and the sale of the former K&D site in Hobart’s CBD.

The four sites are for a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Campus at Sandy Bay, a City Campus encompassing existing facilities at a fully occupied Forestry Building, a Historic Campus at the university’s original home on the Domain and a Waterfront Campus comprising the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at Salamanca and Taroona.

Vice Chancellor Professor Rufus Black stressed the plan for UTAS’s new direction was contingent on securing significant government funding.

Asked if the four sites were a compromise for those lobbying for the university to remain at its Sandy Bay campus and abandon its move to the city, Professor Black said: “What this is, is the result of listening to a broad range of perspectives about what’s best for students, for staff, and best for Hobart.”

UTAS Vice Chancellor Rufus Black at the universities city student accommodation facility. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

In an email to staff on Tuesday afternoon, he said the new STEM facilities were “an urgent priority” and would need support from all levels of government as had been provided for the Launceston and Burnie campuses.

“This is an urgent priority for the state because unless we get started in the next 12 to 18 months, Tasmania won’t have new STEM facilities until well into the 2030s, putting us decades behind the rest of the country,” Professor Black said.

“STEM facilities really matter when so many new jobs and the competitiveness of our existing industries are dependent on science and technology.

“These facilities are urgently needed for students and staff, for the future of STEM education in Tasmania, and for our state’s ability to meet workforce needs.

“Developing a specialised campus at Sandy Bay provides opportunities to create a STEM precinct that enables other education providers and industry to co-locate and collaborate.

“We have to work together to inspire future scientists and teach the skills and create the knowledge that will support a better future for Tasmania.”

The university says it will work with the state and federal government to fund new STEM facilities at Sandy Bay including complete retrofits of some existing buildings, construction of some new buildings, and enhancing the campuses’ natural landscape.

In the email, Professor Black said the Forestry building was “on track” to take students from the start of 2026 from the Schools of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Tasmanian School of Business and Economics.

As well as the sale of the former K&D site in the CBD, property at 65 Argyle St also will be sold.

Site of Swisherr Hoops Academy Hobart on Murray Street. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

UTAS says it will also engage with the state government about the future of the land above Churchill Avenue in Sandy Bay and seek support from Parliament to ensure it is unencumbered so it can be developed to provide a funding contribution to new STEM facilities.

It says work is underway to update the existing business case approved by Infrastructure Australia in 2017 for a new STEM precinct in the Hobart CBD, after the state government made its preference for STEM on Sandy Bay clear earlier this year.

The law school decided to stay at Sandy Bay and not move to the city but Pro Vice-Chancellor for Campus Life Southern Tasmania Professor Nicholas Farrelly said the forestry building would be “a truly incredible teaching and research space in the heart of Hobart”.

“Filled with state-of-the-art, flexible teaching facilities, the Forestry building is perfectly located for students and staff who are studying and researching the ways our society works economically, culturally and politically,” Professor Farrelly said.

UTAS says the proceeds from the sale of the K&D block and Argyle St property would be go towards upgrading facilities including the ongoing project to redevelop the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies facilities at Taroona and the soon to commence research facility for the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture at Newnham.

Professor Black said the plan for four sites was decided based on the needs of Tasmania, staff and students, community feedback, new funding directions set by the federal government, the state government’s desire to see STEM remain at Sandy Bay and the Hobart City Council’s planning directions.

‘Scam’: Save UTAS rejects new direction for students

Save UTAS reacted angrily to the university’s four campuses plan saying it was a “scam and partial relocation”.

Save UTAS rally at Parliament lawns. Picture: Chris Kidd

Group co-chair Michael Foster said the plan for a STEM facility at the Sandy Bay campus said to cost $500m had not been costed and criticised students moving to the Forestry building.

“It undermines the Sandy Bay campus by irrationally locating two key schools miles from the campus,” he said.

“The recent experience of the Business School has shown this will lead to staff and student losses.

“Students want to be on campus and they will go to other universities where they can enjoy campus life.”

Mr Foster said if the Forestry building, K&D and the property in Argyle St were sold refurbishment of STEM could start straightaway.

Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said she hoped a new STEM hub would build on “our existing reputation and create a new chapter for the city”.

Lord Mayor of Hobart Anna Reynolds wants to remove the $800 fee for artists to submit work for murals in Hobart. Picture: Linda Higginson

“The University’s plan will cement Hobart’s status as a global city for science and innovation – particularly focused on the Antarctic,” she said.

“There are so many areas that Hobart can offer the nation and the world – research and product development in climate change solutions, marine science, circular economy and sustainability.”

Yes In My Backyard spokespeople Susan Wallace and Lachlan Rule said the university and government must ensure sustainable, liveable housing was delivered “as a matter of urgency” above Churchill Avenue, Sandy Bay.

“If the University is stepping back from plans to develop key central city sites, they need to do everything in their power to ensure the next owner builds the medium-density housing the city needs,” they said.

“We can’t have more of our CBD disappear under car-parks and fast food drive-throughs.”

Labor leader Dean Winter and education spokeswoman Sarah Lovell also welcomed the university’s new direction.

In a statement they said the government needed to “abandon their restrictive legislation which stands in the way of new STEM facilities and risks more young Tasmanians leaving the state”.

Government says it will fight for funding

The Rockliff government says it will support the University of Tasmania’s plan to establish a STEM campus at Sandy Bay and push for federal government funding complete the vision.

Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy Minister Madeleine Ogilvie, said Tasmanians deserve access to the most contemporary STEM facilities.

“With this future direction announcement, Tasmanians can be assured our government will support UTAS in their endeavours to make a STEM-led future at UTAS Sandy Bay a reality,” she said.

“I have been working closely with stakeholders to support the University’s important vision for STEM renewal at Sandy Bay. I am certain there will be broad support for this announcement.

“We understand that our important science and ICT sectors offer great potential for economic growth, together with global work opportunities, and that ICT leadership is essential to bridge the digital divide for all Tasmanians.

“We intend to strongly advocate to the Commonwealth to invest in Tasmanian’s STEM-led future.

“What message does it send to Tasmanians if the Commonwealth is unwilling to invest in this vital sector?

Ms Ogilvie said the government would moving its Bill to preserve the Sandy Bay campus through the House of Assembly in the coming parliamentary sitting.