The University of East London Docklands Campus is a campus of the University of East London (UEL) situated in the Docklands area of east London. The campus opened in 1999. It is one of two campuses in UEL, the other being the Stratford Campus.
The campus is adjacent to the Royal Albert Dock, closed to commercial shipping since the 1980s and now largely used as a water sports centre and rowing course, see London Regatta Centre. The Cyprus station of the Docklands Light Railway is directly connected to the pedestrian spine of the campus, and offers links to Canary Wharf and central London.
London City Airport is directly opposite the campus, on the other side of the Royal Albert Dock. The distinctive rounded halls of residence buildings can be seen from across the dock.
Docklands was London's first new university campus to be built in over half a century.[1] The Business School will[2] incorporate the Petchey Centre for Entrepreneurship, named in honour of its benefactor, entrepreneur Jack Petchey.
AVA Building
As part of the consolidation efforts by the University of East London, The AVA (Architecture and Visual Arts) School was set up in 2004. Housing the architecture, fashion, textiles and graphic design departments, the AVA centre was the first major development on the Docklands campus after the student accommodation.
Also based at the Docklands Campus are the Business School, the School of Computing, Information Technology and Engineering, and the School of Social Sciences, Media and Cultural Studies.
New student accommodation opened in 2008 and the campus now has 1,200 student rooms, together with shops, cafes and a restaurant, launderettes and an open-air fitness suite. A sports centre is scheduled for construction with a planned opening in 2011. The campus library is housed in the Business School building.
A £12 million sports and leisure complex is scheduled to open at the Docklands Campus early 2012, provisionally named the Sports Dock.[3] The centre includes a large indoor sports arena, ten badminton courts, two competition basketball, volleyball and netball courts, two five a side football pitches, a gym and fitness suite and covered seating for 400 people. As of March 2011[update] the leisure complex is currently under construction.