Liverpool John Moores University set to sell historic IM Marsh campus
Flickr (ecololo): Students will be moved from Aigburth to the city centre
Iconic sports campus IM Marsh is set to be sold off by Liverpool John Moores University.
The site which has been the home for the universities education, leisure and community students for over 100 years will be purchased by designers and developers.
The faculties currently based in Aigburth at IM Marsh will however be transferred to the r city centre so places for future students will not be affected.
What is less clear however is what this means for staff that currently work on the campus. Indeed the University was unable to confirm whether there will still be enough vacancies for staff after the move.
Vice-Chancellor Prof Michael Brown told staff: “Given the important developments of the Knowledge Quarter in the city centre and the quality of the buildings now available in that precinct, there is the exciting opportunity to move the Faculty of Education, Community and Leisure from Aigburth to join the rest of the university, and to close the IM Marsh site.”
He added: “We can now develop enough capacity in our city-based campuses to accommodate the entire faculty in high quality accommodation, which will create further opportunities to foster synergies with academic colleagues and to make more efficient use of the specialist facilities within the city."
The move it seems will not be made instantly with a proposed £300,000 remodelling of the campus set to take place throughout the upcoming summer.
Leigh Doughty who is a PE teaching student currently based at IM Marsh campus said: “It is great that we will be moving to the city centre. Hopefully this will mean that the facilities and overall accommodation will be upgraded which can only be a good thing and will help us in our studies. On the other hand the staff here have been really great with us and none of us want their jobs to be in jeopardy.”
The move will be received joyously by residents near IM Marsh who have long been upset with the number of cars parked near the campus making it near impossible for them to access their own homes.