Confederation visit to Springfield Campus explores industry impact

Members of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) visited the University of Wolverhampton’s construction super campus at Springfield, Wolverhampton, recently to see, first-hand, how the Black Country region is thriving.

CBI membership includes firms and trade associations, representing 190,000 businesses which employ nearly seven million people.

The CBI’s Thriving Regions & Nations Steering Committee chose the School of Architecture and Built Environment and the National Brownfield Institute which are located on the brownfield regeneration site – a former brewery which has been transformed into a construction super campus – to hold strategic meetings with local partners.

The visitors were also given a tour of the new buildings and facilities during their visit including getting the chance to view the investment in equipment including state-of-the-art robotic technology including Spot, the agile, mobile robot dog, designed by Boston Dynamics as well as the latest wearable and hand-held laser scanning devices used for high quality reality capture of buildings and sites, and an immersive visualisation suite, Igloo Vision, providing businesses with access to equipment which stimulates collaboration, simulation and visualisation.

Partners from City of Wolverhampton Council and Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, joined the visitors for a session on ‘Reimagining Places’, looking at how the private sector can work with local authorities and anchor institutions to continue to drive investment and regeneration.