Architect sees off rivals to win competition to design a £45m timber and glass gridshell building on Exeter's campus

Wilkinson Eyre has won a competition to design a £45m signature building for Exeter University.

The practice beat off competition from a strong shortlist including Foreign Office Architects, Feilden Clegg Bradley, Hopkins Architects and Woods Bagot.

Its designs for the 8,500 sq m structure show a gridshell roof made from timber, glass panels and ETFE over a central communal space.

Wilkinson Eyre will be glad of good news following a month in which funding was pulled from their James Dyson School of Engineering in Bath, and questions remain over the future of its Olympic basketball arena.

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