- President of the Academy of Social Sciences, Will Hutton, opened the University of Sheffield's newest building The Wave on Monday 20 November 2023
- The Wave is the most sustainable building on campus, operating at net zero emissions
- The building is a hub for the Faculty of Social Sciences and provides world-class learning and teaching facilities and spaces for its students and staff
The University of Sheffield's most sustainable building was officially opened on Monday 20 November 2023 by Will Hutton, President of the Academy of Social Sciences, in a ceremony where he set out the societal challenges he wants the students and staff of The Wave to address.
The Wave, named to reflect the physical design of the building, is now the flagship building for the University of Sheffield's Faculty of Social Sciences, providing a purpose-built hub of state-of-the-art teaching facilities for its students.
Guests including the Lord Mayor and Mayoress of Sheffield, and Master and Mistress Cutler were invited to tour the building and see its new world-class teaching and research spaces, media suites, offices and social spaces that will provide students and staff with a collaborative working, teaching and research environment. The public cafe will also provide further social and relaxation space for the local community and visitors to the nearby hospitals.
As the University's most sustainable building on campus, The Wave will operate with net zero emissions. Ground-source heat pumps will provide heating in the winter and cooling in summer, with solar panels being used to generate electricity for the building.
New landscaping and greenspaces, including a public art installation, is open to all and will help improve the local environment's biodiversity. Flood risk will be mitigated through sustainable drainage schemes, made up of rain gardens and extensive tree planting which add to the 10,400 trees already on the University's estate.
Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Gill Valentine, opened proceedings on the day and said: "The Wave will provide our world-leading community of social scientists, a space to work together to confront the complex questions of our time. A place where our students can work across subject boundaries to analyse pressing social challenges such as the climate crisis, the housing crisis, rapid urbanisation, racial injustice and democratic decay.
"As our first net zero building, the spaces within have been designed to help our students thrive, create an inclusive and welcoming space for staff and our wider Sheffield community, and support ways of working and teaching that reflect our ambition to be one of the most sustainable research-intensive universities in the UK."
Speaking at the opening, Will, a passionate advocate for the social sciences, set out important challenges for the staff and students resident at The Wave. These included how society addresses what constitutes good government and democracy, the productivity of the British economy and how academics build relationships with business communities, our need to repurpose and reorganise our financial system and the economy, how we educate our students to navigate the 21st century world, and what kind of social structures, including for crime, health and housing we want to see for ourselves.
