About

A Degree of Modernism is a research project extending an MPhil study, one concerned with architecture and campus planning at the University of Salford. The focus is situated within the broader expansion of the higher education sector following the Second World War, a period when government policies were fully articulated in the White Paper on Technical Education (1956) and the Robbins Committee Report (1963). A time of national policy, institutional and architectural change, where modern design and contemporary construction practices became central to campus redevelopment programmes.

This project website uses the Library Archives and Special Collections. Materials include architectural masterplans, perspectives, drawings, sketches, planning documents, institutional records, and photographs. New research explores how these sources reflect administrative priorities, educational policy, and the physical form of the campus. You’ll find summaries, annotated materials, and contextual commentaries, often set within the modern history of Salford and the wider Peel Park Campus area. A monograph is scheduled for publication by Liverpool University Press in 2027.

Author and creator Simon James Hadfield works in the University’s Research and Knowledge Exchange. All images (unless otherwise stated) are reproduced courtesy of the University of Salford.