IIEST master plan: Focus on capacity boost, global look
Times of India | 17 May 2025
123 Kolkata: IIEST Shibpur launched a master plan to transform and expand its 113-acre campus. The upgradation plan focuses on maximising the institute's carrying capacity and creating academic and research ambience at par with the global standards. The plan will also focus on achieving the sustainability goals, without disturbing the green cover and water bodies on the campus. The unique historical structures on the campus will be conserved."The new master plan is being prepared by a well-known architect and alumnus of BE College, Kunal Bhattacharya. The vision that is being presented as one enters through the first gate (also known as Centenary Gate) is bifold. While on the left and centre, one would stand in awe of the research and innovation park, the new academic building, and auditorium and convention centre, on the right, the vista would stretch to the historic structures that stand testimony to its long history, such as the Clock Tower, Madhusadan Bhavan, and Director's Bungalow," said director VMSR Murthy. The master plan will be implemented in phases. It will start with the construction of a 500-capacity G+10 girls' hostel. Next, the G+5 research and innovation park will be built to facilitate industry and academia collaboration.This park will also house state-of-the-art research facilities. Dean of planning and development Aparna Dey Ghosh said, "the master plan will feature another 500-capacity girls' hostel, new classrooms and laboratories, faculty seating space, a G+3 new academic block, an auditorium with a G+2 convention centre, students' and campus residents' recreational and canteen facilities. A new guest house will be strategically placed to have a panoramic view of the clock tower, the lake beside it, the Oval playground, and the heritage structure. There is also a plan to provide boom barriers and well-located parking lots to manage vehicular movement and road network on the campus."Bhattacharya surveyed more than 2,000 large trees on the campus that survived several severe storms over decades."The success of the planning is borne out by a simple statistic that no more than 3% of the coverage of existing buildings had to give way for new ones," explained architect Bhattacharya, adding there is a clear plan for the restoration of the historical buildings . An official said old staff quarters and an obsolete garage block, in which horse-drawn carriages were once housed, had been marked as unsafe and could readily be replaced by modern structures.