Our Heritage
60 year of leading management education
Established in 1963, University of Bradford School of Management is one of the oldest university-based business schools. Our origins can actually be traced back to 1832 and the opening of the Bradford Mechanics Institute. We have, from the outset, always been known for a progressive approach to business education.
Our story fittingly includes great industrialists, early social entrepreneurs and a Prime Minister.
Mechanics Institute to Incorporation
We’ve always been part of the University of Bradford and the University's origins date back to the Mechanics Institute, founded in 1832, formed in response to the need in the city for workers with skills relevant to the workplace.
In 1882, the institute became the Bradford Technical College. In 1957, the Bradford Institute of Technology, was formed as a college of advanced technology to take on the running of higher education courses. Construction of the Richmond Building, the largest building on campus, began in 1963 and the School of Business formally came into being.
The Charter of Incorporation was granted in 1966 to create the University of Bradford. The Prime Minister at that time, Harold Wilson, become the University's first chancellor.
Lord Harold Wilson of Rievaulx - University of Bradford Chancellor 1966-1985 and Prime Minister 1964-1970 and 1974 - 1976.
Heaton Mount
In 1967, The University of Bradford acquired a historic, self-contained parkland campus, in a leafy suburb of the city. The Heaton Mount building, became the School of Management’s Executive Education and Development Centre. Built in the Italian style of architecture and completed in 1866, it was previously owned by a slavery abolitionist and a textile magnate. The building, which includes a sumptuous central hall with a broad double staircase and large window of finely painted glass, regularly features in English Heritage open days.
Sir Titus Salt Building
Our second historic building, Emm Lane, was built as the Congregationalist Airedale College in 1874-1877, becoming the United Independent College in 1888, and subsequently part of the University of Bradford. It was partly financed by industrialist and philanthropist Sir Titus Salt, who built the local World Heritage Site of Saltaire village. The neo-Gothic building was designed by the architects responsible for the Italianate Bradford City Hall, the city's Wool Exchange and Salt's Mill.
Our development of this building retained many of the original interior features - including a wealth of stained glass – but created a new state-of-the-art, sustainable Sir Titus Salt building, completed in 2010.
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Interior of Emm Lane campus computer room with stained glass windows.
Decorative corner moulding and ceiling of the library at Emm lane campus.
Our Modern Heritage
In 2019 we moved the School of Management to its new home, The Bright Building, right at the heart of the city campus. The building, is an exemplar sustainable new build, awarded a 95.2% rating by BREEAM, the highest rating achieved in the education sector. BREEAM aim to empower industry to innovate and build a better world. An ambition that truly aligns with our mission and vision.
Our new home has a wealth of technology including the Bloomberg Trading Room and the SAS Data Analytical Centre and Innovation Hub. Our location brings the whole Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences together at the central campus and brings a number of clear benefits for students. It supports the overall learning experience through mixing and sharing learning with the wider student community, both from an academic and social perspective.
We are the School of Management. Be part of the story.
Exterior of The School of Management Bright building.
Student in the foyer of the Bright building.