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09 May 2024

Florence Boot Hall puts its best foot forward

In September 2023 Florence Boot Hall on University Park reopened following a year-long programme of refurbishment, restoring the natural beauty and enhancing the heritage of the hall.

Many of the hall's 200 rooms have undergone extensive transformations, with prospective students now able to choose from a range of options. Elsewhere, many of the communal areas have also had a glow up - for those of you who lived in the hall in the distant past, they may look almost unrecognisable.

Take a look behind the scenes of the new and improved halls with us, meet the university's 'Residential Experience' team and find out what Florence Boot's own great granddaughter thinks of the improvements!

florence boot heritage wall students 800x

First a bit of history: Florence Boot Hall was the university’s first purpose-built women’s Hall of Residence at the new University Park campus in November 1928.

The hall received its name from its founder, Florence Boot, Lady Trent, whose husband Jesse Boot, the first Lord Trent, had established the Boots Company and more notably for us, donated the 35 acres of land at Highfields which became the university's home.

Constructed in 1928 with later extensions in the 1950s and 1970s, the hall had not been refurbished since the early part of this century.

A sustainable future for a historic building

Working with Nottingham-based architects Maber, our Estates team were careful to maintain the facade, while bringing the guts of the hall into the 2020s.

This meant stripping the building back to its structure with the removal of all mechanical and electrical services.

This approach has enabled the installation of many state-of-the-art sustainable features:

  • Triple glazed timber windows
  • A refurbished slate roof with new leadwork
  • Air-source heat pumps

Bedrooms have been fitted with custom designed furniture, heritage features throughout the building such as original woodwork and parquet floors have been retained and a new main entrance space has been created, providing views into a landscaped courtyard which lies at the heart of the building.

The main entrance itself has also been updated into a landscaped courtyard complimented by ornamental tree planting and associated soft landscaping, which now provides an entrance befitting of the hall’s important heritage status within the campus.

Meet our Residential Experience (ResX) team

A generation of Boots

Florence Boot family heritage wall