The £80m building has been designed by a collaborative team formed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen, Hawkins\Brown and BuroHappold.
Mace is project manager for the job which will be built on the site of a former hotel presently offering student accommodation at the corner of Elton Road and Woodland Road.
When opened in 2023, it will boast capacity for around 2,000 new study seats, 420,000 books and 70,000 journals and new study spaces.
The library will be built in natural stone to complement the historic listed buildings nearby
There will be exhibition galleries open to the public, an events space, a programme of activities, new public art and a café, all of which will be open to the whole community.
Bristol City Council is expected to make a decision on the planning application in late Spring, when the University will be able to give more information on an anticipated timeline.
Professor Judith Squires, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost at the University of Bristol, said: “We are also planning to enhance the public realm around the new University Library, turning a congested road junction into a calm and welcoming civic space, making the roads safer and creating new accessible public space for everyone to enjoy.”
Dr Mike Entwisle, Partner and Global Education Sector Lead, BuroHappold Engineering, said: “Central to our engineering response was the University’s requirement to achieve a truly sustainable building, promoting health and wellbeing, while meeting their ambition of moving towards a zero-carbon future.
