Our Furness Values Statement

College membership is a large part of a student's identity at LU.

Furness is one of the smaller colleges and prides itself on fostering a close-knit community of belonging that is an inclusive, welcoming, and supportive home from home within the larger university. We are focussed on supporting each other and have been at the forefront of recent initiatives at the university to provide care and someone for students to talk to.

The College has a variety of social spaces, including the well-loved college bar Trevor (or Trev, yes, even our bar is known by name) where we foster the good-natured college spirit (in all senses of the word!).

We maintain a fierce yet friendly rivalry with other colleges through a calendar of sports, debates, quizzes, charity, and sustainability focussed challenges.

The values of inclusion, community, support, respect, and fun are an integral part of the university experience of Furnessians. Each year we elect student officers from our student body who work with our college staff members and our loyal alumni network to make sure every student, past and present, feels part of the Furness family.

Situated centrally on the university campus, we are the friendly community at the heart of campus.

Furness College aims to provide you with the best student experience possible during your time at Lancaster. This page details our facilities, the services we offer, the events coming up and the ways in which you can get involved with college life.

Take a look at what we have and if you have any queries about life in Furness, get in touch or come and see us!

Furness College was established in 1968 as the fifth college of the University, and the first to venture south of Alexandra Square. But that's Furness for you - always trying to be that little bit different.

The Furness Main building opened in 1970 and remains home to our social spaces, bar, Porters' Lodge and office suite. It was fully refurbished in 2012.

The original nine accommodation blocks also opened in 1970 and were named after parts of the Furness region in Cumbria. They were Hawkshead, Ulverston, Colton, Aldingham, Pennington, Dalton, Kirby Ireleth, Urswick and Lowick. The Furness Perimeter residences opened in 1992 and these were named Bardsea, Greenodd, Torver, Wetherlam and Brantwood.

In 2004 the University was expanding and much of the older campus accommodation was no longer seen as fit for purpose, so the original nine blocks were demolished and replaced with four much larger ensuite buildings. Four of the original names were re-used by student vote, while the others were lost.
In 2023 the third floor of the Furness Main building (above the college facilities) was converted into student accommodation, providing another 60 bed spaces for Furness students.

There have been ten College Principals to date, with the latest - Dr James Mawdesley - taking office on 1st August 2021.