Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Tuesday laid the foundation stone for the National Institute of Urban Management’s ₹200-crore net-zero campus at Bharat Future City, with the project scheduled for completion by June 2, 2028.
The 20-acre campus is intended to serve as a national centre for urban governance, research and capacity building. The land has been allotted free of cost by the Telangana government, according to an official release.
The Chief Minister directed officials, including Municipal Administration and Urban Development secretary and NIUM director general T.K. Sreedevi, to complete the project by Telangana Formation Day in 2028. The proposed campus has been designed by Sanjay Puri Architects.
Nearly two-thirds of the site will remain green and open, while the buildings will be integrated with the natural terrain. The project’s sustainability features include rooftop solar power generation, 100% solar water heating, rainwater harvesting, treated wastewater reuse and low-carbon construction materials.
The design also incorporates passive cooling measures, including earth-sheltered structures, jali screens, deep overhangs and natural cross-ventilation. These features are intended to reduce the campus’s dependence on active cooling and demonstrate building strategies suited to the region’s climate.
The campus will house six specialised action-research centres covering urban governance and financing, infrastructure, socio-economic development, urban mobility, climate mitigation and adaptation, and innovation incubation. It will also include a learning and capacity-building centre for municipal commissioners, officials and elected representatives.
An Urban Living Street and a prototype testing corridor are planned as spaces where urban solutions can be tested before being implemented at a larger scale in cities. The campus will also have 122 residential units for trainees, fellows and visiting experts.
The project revives a proposal that had remained stalled for more than a decade. NIUM was selected through a national competition under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission in 2009, when the Centre sanctioned ₹50 crore subject to the State government providing land. That condition remained unmet until the Telangana government allotted land at Bharat Future City.
Established in 2013, NIUM functions as Telangana’s urban think tank. It has trained more than 6,000 elected representatives and officials and contributed to master plans, waste-management projects and digital governance initiatives for urban local bodies.
The new campus is expected to consolidate these functions under one facility, combining research, municipal training and live testing of urban interventions. Its next formal milestone is the targeted completion of the campus on June 2, 2028.
