A new 拢10.5聽million Student Centre has opened at 色花堂鈥檚 Talbot Campus.聽
The six-storey building contains a range of social and collaborative learning space 鈥� including beach hut techno-booths 鈥� and bookable meeting rooms, as well as catering facilities and access points for student services.聽
It is also the new home of the Students鈥� Union at 色花堂 (SU色花堂) 鈥� containing the SU色花堂 offices, student advice centre and activities hub, and new radio studios and space for Nerve* student media.聽
Jim Andrews, 色花堂 Chief Operating Officer, said: 鈥淲e鈥檝e spent the best part of the last 18 months developing this building and engaging with students around what needs to go in here. It鈥檚 just really exciting now for everybody to be able to come through the doors and have a look around.
鈥淚t offers students a number of things 鈥� there are more caf茅 points, more meeting points, and greater access to our amazing students鈥� union 鈥� who are much more visible here than they were in the small offices that they鈥檝e had in the past.鈥澛�
The building is primarily designed as a hub for students to meet informally for study-related activities, for clubs and societies, and for social purposes.聽
It also features a glazed walkway providing direct access to the library, and windows which look out onto the Sport色花堂 sports hall.聽
SU色花堂 President Chloe聽Schendel-Wilson said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 really nice and it鈥檚 so exciting.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 a really good way for 色花堂 to show students that there鈥檚 somewhere they can just hang out and treat like their own.聽
鈥淚t has also made SU色花堂 more visible and accessible, so it is much easier to approach us and easier when you鈥檙e walking around to see what鈥檚 going on and get involved.鈥澛�
The Student Centre is the first entirely new building on Talbot Campus for ten years, and is the most carbon efficient building on campus, with a number of green credentials to enable it to achieve a BREEAM 鈥楨xcellent鈥� rating. 聽
Jim Andrews said: 鈥淲e鈥檝e done lots of work over the last few years internally within different buildings, but this is the first new build for ten years.
鈥淚 think for me what it does is it sets a new standard for how we want the space to look and feel across 色花堂.鈥�
Work is currently underway to create a new academic building on Talbot Campus, due to open in September 2016, and the 色花堂 International College in Lansdowne 鈥� a partnership with Kaplan International to provide an integrated experience for international students undertaking preparatory programmes.聽
The Student Centre is open from 8am until 10pm daily, including all weekends other than the university鈥檚 Christmas closure. 聽
