The planned £10million that the University allocated to the refurbishment of the Union and University House has been halved, with the second £5million being used to complete work on the Jessop site.
The proposed revamped Source will be lost, and though the proposed link from The Gallery to University House will still be built, no facilities will be moved there from the current Union building. The large glass front to the Union entrance, however, will still go ahead.
With the decreased budget, it becomes even more important that the Union chooses to spend its money on the most important things. But in this case, is that really taking place?
The glass entrance in particular seems slightly pointless. While it would certainly add to the Union entrance, and would be visually very impressive, it seems less useful than some of the scrapped plans would have been.
The new Source, which would have been relocated to level four, would have been close to the Sabbs’ offices and a new bookable meeting space, in place of the current Gallery area. In all, organising the many activities and societies in the Union would have been much easier.
Likewise, some earlier plans, such as a larger Union shop, would have been highly popular with the entire student body.
Using money which was initially intended for the redevelopment of the Union and University House to build the Jessop Building, which has gone overbudget, seems rather unfair; a site used by all students receives less money, so that this money can be used to construct a building that will be used by far fewer students.
The link between the Union building and University House, however, would create a lot of potential space which could be used by societies or for events and meetings, even without the offices of the Sabbs being moved there. In addition, The Source – whilst not particularly large in its current location – is very convenient and has enough space for the purposes of the groups that use it.
Whilst the relocation of The Source to level four of the building would be great for the students that use it, the loss of The Gallery as a space for relaxing and casual meetings would also be an issue for the large number of students who see it as a convenient place to study, eat lunch, or spend time between lectures.
We should be grateful for the University providing such funds given the economic climate. Providing it doesn’t cause absurd amounts of disruption, the remaining developments to the Union can be seen in a positive light.