On the level?
Two years of building work has transformed Roehampton’s Campus. Green space has been sacrificed, in its place there’s a state of the art library. student digs and the promise of re-landscaping. Was it worth it? We ask the views of those who lived through it.
In September 2015, first years fresher’s stepped through Roehampton gates for the first time as University students. Their anxious parents dragged suitcases brimmed with clothes, pots and pans behind them, ready to wave their child goodbye. Their earlier visit had sold them the dream of a green and beautiful campus hidden amongst the towering skyscrapers of London.
You wouldn’t find a building site on their list of expectations.
For the next two years, building work disrupted students that lived and studied on the Digby Stuart campus. Bede, Newman and Lee House is home to more than 300 residents, and that’s without the inclusion of the thousands of people that swarm to the lecture halls around the site.
See also: New library rules set to clamp down on students who forgot their ID
This seems a drop in a puddle compared against the 9000 students Roehampton welcomes every year. But with £9000 per annum tuition fees and Lee House residents paying £5,671 for the pleasure, that drop caused a bigger splash.
The university wants to grow, modernise and take on more students. What about those that arrived expecting green surroundings, but were confronted with turned up turf and broken concrete?
Idunn Elvrum, Lee House flat rep in 2015 and former Digby Social Secretary, received the unenviable task of looking after the freshers:
“The most annoying thing to me is that myself and others were going to be flat reps and the extent of the construction was never really communicated at all. We got an unrelated email that mentioned it in a clause. The crux of the email had nothing to do with the construction.”
It’s obvious Lee House residents were not delighted about the prospect of being shaken awake at 8am by the hammering of stone and disturbed right through until 6pm.
The lack of any pre-emptive reparations pushed students to take action. Throughout the year, Digby Diner held court for meetings that offered updates, news and opportunities for issue resolution. However, personal controversy has a gift of joining people together.
“In the final meeting we announced our plan to protest on the next open day. We were going make posters and picket to let prospective students know that the university hadn’t told us about the construction and things like that,” said Idunn.
Susan Scorey, University Librarian, explained that Roehampton understood the problems and worked hard to rectify the issues suffered the students:
“It’s always difficult when you do building work like this,” she said.
“You worry like mad because you’ve got to pick a time to start major building works on campus, and no time is a good time. Some students who started here as the first year are now leaving without having got a real benefit of any of the work. And it’s a really difficult one because you have to do it and it’s going to be disruptive and you know it’s going to be disruptive, and you have to do it, so it’s a tough one.”
The University offered all residents of the Digby Campus a 20% refund for their troubles and reimbursed rent money for other various issues the construction caused.
Despite the problems created by building works in the heart of a campus, the new library is a fantastic addition to Roehampton’s repertoire. The quality of the student experience certainly sat at the forefront of the universities mind when considering the design of the new 40 million pound library.
“We’ve got so many different types of study spaces because everybody really likes to learn in different ways,” said Susan. “We’ve ensured we have good provisions for everybody so that all can enjoy the type they want. Whether it’s silent, noisy, single study spaces, group table’s so students can work alongside friends and far more study rooms. It’s quite exciting.”
The new library utilises green technology, such as photovoltaic panels, which to the layperson, means solar panels. A high-tech cooler system will naturally ventilate the building and the inclusion of mechanical heating will activate on the cold days when required.
I guess the old adage that you’ve got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette is a snug fit for this situation. But is the sacrifice of a few thousand students experience worth the benefits that future students enjoy?
What’s not to doubt, is that the University of Roehampton’s next years’ fresher’s experience will be far different from that of those that came before.
Written by Danny Mitchell
