There are going to be a lot of major campus developments this year. While in the long term this is good for students, it demonstrates a much-needed investment in our facilities, it is important that the disruption from all these projects is managed to minimise the impact on your study. Your officer team have been in talks with project managers and the Keele estates team in order to push for constraints on these developments such as minimising noise around peak hours and ensuring that the campus remains as accessible as possible. I'm going to very briefly outline the major projects planned for the year so you know what to expect from this year at Keele.
Keele Pipeline
This is the project that will probably be the one that will have the biggest impact on the student experience. This development will see the installation of a hot water pipe connecting the Lennard Jones building to the Horwood energy centre behind the Students’ Union, passing outside the library and down central drive. The entire project is intended to last from December to August, for at least five months of this period the pipeline route itself will need to be exposed in order to install and test the new pipes.
While we have been assured that this development will make every effort possible to minimise noise levels around the Library at times of peak usage, access to alternative study spaces away from these developments will be a priority in all meetings with the project team.
The issues of how accessible the centre of campus will be for visually impaired students and disabled students is also very important to us. The Students’ Union and the Student Support and Development Team will be working to ensure that key lecture facilities and study spaces remain as easy as possible for students to access and that any changes are communicated as clearly as possible.
Car Parking
Parking will continue to be a major issue over the coming year, in no small part due to the loss of many parking spaces around campus to the campus redevelopment. In an attempt to offset this, a car park is being set up on the science park to take some staff parking out of the centre of campus but this obviously is not a complete solution.
The Estates Team are also planning to shake up the way parking permits are allocated, making them more flexible, while we don’t expect this to solve all parking problems it will hopefully make it easier for people with permits to find somewhere to park.
The obvious solution to the parking problems we face is a multi-story car park which we will seek to put on the University’s agenda, however, with all the major developments ongoing we’re not sure how soon this could be in place.
Horwood
Horwood social space and bar have both already been demolished in order to make way for new residential blocks. The noise from these constructions is of significant concern for both the SU and the KPA and we have been exploring options to support students who will be affected and ensure that development has a minimal impact on students living in nearby halls.
Barnes
The shiny new Barnes blocks are on track to be completed earlier than planned, so this could mean students in place for early October. While the final details of this are unclear we’ll be monitoring the situation to make sure students who are moved into these halls have the support and assistance they need.
As you can see, there is a lot going on this year! At KeeleSU we’ll be keeping as close an eye on the situation as possible but we unfortunately can’t be everywhere. If you are having issues related to this please don’t hesitate to come and see us on the top floor of the SU or email me at su.uddofficer@keele.ac.uk.