Students are at the heart of this rebuild project and it is with them in mind that every improvement is being made.

The venue and every part of the building will be much more flexible allowing students to have more opportunity to use their Union building for what they want. There will be much more appropriate society spaces for practices, events and socials. The Society Venue will be a 150 capacity venue with room for rehearsals, performances and society club nights. It was specifically designed to be 150 capacity rather than any more because this is what societies told us they needed. It will allow all but the largest groups to put on events without the venue feeling empty and lacking in atmosphere. For those that do need a bigger club than 150 capacity we will be able to offer them better spaces in the new venue to further develop and grow their productions and events.

The Atrium in the heart of the building will bring light to every corner and will allow members a space where they can sit and relax with a cup of coffee or a tasty juice whilst getting on with some work or relaxing with friends. There will be tables and chairs as well as wi-fi to allow people a space to work or relax as they wish.

The Union will no longer be the same place that you eat, drink, dance and sleep. There will be definitive outlets with unique selling points and offers for students. The venue will not be wholly open through the day and so will retain something of an air of mystery and it will no longer be that the same place you have lunch is the same place you go clubbing in.

The Students’ Union is a not for profit organisation and all the revenue that it makes go straight back to students through the services that we provide. With such a successful Union as Warwick the pressure to keep income high is significant. We do raise funds in a variety of different ways but one of our main contributors is our Commercial Operation.

At the moment the Union building is incredibly old and unfit for purpose. It was built more than 30 years ago and was originally intended to serve the 2000 or so students that were on campus as a meeting and social space. Now however it caters for 20,000 students, providing professional and up to the minute entertainments and a multitude of other services. However with this massive expansion have come giant problems and the building is ever increasingly expensive and difficult to run. A large part of the rebuild is focusing on making the core services and facilities of the Union to the standard that they need to be to see us through the next 30 years.

Another key part of the Union Rebuild is the sustainability of the building. Environmental impacts are central to everything we do at the Union and we have policy to ensure that environmental considerations are key at every level. This has been no different in the Union South project. The building will be more efficient and will recycle heat much more effectively than it does at the moment. One of the main problems we have is that the warm air just flies out of the top of the building and this is something that we have worked hard to minimise in the new build. There are of course significant laws regarding the sustainability of new buildings such as ours and we are looking to not just meet these regulations but to massively exceed them. We are also going to be connecting up to the University’s Combined Heat Pump system which recycles heat from electricity generation to produce hot water. It’s quite nifty and should save a lot of energy and reduce our carbon footprint significantly.

The other problem with the building is that it only operates fully for thirty weeks a year. Because of the way it looks and the fact that there is no obvious entrance to any part of it people who are on campus during the holidays think that we are shut. This means that Conference Guests, Post Graduates, International students and anyone else on campus during the vacation do not come in and take advantage of our services. With the rebuild we are hoping to change this and thus turn the Students’ Union into a full 50 week a year operation. This will mean more money coming into the Students’ Union that is not out of students’ pockets. This will enable us to further develop and improve the services that we provide to all of our members.

Throughout the vacation periods we will also be able to “mothball” large sections of the Union if they are not in use. Unlike at the moment when the entire building has to be open or closed, the new Union South is designed to be as flexible as possible.

The other important factor in the development of the Rebuild is the increasing importance of live music across the country, but especially for students. At the moment Cholo may have a capacity of around 1000 but for big gigs and acts at best not this many can clearly see the stage because of the design of the Marketplace. We are going to change this with a professional standard music venue which will encourage bigger and better names to Warwick campus.

Having said all this we are confident that the building will be ready and each of the Phases will be delivered on time. Every eventuality has been covered and we assure you that we would not be doing this if we were not sure that it was the best thing for students, campus and your Union.

What do you think of the plans? Join our discussion forum and let us know exactly what you think of your new Union building