During the summer break, 25 Gordon St. had a major upgrade.
The Students’ Union has been based at 25 Gordon St. since 1959 with various services operating from the building including bars, cafes and offices. The building is shared with Maths, who occupy the upper floors.
The summer project saw the Maths department expand to include the 4th floor, and the Union move its Advice Service and Volunteering Service to the building on the 1st and 2nd floors respectively.
Ribbon cutting at the opening event on 10 October 2019 - left to right - Wendy Appleby, Carol Paige, Deborah Gill
The Union’s Advice Service is now a large, open and accessible facility on the 1st floor, with a set of confidential meeting rooms for private meetings with students. Last year, the Advice Service supported students through 504 cases and through their advocacy work, saved students more than £92,000. The Advice Service supports students with academic issues and matters relating to housing, employment, money and debt.
The 2nd floor is now a large open plan office, with state-of-the-art meeting facilities. The majority of the Union’s staff team are now based on the 2nd floor, along with the Sabbatical Officers. The Union’s Volunteering Service now call the 2nd floor home. There’s more space for the team to meet students and help them find rewarding volunteering opportunities across London. Last year, the Volunteering Service supported more than 2,100 students to give 64,000 hours of voluntary work to charities in the capital.
Moving Union staff out of the Lewis’s and Bloomsbury building frees up more much-needed space for student activities. Last year more than 14,000 students took part in Club and Society activity and they’ll now have more space to meet and deliver their activity.
The Union’s 3rd-floor bar, Phineas, has also had a major face-lift. New furniture, lighting, a bigger bar, larger dance-floor and a better sound system make the Phineas experience one UCL students can be proud of.
The building project was delivered through UCL Estates who engaged Hawkins\Brown as architects and Arcadis as project managers. Come and visit this fantastic new facility for students at UCL.
You can read about the Union's project here.
