Work on Charles Street continues to progress and we are on track to take possession of the building in time to enable us to start teaching after Easter as planned.
Following the decision to postpone our move until after 18 January, all non-lecture theatre teaching that was scheduled to take place in the new building before 4 April 2016 has now been moved. For large lecture theatre teaching, the Odeon on Arundel Gate will initially be used as an alternative space for teaching that cannot be accommodated on campus. However, from 8 February we will begin using the lecture theatre within Charles Street to host some teaching.
The decision to use the Charles Street lecture theatre ahead of opening the rest of the building is necessary to accommodate lectures which could not be rescheduled, due to associated teaching in specialist space taking place on the same day. However in making this decision any potential impact on the student and staff experience, who will of course be the first to benefit from this new space, has been carefully considered. Although fit out works will be ongoing at that time, the lecture theatre will be fully contained, so staff and students will not be exposed to ongoing works in the rest of the building. Entry and exit to the lecture theatre will be from the rear of Charles Street, on Eyre Lane and the whole space, including all fire exits, will be entirely under the control of the University. Any changes to planned teaching have now been reflected in online timetables.
Thanks go to the space resource management and timetabling teams for the huge amount of work that has gone into managing the changes to the teaching timetable, and to everyone for their patience as we approach the end of this project.