Reach 11 - Have your say on the new College of Arts building

Thoir do bheachd air togalach ùr Colaiste nan Ealain

Changes are afoot for the College of Arts. By 2022, the first phase will be complete representing a £36 million investment in a brand new College of Arts building. Situated on the old Western Infirmary site, Dumbarton Road, the investment is part of a £1 billion capital spend that will transform the University of Glasgow.

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The new College of Arts facility will create an outward facing cultural hub that extends the global reach and reputation of the University, providing public access to the wealth of performance-based practices and resources, audio-visual practices and resources, research outcomes and discoveries, lectures and other events addressing cultural matters, and policy analysis and debate that allows for greater integration, publicity and public understanding of the relevance of Arts and Humanities research.

Fostering greater ambition and increased engagement, the new College facility will provide a world-class experience, thus encouraging staff, students and other stakeholders to achieve their full potential as world changers and enable the University to achieve its ambitious targets.

The new building will enhance collaboration, which is at the heart of innovation, through the removal of physical barriers between disciplines and between the University and the City. As part of the developing West End the new building will provide a welcoming dynamic gateway to and from the West End’s Cultural Quarter, drawing people into the University campus and providing deeper collaborative engagement and more innovative public engagement with the Glasgow community.

The new building will bring our community together and facilitate our shared motivations and beliefs (passion, professionalism and progressiveness), evidenced by enhanced engagement with, and success in achieving, strategic objectives. We want to be a preferred partner for local, national and international ‘industries’ in the Arts and Humanities.

We wish to make the College a partner of choice for external organisations, building on our knowledge base to create impact for society and the economy throughinnovative engagement.

The College of Arts ran a consultation which was aimed at the audience external to the University and with colleagues across the College. The overwhelming response which we received from that consultation was that the collaborative space should be:

  • inspirational
  • flooded with natural light
  • a shared, flexible space with 24hr access,containing a mix of public and secure areas.

‌Expected facilities should include wifi, print/scan and projectors with both IT and administrative support available to those working in the environment. Both internal and external audiences said that the space would most likely be used for collaboration and research.

For the last five years, Reach has focused on bringing you exciting news about innovative collaborations between the College of Arts and our many nonacademic partners. The requirements of our partners for each project is unique. As we enter the design phase of our new building it’s important that we engage more effectively with the world outside of the university.

Your views on this are important to us and we want to hear from you. What benefit could you derive from an open and engaging College of Arts? How could you see yourself interacting with the building and the College? If you represent an organisation that is benefiting from a current collaboration with the College of Arts or thinking about engaging with us, what facilities would you require? Please email to have your say.

 

If you wish to find out more about this article or about how you can progress your ideas (i) as an academic wishing to engage with a non-academic organisation or (ii) as a non-academic organisation interested in engaging with the academic knowledge base, please email the College of Arts KE Team.

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