Posted on Wed 25 Aug 2010 at 12:56 by
Shakira Hylton From Dan Jones, VP Student Activities
Well the Sparrows refurbishment is well and truly on the way and is currently going to plan and schedule. As mentioned before, Sparrows when it re-opens will be a state of the art venue giving the students at Avery Hill a venue to be proud of and of course us in the SU. The finished design is a closely guarded secret which will be revealed during the grand opening in September. Keep an eye out for our special invitations to the Sparrows Launch party.
The Refurbishment of Sparrows SU Bar will take place in several phases:
Phase 1 - COMPLETE - Refurbishment of the toilets. This work was completed during the Christmas period and I'm sure you will all agree that the new toilets are massive improvement to what we had previously.
Phase 2 - COMPLETE - Car Park and Building frontage works. This work was started on Monday 14th June 2010. The whole car park was resurfaced and the surrounding areas re-landscaped. Also the cobbled area which creates a hazard for those waiting to get into Sparrows was removed improving the exterior image of the Union building.
Phase 3 - COMPLETE - Investigation of interior. You may have noticed that parts of Sparrows kept going missing an example of this was the ceiling tiles and Patches within the carpet. This was to allow our structural engineers to carry out investigation work to see where load points and beams are located within the structure of the building.
Phase 4 - COMPLETE - Planning Application. This is just a formality that needs to go before the planning department at Greenwich Council. The reason for this is because we plan to make structural changes to Sparrows which involves building and removing physical structures.
Phase 5 - PENDING - Licensing Application. During Phase 1 of the works we increased the size and number of toilets - this was a legal requirement if we wanted to increase the capacity of the bar. Other work like improving and increasing the fire escape routes was also a factor in increasing our capacity. I'm pleased to say that all these issues will be addressed in the refurbishment, hopefully allowing for the capacity of Sparrows to be dramatically increased from the current capacity. We are also hoping to have the 10.30pm rule removed from our license and also increase the time to which we are allowed to sell alcohol. Obviously this is all subject to approval from the local authority Greenwich Council.
Phase 6 - STARTED - Building Work. Commencement of the core building work at Sparrows SU Bar has started. Sparrow's Farm building and car park will be closed for this period to allow contractors to carry out the necessary works for the refurbishment.
Phase 7 – Fixtures and Fittings. This is the final stage of the refurbishment where seating, tables and other fixtures are installed also at this stage our new state of the art sound and lighting system is installed.
Keep checking back here and the SUUG Facebook page for updates.