Oh <insert deity here> what have they done?!?!?

I suspect the useful little spaces that societies needed more of were underused because the union made it so impossible to book them so now it will be a case of tribes fighting over corners of the giant cave, or going somewhere else where the beer is cheaper... It really did feel like walking through the foyer of prospering conglomerate desperate to tell the world just how much money it can extract from customers and turn into real estate and shareholder value...

It is a post-modernist hell-maze of epic proportions. On the upside I think the post box may have just been moved, I recall seeing it down near Jaldi Jaldi et al. I'll have a proper check though.

The post box has indeed been moved downstairs, next to Santander.
Which is also next to the new Helpdesk. As in they need help to find a better place, because the new location is just silly.
I'd rather have the sweet shop back.

And Union Books' closing down is confirmed.

I suppose students don't want books any more?

not at their prices. Essentially the shop was making a loss for the last few years as most students now buy their books online. I think I heard it was discussed for Borders to take over the shop but they didn't see how they could do anything better enough to take the place back into profit. From what I understand Borders will be taking over as the "course notes" seller.

So while I imagine there will be moans, I concur with the management on this issue and think it was the best business decision for the overall good of the union.

Borders?

I thought they had closed down, in Leeds at least.

They had. I meant that other book shop beginning with B - Blackwells.

That's a shame. For some books Union Books avec staff discount worked out cheaper than most places.

About the new foyer: it's a nightmare trying to evict everyone from the union on a night, or even to get them in at the start of the night. Most annoying if you have to walk through the riot quite regularly as part of your job.

Basically many many thousands of pounds spent that didn't actually need spending. Ah well.

Oh yea, is it worth having a sweepstake on how many of those pictures have been robbed by the end of the term? From memory two have gone already.

On the plus side, even though the food in terrace is overpriced it is actually quite good.

Whilst we're talking about development for development's sake, what was the point in changing outside the front of the union? It now looks similar to what I imagine high end financial districts look like rather than the perfectly serviceable and more homely space it's replaced.

It would have been nice to see the uni investing in what we're actually paying them for (education) rather than spending it on POINTLESS improvements which aren't actually an improvement on what was there before. (Did anyone else notice that at the end of the last term they replaced all the Leeds University signs on the entrances around campus with some that look almost exactly the same as the old ones?)

/rant

what's annoyed me most if the signs in Essentials telling people where everything is. It's hardly the ASDA in Pudsey; if you need help finding something in there, you shouldn't be allowed to attend university! I understand this probably wasn't much of an expense, but it's wasteful spending nonetheless

The improvements are justified by the following logic, as it has been logic of the uni doing expensive pointless things for a while now.

Leeds University has set itself the target of being in the top 50 universities in the world by 2015 (it usually hovers between 110th and 85th).

After "extensive research" they seem to have concluded that the way to do this is by increasing perceived quality and hoping this will attract better staff and students turning the perception of quality into actual quality.

This means that they spent eye-watering sums of money in a re-branding exercise. I think the majority of students these days may not recognise the old logo, which looked like this:

and replaced it with this:

The next step appears to be making everything look pretty with projects such as the paving in front of the union, the new signs etc.

I also bet that some of the £8million the university gives to the union is to make sure the union is keeping up appearances too, as the referendum point that authorised the renovation work was a one-liner in a motion that was written in (I bet deliberately) obtuse language with the resultant question being something like "do you want the spaces in the union building to be improved?" (and with it being the union they can implicitly claim incompetence of not testing the language of the question to make sure it wasn't leading)

Think I am making stuff up? My source is the vice chancellor:
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/identitymanagement/foreword.htm

To be a little fair to the Union and the University in any big organisation the capital expenditure is usually seperate from everything else; so the money for building work goes in a different pot right from the start, and some of the sources of the money explicitly state that it can only be used in captial building projects. My main gripe is not that they are renovating the University infrastructure but more they way they have gone about it. All effort seems to have gone into something that meets a certain idiom of upmarket modern design without any consideration as to how the based is used and could best be used; the union foyer being a prime example.

And carpeting perhaps the ONLY room that we can use for dance!!!!! grrrr they have mucked the dance societies over! leaving us all very angry!

I noticed that as well, there is a very small square of lino in each room of the new lounge; neither of which is big enough for dance. Additionally a room has effectively been lost with the relocation of the infopoint to where the job place used to be, and the opening up of the foyer.

well, they have permission to use the new foyer area, except, we cant use the space due to our shoes =( not good... as we will scuff the floor. the only place decent for us now is the conference hall or the riley smith, and everyone knows how hard it is not to be kicked out of those 2 rooms