What is the most pointless addition to campus this year?

2016 has been a year of questionable decisions and unwelcome changes and The University of Nottingham is no exception to this rule. No doubt you’ve spotted the new additions to campus, and if you’ve been keeping an eye on university news you’ll have noticed the budgeting scales are not quite balanced.

We’ve rounded up the most pointless additions to campus this year and if you are just as irked as we are you can vote for the worst below.

The Chess Set

So instead of investing money in say, student health, the uni has decided that a good old fashioned game of chess would more adequately provide the therapy we need to get through the struggle.

Will it ever get that bad that you have to publicly live out your childhood dream of donning a cloak and hopping on board a chess piece to battle against your wizard pals? Is Nottingham Hogwarts? Did I get my letter? How long will it take until a Knight ends up as decoration for bedrooms across the campus? Would we have preferred a game of checkers?

Above all, is it really big enough?

There has been no comment from the Chess Society.

Not quite Harry Potter is it

Student Service Centre

The new Student Service Centres have caused quite a stir this semester with the complete re working of administration across schools. They didn’t kick off to a brilliant start with huge queues on the morning of the first day of term, timetabling issues and module clashes.

It remains to be seen how they handle end of term deadlines – but we’ll be handing in early, sitting back, and watching chaos ensue.

*shudders*

The Giant Screen

Oh the giant screen. The fruits of two months of scaffolding and incessant drilling, outside maybe the busiest entrance to a building across the whole of the university. When cuts to language schools were announced this year, I think I can confidently say that the university didn’t offer the wannabe outdoor cinema as a consolation prize. So far the screen has done an excellent job at informing us all of the time and the occasional event on campus.

With rumours of an outdoor viewing area and screenings of Varsity matches, the addition has potential to enhance that ‘student experience’ we seem to be ever striving for, but I’m still not convinced this is where I fancied my £9000 ending up.

Is it dead??

Mooch Patio

What was wrong with the old patio? Genuinely? Also the wooden decking, obscenely large umbrellas and bizarre performance platform has Mooch looking ready for a hot tub party in Val Thorens rather than sports pres. Weird aesthetic tbh.

Mooch has never had enough customers to fill those stools

The Studio

What is this for? Is there an official purpose? The curvy red chairs are cool but who is sitting in them? If anyone is actually using this space we would love to be enlightened. It seems to be in a perpetual state of semi-finished but also features an exciting new screen. In a hallway.

Also I can’t be the only one wondering why we’ve still not got any semblance of SU nightlife but we’ve got a new room full of wavy chairs that no one really knows about. Trent SU continues to put us to shame.

I feel informed

Ping Pong?

The ping pong tables that you see around London but aren’t really sure if anyone uses? We have those now. Delicately situated among the new seating area outside New Theatre which itself is a bit of a mystery.

I appreciate the art behind the randomly assigned grey blocks of concrete. But in reality the functionality of this baffling feature is more than questionable. Whether or not this new hangout spot becomes the place to be this summer remains to be seen. But when it rains, there’s just a lot of wet concrete that no one can use. Literally anything else > wet concrete blocks.

Arty x