SUSU announce Cube renovations

Union President Ben Franklin today announced plans for “doing up” the Union’s Cube space. The move is intended to appease Union Films, who felt the venue was not adequately maintained […]

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Union President Ben Franklin today announced plans for “doing up” the Union’s Cube space.

The move is intended to appease Union Films, who felt the venue was not adequately maintained for their purpose, and for “increasing use as a conference and lecture venue”.

The renovations will cost £200,000, with the University chipping in a “significantly larger portion” of the cost. All works are set to take place during Easter 2016.

The biggest change will be the installment of a new, permanent stage, with brighter lighting.

Regular Union Films attendees will be pleased to hear that ‘numb bums’ will be a thing of the past, as new, larger and more comfortable seats will replace the current set, which will also be easier for technicians to replace as needed.

While the seating capacity has been reduced, the move will increase the standing capacity for events like Election Night and Welcome Parties, as the permanent stage will take up less space than the temporary stages currently used.

Franklin expressed excitement for the renovations in his blog, adding “It’s not quite the theatre I promised in my manifesto, but it’s a genuine performance space, with little to no disruption (and in fact, a degree of enhancement) to use of The Cube as a truly multipurpose space.”

Union Films’ Head Projectionist Alex Fforde said “It’s about time. The current seats kept breaking, and have become a lot harder to use.”

The blog seems to confirm the move towards the Cube being used more consistently as a lecture venue due to the space crunch caused by rising student numbers, despite concerns from some students that lectures in the Cube were “awkward” and “uncomfortable”.

Franklin told the Soton TabIt’s an imperfect solution, but I honestly do believe it’s the best we have available, and definitely not a bad one actually.”

“The University do have capital projects of their own underway to solve the problem in the long term, but for now, I’m very optimistic that we can make it work for all interested parties and get ourselves a more functional space in the process.

What do you think of the renovations? Let us know in the comments below!