More Info about the New Students' Union at ATRiuM

Progress: Atrium 2a starting to take shape

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you might remember a couple of months ago I posted a bit of a Q and A about ATRiuM 2A. Now we're further down the line I've decided to answer some more questions that specifically are to do with the Union so you can get a better idea of what it might be like when it opens. So lets get answering!

When will it open?
The building work at ATRiuM 2A is currently running to time. Should this continue, the SU will open in Freshers week of the next academic year on Monday 22nd September 2014.

What will be the Opening Hours?
The SU will open between 10am and 10pm on weekdays. This is subject to the ATRiuM remaining open until 10pm as it has for the second half of this year.

Non-commercial areas of the SU may also be open during other hours when the ATRiuM is open. Commercial areas will initially open between 10am and 10pm but this is subject to change and depends on the level of trade in the area.

The issue opening beyond 10pm is to do with the cost of hiring external security staff which have to be paid for a minimum of 4 hours.

What is in the Students' Union space?
In the space there will be a bar where students can order food and drink, a wide open dining and seating area, an Office where students can access our membership services (advice, representation, democracy, societies etc.) and an Ideas Factory where our Enterprise Ambassadors will be based at certain times. The Ideas Factory can give you advice if you're thinking about starting up a business. There will also be toilets and outdoor access.

What will be on the menu?
The plan is to offer a range of burgers served with chips. This will include Fish and Vegetarian options. There will also be a fully stocked bar with draught pints (beer on tap) along with bottles and other options.

What will be on sale in the SU shop?
This is still being decided at the moment. However I've been told that the range that the shop sells will be expanded as the new shop is noticeably bigger than the current one. The current plan is to open the shop between 8.45am and 4.45pm

Will there be any events on?
The plan is to mirror what is currently being done at Caerleon's SU Bar and have events which are organised by students to be at the forefront of activities. If you have an idea for an event or evening you'd like to put on at the SU, please email your suggestions to vicepresident.cardiff@southwales.ac.uk

Will Cardiff have its own Freshers Fair?
This is still up in the air at the moment as it depends on how we can deploy staff. Also this year all three regions of the University - Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd have their Freshers week in the same week which could make this more difficult.

What will happen to the portacabin?
There are plans for the portacabin to be moved to either the Glyntaff or Newport City Campuses to be used as Students' Union space.

Hopefully that gives you a better idea but if you've got any more questions feel free to tweet them to @sheepfm or email them to vicepresident.cardiff@southwales.ac.uk

ATRiuM 2A Q & A

This is how the construction for Atrium 2a is coming along so far.

In a recent survey I did, it became apparent to me that many students in Cardiff at USW have not been provided with enough information about the new building ATRiuM 2A. Also some of the communication the Students' Union distributed before Christmas seems to have been misconstrued. Therefore I'd thought I'd write this blog to try and outline the facts of the matter.

What is ATRiuM 2A?
Atrium 2A is the current building work at the side of the ATRiuM. It'll be a two-storey building and will contain a University operated catering facility (similar to Stilts in Treforest) on its ground floor and a new Students' Union on the first floor. The Students' Union is due to have a bar area, a dedicated Union Office, an Ideas Factory and a shop. It's the first part of extension plans to the ATRiuM. The second part (Atrium 2B) is in a state of limbo at the moment and is only likely to be constructed if student numbers based in Cardiff increase.

Why has it been built?
The Atrium Cafe has been extremely popular and there is a feeling among the University that the Atrium could do with more catering facilities due to demand. Also the new catering facilities will mean they can be hired privately for events and dinner evenings in a central city location. Previous functions have had to happen off campus.

The new Students' Union has been constructed as the current one was only designed to be a temporary building for five years. It opened in 2009 so is now its in its last year so the new building is seen as the long term solution. It also may have something to do with low NSS scores surrounding Satisfaction with the Students' Union in the Cardiff area.

When will it open?
The building is due to open in September 2014 in time for the new academic year though Estates projects have been known to overrun before!

Will there still be catering facilities?
Yes, but the majority if not all of these will be run by the University included the current cafe and the new cafeteria area. The current menu supplied at the ATRiuM SU at the moment is likely to change a lot.

Will there be any teaching facilities?
No. Atrium 2a just has the catering and Students' Union. Atrium 2b is due to have teaching facilities should it be constructed.

Will the ATRiuM Students' Union be closing?
There are no plans for the Students' Union to be closed only for it to move. But it is likely to change significantly in terms of what food and drink it can offer. The only way the ATRiuM Students' Union may close is if USWSU's Trustee Board felt there was no way the new SU could be commercially viable.

Plans for the layout of Atrium 2a once constructed.

What are the issues with 2a for the Students' Union?
From the past 8 months from which I've been dealing with the ATRiuM 2A situation, several problems have been raised from a Students' Union perspective. The first was that the idea was proposed to us that the SU should be a 'wine bar' and therefore not have on tap pints as the piping would be difficult to set up. This has been resolved and now there will be taps.

The major issue at the moment surrounds what food the Students' Union can serve. It's been suggested that the SU should run a Tapas Bar. At the moment, the SU will only be supplied with a microwave to prepare food. Microwaved food is likely to be expensive to buy in and may drive up the price of food at the SU. Therefore the SU is looking to try and get a Deep Fat Fryer installed to ensure the Union in Cardiff can be commercially viable. However the University have raised several issues in regards to this including the lack of proper extraction in the preparation area at the new site and the possibility of the SU directly competing with the catering outlet in the same building.

Can the Union still run even without the fryer?
That's not a straightforward question to answer. It's likely that if the SU doesn't get a fryer there's a relatively good chance that there may be no food offering. In recent years the SU has had to rely more on catering due to less alcohol sales. There is now a culture of pre-drinking as students find that the most economic way of getting booze is by buying it from a supermarket. Also a reliance on alcohol sales would rely on evening trade. Historically, through past experiences, the ATRiuM SU made a significant loss by opening in the evenings and weekends which is why the opening hours became much more restricted in 2011. If this trend was to continue, the new SU would likely lose the organisation money.

On the flip side of that argument there are some successful bars which can self-sustain themselves. A good example in a similar environment is the Royal Welsh College's Students' Union bar. The bar only opens in the evenings but manages to be a sustainable source of income for the SU despite the fact the college has significantly less students than USW's Cardiff Campus (around 800). Also Porters bar, minutes down the road from the Atrium has seen great popularity due to the weekly events they hold there. Over 50% of people I surveyed in a recent questionnaire said that they went to Porters so it is popular among the student population which means it also represents one of the new SU's key competitors.

Have any other alternatives been suggested?
We have mentioned to the University whether it would be possible to offer a completely non-commercial space which could be used by clubs and societies in the region and students wanting to host events and such. However the University rejected this idea despite the fact it would ensure the SU wouldn't be likely to lose money on it.

What are the overriding issues with the Students' Union in Cardiff?
As far as I'm concerned it's not so much about what the SU looks like but it's much more about how the space is used. Issues that came up in my survey included:

• The feeling that the Union wasn't run by students due to no student staff working behind the bar
• The SU should be open in the evenings
• The SU should do more events, social activities and live music.
• The marketing and promotion of the Union needs to be improved.

From a personal aspect, there's also the issue that students aren't aware of the full breath and depth of what the Students' Union does. It's a lot more than just a bar. It provides representation through its sabbatical officers (like myself), its Student Council officers along with the SVR and Course Rep system. There's also societies, clubs, volunteering and fundraising opportunities to get involved with and much more. I believe awareness of our core services would be the easiest way to improve the low NSS scores USWSU receives in the Cardiff region.

What can I do to help with the issues or provide input? 

Ultimately, what has happened at the ATRiuM and the other Cardiff buildings at USW is that there's been a lack of student feedback surrounding the issues of catering and the Students' Union. This in turn has caused both University management and Union management to make their own assumptions as to what students want. So if you want a Students' Union that's student-led and truly reflects the student opinion all you need to do is voice your opinions and/or get more involved in the SU in one of the following ways:

• Comment on this blog with your thoughts
• Get in touch with me - by email: vicepresident.cardiff@southwales.ac.uk, or on Twitter @sheepfm
• Attend our Annual General Meeting on Jan 30 at 6:30pm in the Atrium Zen Room(CB403) and have your say in person. Link to the Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/256116464552793/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
• Get involved in our Elections next month where you can run for a Sabbatical or Student Council position. Nominations for elections open on February 6th and close on February 20th and nominations packs can be picked up from any Students' Union office from February 6th.

If you've got any more questions feel free to let me know and I can add them to this blog. Hopefully now you've got a bit better idea of what Atrium 2 is all about.