Jubilee Building opens for business
Following a three-year construction project, Sussex’s major new academic building – named the Jubilee Building – is now complete. It will house the School of Business, Management and Economics, as well as teaching space, a café, and a 500-seat lecture theatre (the largest on campus).
The Jubilee Building, an innovative teaching space at the heart of campus
New artworks celebrate 50th anniversary year
A new mural representing what university life means for current Sussex students is now on display in Fulton. The large work of art, measuring 6 metres wide and 2.4 metres high, was inspired by a 1967 piece by John Upton, Christ’s Entry Into Brighton, owned by the University, which hangs in Arts A. During 2011-12, local artist Mark Lingham spent three months cutting stencils and one month spray-painting to achieve what he sees as a ‘continuation’ of the Sixties mural. The Meeting House features prominently in the new mural, together with depictions of the social attitudes of the current student body.
Meanwhile in the Library, a portrait of Sussex’s Vice-Chancellors past and present has been unveiled. The portrait is a gift from renowned artist Stephen Farthing RA – brother of the current Vice-Chancellor Michael Farthing – and will serve as a lasting legacy of the University’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
A portrait of all Sussex's Vice-Chancellors, by Stephen Farthing RA
Plans approved for new childcare centre
Lewes District Council has approved plans for a new 100-place Nursery and Preschool building, to be located in the south-east corner of campus (within the Lewes District boundary).
When it is finished in summer 2013, the building will bring together in one location the Nursery (for babies and toddlers aged four months to three years) and Preschool (for threeto five-year-olds), which are currently based on separate sites in Norwich House and Silverstone respectively.
Improved Library gets positive feedback from students
Nine out of 10 users – and 93 per cent of students – think that the Library provides a good service, according to a survey of 1,875 students and staff, published in January 2012. 91 per cent of them agreed with the statement ‘overall the Library provides a good service’. This is up from 77 per cent in 2007 – the last time that the Library ran the survey.
The Librarian, Kitty Inglis, believes that the huge increase in satisfaction is due in large part to the new spaces, services and facilities in the Library following its £7.4-million refurbishment, completed last summer. Kitty said: ‘We now have a Library fit for one of the UK’s top universities, offering the latest technology, more flexible study spaces, a relocated careers centre, and a new café and social spaces.
Northfield
Phase two of the Northfield halls of residence has been completed on time and within budget, taking less than a year from start to finish, adding 180 student bedrooms to campus. Phase one – of 14 blocks – has been home to 777 Sussex students since it was completed in summer 2011. Sussex has made some amendments to its plans for the third and final phase of Northfield: the proposal is now for about 150 rooms in two rather than three blocks, with a decision from Brighton & Hove City Council expected imminently.
One of the new accommodation blocks at Northfield