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Photography by Joe Almond

3 Mar 2014

Society presents proposals to boost number of students visiting town during day

Members of a º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ society have come up with a host of proposals to encourage students to use the town centre during the day.

The ideas, more than 20 in total, were the result of a creative workshop staged by Design School students who are members of TADA (That Awesome Design Association).

They presented them to Love º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ, an organisation funded by town centre businesses, and hope some will be implemented.

Kate Saunders, an Industrial Design student who helped found TADA last year, said the half day event had been a success.

She added: “One of the reasons we did this is because students don’t spend as much time in town as they perhaps could do. We are, hopefully, trying to change that.

“I loved it. It’s nice because we put a month to two month’s work into working with Love º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ and some other stakeholders. It’s nice that it can be successful and all the students seemed to enjoy it.

“All of them found something new, like cafes they would like to go back to. It surprised them and opened their eyes a bit.”

The brief for the creative workshop, which involved 20 students, was, ‘How can students be encouraged to use the town centre during the day?’

Kate says that while students visit the town centre at night they tend to avoid it during the day. Many felt that Sainsbury’s was a barrier to the rest of the town because students tend to park their bikes there and go no further.

One idea was to introduce better bike parking in the centre.

Others included the provision of a café/bar where students can study and which could be used for comedy/band nights, encouraging societies to interact with locals, a campus notice board promoting town centre events, and creating distinct zones relevant to different interests, like shopping and nightlife.

The students were given talks by representatives from Love º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ, Kerching, a retail marketing and consultancy firm, the Design Council, and university senior lecturer Cathy Hart, who was an advisor to the ‘Love º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Partnership’ campaign which was successful in its 2012 bid to become a Portas Pilot town.

They then split into groups and headed to the town centre before returning to the university for a brainstorming session, which resulted in the proposals that were sent to Love º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ.

Kate said: “Love º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ will sort through the ideas and present them to their board to see if there’s anything that can be implemented.”

This was the second event TADA have organised under the banner ‘Local Fix’, the first being a venture to help a local pizzeria design the interior for a new restaurant.

Notes for editors

Article reference number: PR 14/39

  1. Photograph supplied by Joe Almond.
  2. º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.

    It was awarded the coveted Sunday Times University of the Year title in 2008-09 and has been named Sports University of the Year 2013-14 by The Times and Sunday Times. º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and has been voted England's Best Student Experience for six years running in the Times Higher Education league. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.

    In 2015 the University will open an additional academic campus in London’s new innovation quarter. º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ in London, based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, will offer postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities.

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