No 6369
Wednesday 10 December 2014
Vol cxlv No 13
pp. 285–297
17 December, Wednesday. Last ordinary number of the Reporter in the Michaelmas Term.
19 December, Friday. Michaelmas Term ends.
5 January, Monday. Lent Term begins.
13 January, Tuesday. Full Term begins.
14 January, Wednesday. First ordinary number of the Reporter in the Lent Term.
19 January, Monday. Sir Robert Rede’s Lecture at 5.30 p.m. in the Senate-House, Dr Drew Gilpin Faust, President of Harvard University (see below).
20 January, Tuesday. Discussion at 2 p.m. in the Senate-House.
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Discussions at 2 p.m. |
Congregations |
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20 January |
24 January, Saturday at 2 p.m. |
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3 February |
21 February, Saturday at 2 p.m. |
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17 February |
21 March, Saturday at 11 a.m. |
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3 March |
28 March, Saturday at 11 a.m. |
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17 March |
The Vice-Chancellor gives notice that he has accepted with gratitude the following benefactions, of which both the capital and the income may be used:
(i)a benefaction of £500,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation to support the construction of a new building for the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology on the West Cambridge site (the recommendations of a second-stage Report for the building were approved by Grace 3 of 13 February 2013);
(ii)a benefaction of £500,000 from the Yusuf and Farida Hamied Foundation to support the refurbishment of the synthetic chemistry laboratory currently occupied by Professor Matthew Gaunt and his team in the Department of Chemistry, in recognition of which the Department has agreed to name the laboratory the Hamied Laboratory – Synthetic Organic Chemistry;
(iii)a benefaction of £472,500 from the Reuben Foundation, payable over five years, for the award of bursaries under the Cambridge Bursary Scheme over the same period, in recognition of which the bursaries awarded will be known as Reuben Bursaries;
(iv)a benefaction of £100,000 from the British Land Company plc, payable over two years, to support research at the Real Estate Research Centre in the Department of Land Economy.
The Vice-Chancellor reminds members of the University that the President of Harvard University, Dr Drew Gilpin Faust, will give the next Rede Lecture in the Senate-House on Monday, 19 January 2015, at 5.30 p.m.
The title will be Two Wars and the Long Twentieth Century: The United States, 1861–65; Britain 1914–18.
All are welcome and there will be a reception afterwards. Senior members of the University attending should wear gowns (black gowns).
The Council has received the remarks made at the Discussion on 25 November 2014 (Reporter, 6367, 2014–15, p. 222) on the above Report (Reporter, 6363, 2014–15, p. 119).
The Council considers that the Student Services Centre on the New Museums site does represent a sufficient strategic priority for the University to justify the proposed allocation from the Capital Fund which will allow the project to proceed.
The New Museums site is one of the most unattractive parts of the University’s estate. Occupying, as it does, a key position in the historic City centre, it represents a significant risk to the University in its relationship with the City and the City Council. Moreover, as Dr Cowley notes, it is in many ways inadequate for the purposes for which it is used. The redevelopment of the North Range of buildings is an essential second phase (following on from the redevelopment of the Arup Building) in the redevelopment of the site.
The proposal to use the North Range of buildings principally as a Student Services Centre arises from a number of drivers, including both the need to increase the operational efficiency of the UAS, by rationalizing the accommodation which it occupies, and to enhance the provision of services to students. The services included in the Student Services building include the Careers Service, the Counselling Service, the Disability Resource Centre – all activities which the Council expects to continue to be delivered in person at a City centre site for the foreseeable future, and for which there will be operational and financial benefits from co-location with the relevant policy teams from the Academic Division.
Dr Cowley correctly notes that the business to which PRC 1537 refers was deferred from the meeting of the Planning and Resources Committee on 26 March 2014. When the plan was considered subsequently, it was on the basis of a revised paper. Dr Cowley had raised concerns with the Secretary of the PRC that the financial information in PRC 1537 was partial and therefore potentially misleading. The full financial picture could not be widely circulated to the PRC for reasons of commercial sensitivity, and so the revised paper concentrated on the strategic case for consolidation.
Regarding the Old Press/Mill Lane site, the Council notes that the Minor Works and Space Management Sub-committee keeps under review a schedule of accommodation on the site, and the dates by which it needs to be vacated in order to facilitate a phased programme of redevelopment. For each activity on the site that needs to be re-located, a plan is under development. The Student Services Centre is the plan for a significant proportion, but not all, of these needs. Certain properties on Mill Lane do not need to be vacated until later in the proposed redevelopment, and use can continue to be made of these for temporary accommodation.
The Council is submitting a Grace (Grace 1, p. 296) proposing the approval of the recommendations of this Report.