Estates news

On Friday 31st May, Kent Union and Kent University celebrated outstanding student achievement at the Kent Student Awards. Helen Ellis, Deputy Director of Estates presented the Outstanding Contribution to the Environment award to Emilia Brumpton for founding the UKC Gardening and Foraging Society and establishing the Beetbox Food cooperative, making local, sustainable and organic vegetables available to students and staff through a veg box scheme. Emilia is shown receiving her award from Helen along with Aaron Thompson, Student Union’s President 2018/19, Professor April McMahon, Deputy Vice Chancellor Education, and Sasha Langeveldt, Student Union’s President elect 2019/20.

Have you ever entered Eliot College and found yourself walking through corridors which look the same, unable to find your destination easily?

The Estates Department has been working to resolve this issue and Eliot College has been undergoing an internal signage refresh recently. Each wing is becoming colour-coded and each sign will correspond to the colour of the wing.

Jenny Martine, Interior Services & Signage Manager in the Estates Department explains the benefits this will bring “At every stairwell and decision point there will be large maps, directories and clear wayfinding. The scheme will add colour, improve the wayfinding process and bring the building up to date. This will hopefully reduce the anxiety of orientating around a complicated building.”

Eliot is the oldest College of the University of Kent. It was established in 1965, the same year the University opened, and is named after the poet T. S. Eliot. The nature of this mixed use building, with academic offices, study-bedrooms and several large areas for distinctive uses – teaching spaces, common rooms and the Great Hall with its views of the Cathedral, led to the adoption of a block design with the college divided into several square cores, each containing a distinctive interior space with study bedrooms or offices along all four walls. Given the complexity of the overall building design, and the challenges for internal navigation that this brings, the new clear and comprehensive signage solution should bring significant advantages for all.

The internal signage in Eliot College is scheduled for completion by 5 May and Rutherford College will commence shortly afterwards. Examples of the signage can be viewed on the Estates website.

If you have any feedback regarding the new signage please let us know by emailing Estates Customer Services – estatescustomerservices@kent.ac.uk.