EXETER COLLEGE is forging ahead with two major building projects over the summer months having listened carefully to students’ suggestions about where improvements could be made.

Bridgwater-based contractors Henry W. Pollard and Sons have now moved on site and begun work on a new café and an outdoor amphitheatre complete with an all-weather seating area to the side of Exeter College’s Centre for Creative Industries (CCI), off Queen Street.

The steel girders which will eventually serve as a structural framework for the contemporary designs making up the project are already up and the foundations are down with a view to it being finished by the beginning of the Autumn term. The venture is expected to cost around £750,000 in total, for the building work and fitting out.

Meanwhile, the contract to refurbish the College’s recently-purchased building on Queen Street – once home to the University of Plymouth’s Faculty of Arts and ideally-situated close to other campus buildings, The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Central Station, and the city centre – has been put out to tender.

Work on creating a new home there primarily for use by the Music Academy students is expected to be completed by the end of this year with the cost of buying and refurbishing the property expected to be in the region of £1 million.

Head of Estates Steve Strang said: “The new café is going to be contemporary in design. We have deliberately included a lot of glass to make the space light and airy, and the café walls will be used to hang students’ artwork so it can be used as a gallery space as well as an inviting social space where students from across the College can meet for lunch and during their breaks.

“Outside, we will have an all-weather seating area which, together with the amphitheatre, will really come into their own in the summertime, both as a place to relax and enjoy the sunshine and also an outdoor performance space which can be used in addition to the CCI’s theatre,” he added.

“In the evenings, it will also serve as a perfect gathering place for our higher education and adult learners attending evening classes at the College, especially if they are looking to grab a bite to eat and something to drink after work.”

Inspiration for the new building works came primarily from students via their Learner Voice representatives at the College – a body of students chosen annually to represent their peers alongside staff with a view to airing concerns and putting forward suggestions as to how College life in general can be improved.

Currently in the process of organising their end-of-year celebration and awards event at the Thistle Hotel later this month, Health and Well-being Manager Nick Bridge says: “The suggestions for the café and for further provisions for the music students came from listening to our students and responding to their ideas.

“We value our students’ needs highly. It is important that while they are at the College, their student experience is enjoyable as well as educational. So rather than simply deciding ourselves how the College is run, Learner Voice allows staff at the College to make sure that the students have their say in the decision-making process too.”