Access campus areas
By day the University of Edinburgh campus is an undeniably buzzy part of the capital, with students and staff rushing to lectures, labs and tutorial sessions and fitting in sports, societies, and social activities.
As dusk falls, the daytime hustle and bustle gives way to a quieter atmosphere, but since autumn 2022, those wishing to learn a new language or musical instrument, or take part in rehearsals for a Fringe show, have been bringing the buzz back on campus by night.
The Community Access to Rooms project was launched as a pilot scheme in September 2022 to allow community groups that held an affiliation with the University to hire rooms on campus, free of charge.
Roll on 15 months, and the University’s Executive approved the scheme to become a permanent arrangement and has also dropped the requirement for a pre-existing relationship to use the rooms.
There are now more than 40 community groups who have been using the buildings on offer across the campuses.
Social value
The range of community organisations taking part in the initiative has been wonderful to see, and in reviewing the pilot scheme, it was found to have amassed an impressive 2,077 hours of use of University buildings in that early period.
One group, the Welcoming Association, has been using University space at George Square to run English language classes.
David Carpenter, the group’s English Speaker of Other Languages Coordinator, tells us: “We teach around 550 people every six months. There are so many refugees, migrants and asylum seekers in Edinburgh who need that opportunity.”
They’ve seen a 40 per cent rise in members since they started hosting their classes at the University in September 2022.
David adds: “Since halfway through 2022, we’ve been rebuilding, and having access to University space was a Godsend to us because, as a small charity, we didn’t have the money to hire halls.”
Tarek Alshalati is a member of the Edinburgh community who runs evening Arabic classes. For him, having free space meant his group could be more diverse and inclusive: “The University space has allowed us to be able to run the classes on a contribution basis whereby people pay whatever they can afford and sometimes that is nothing at all.”
Community connection
The scheme aims to foster a meaningful relationship between the University and the community through free room hire, ensuring that the rooms are used to their full potential and that cost is not a barrier to good quality meeting space.
The project is one of the 32 practical commitments the University is making to Edinburgh’s local communities in its Community Plan, which runs from 2020-2025. In this commitment, which is also a Scottish Government Social Impact Pledge, the University has publicly committed to create community access to rooms by 2025.
Helen-Rose Wood, Head of University Space, says: “Universities should be beacons of shared knowledge and growth and, as a place of learning, I think we have a civic responsibility to open our doors, so I was excited to get involved in this opportunity and allow wider access to some of the fantastic buildings we have on our estate.”
In 2022, Helen-Rose and her colleagues examined which spaces across campus would work for community groups.
She says: “We had a conversation about which spaces might work, whether the building was open, and worked with our Servitorial colleagues and Estates to understand whether other people were using the buildings.”
Providing accessible spaces
Dominic Lewis, Director of Edinburgh theatre group, Bare Productions, has used a variety of spaces across campus to host rehearsals, auditions and events.
He says: “We were charging people a membership fee to cover the cost of room hire, as well as having a high fundraising target and applying for grants. Although we still apply for funding now, it means that we can redirect those funds into other areas to help us expand or to provide more opportunities for the community.”
Bare Productions was set up in 2017 to provide theatre opportunities to those living in Edinburgh. The 40 group members include University students, staff, and people from across the city.
“Everything we do is centred around an ethos of community values: community accessibility, innovation and creativity,” Dominic continues. “We also have separate strands to the company that help amplify voices of those often unheard.”
Last year, the group worked with Waverley Care, Scotland’s HIV and Hepatitis C charity, on a production of Rent, which portrays the AIDs crisis in the 1980s. They created resource packs and put on presentations for the public. Dominic says: “Having access to the University space has also been helpful for when we’ve hosted external events and filled the space with public audiences.”
Cutting costs
Venue hire can present a significant financial barrier to groups and their members. The estimated equivalent cost of renting space in central Edinburgh from September 2022 to December 2023 was £16,600 based on local community venue hire rates.
Alec Cooper runs The Sitar Project, a community group aimed at promoting Indian classical music. He was previously hosting classes at a member’s flat, but this stopped being a viable option when the group doubled in size.
He says: “Before this semester we were a smaller group, so we used to run the class from one of our student’s flats, but the group grew from six students to 12 so it was getting to the upper limit – it was perfect timing for a venue change.”
Expanding reach
Helen-Rose Wood says she would like to see more groups using the spaces in the future: “I’d love to see a wider variety of buildings being used by community groups. I think the University’s spaces have huge potential for us to be able to open our doors and give something back to the community.”
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Image credits: The Welcoming and Bare Productions
