Moving in the night, builders and heavy machinery have taken over UCL’s Main Quad, marking the beginning of its year-long closure.
From today, students can only access the Main Library from the first floor of the South Junction staircase. Yes, those stairs opposite the Union shop where it’s always busy at lunchtime.
UCL said it was closing the Main Quad and parts of the Wilkins Cloisters as “outdated infrastructure” and “accessibility challenges” were “limiting their potential to serve our community effectively”.
It said: “In the spirit of UCL’s radical origins – where barriers to education were dismantled for underrepresented groups – this renovation project ensures that the Main Quad and Wilkins Building can truly be spaces for everyone.”
The works are expected to last until at least January 2026 in time for UCL’s 200th anniversary. This means the class of 2025 will not be able to take their graduation pictures on the Quad this summer, the Union has confirmed.
The University has so far refused to reveal the cost of the project, citing the figure as commercially sensitive.
How do we get to places?
From Monday 10 February, students will no longer be able to access the Student Centre or the Main Library through the Wilkins Cloisters.
To access the Main Library, which will remain open during the works, students should go up to the first floor of the South Junction via the stairs or lift to find a temporary entrance that leads to the Art and Economics sections of the library.
Access to the Student Centre will be blocked from the South Cloisters, so students should either enter from the front via Gordon Street or from the rear using the staircase at the end of the far South Corner or the lifts at South Junction.
There will be no access to the Wilkins Terrace or the Jeremy Bentham Room through the Octagon Gallery or the North Cloisters, so students should instead enter through The Refectory or the Bloomsbury Theatre, though only the former is accessible for wheelchair users.
Finally, while students can expect hoarding to surround the Main Quad, those wishing to enter campus from the Gower Street entrance can still do so by walking around the perimeter path to find the far North Corner, which leads to Geography, Physics, the Housman Room, and the far South Corner for the South Junction staircase. Both entrances are accessible for wheelchair users.
However, cyclists should be aware that all bike racks inside the Main Quad perimeter – highlighted above – will be unavailable from Monday onwards, adding to the scarcity of parking spaces on campus.
The works will also mean that South Junction, which leads to campus hotspots including the Union shop and the Print Room Cafe, is set to become even busier than it already is.
UCL said security staff will be on hand to help students find their way in the early stages of the works and that additional signage will be placed around the campus.
£200k to gut out former Art Museum
The Cheese Grater requested data from the University regarding the cost of the Quad renovations. While it has refused to turn over the full costings – citing the figure as commercially sensitive – we can reveal that UCL spent almost £200,000 to remove the former Art Museum, offering a glimpse into the scale and cost of the project.
The UCL Art Museum, a globally significant and popular interdisciplinary teaching space, was “evicted” by the University last November following a “rushed” consultation, a process that has attracted serious criticism from staff.
As part of the UCL 200 renovations, the area housing the former Art Museum in the South Cloisters will be turned into a “flexible space” to support student events and exhibitions, according to planning documents.
The Museum itself would be temporarily relocated to the South Wing “to allow for teaching and research to continue”, but UCL has not announced where it intends to rehouse the Museum in the long run.
History of Art emeritus professor David Bindman previously criticised the University’s plan to “put everything in store with no proposed location for its redisplay.”
He added: “Apart from the unspecified length of storage, a whole new space would have to be found that is highly unlikely to be as easy of access as the present room, as well as the dangers of packing them up in the first place.”
