Watch: In an exclusive interview with The Cheese Grater, the Activities Officer talks through UCL’s decision to fund the Bloomsbury Gym renovation and what it means for future works
The University paid for 80% of the Bloomsbury Gym refurbishment works in a sign of the ever-closer relationship between UCL and the Students’ Union.
UCL contributed over £600,000 to the £750,000 refurbishment of the Union’s newly rebranded TeamUCL Gym in the Bloomsbury Theatre, allowing the project to come significantly under budget in the Union’s books.
In an interview with The Cheese Grater, Activities and Engagement Officer Ana Boikova said: “This is one of the first ways UCL is helping us expand and improve our student facilities.”
She said the Union’s relationship with the University has been improving in recent years, in large part due to campaigning efforts by sabbatical officers for better student facilities.
The Union last week announced further plans to renovate a number of campus hotspots, including Gordon’s Cafe and the Print Room Cafe in the coming months, with works set to begin over Easter and June respectively. It is understood that UCL is similarly planning to fund a significant proportion of the bill.
However, despite boasting over 80 pieces of new kit and new rubber flooring to stop noise from travelling to the Bloomsbury Theatre below, one gym-goer told The Cheese Grater: “I’m not happy with the refurb. I feel like the gym has become a lot more unapproachable than it already was.”
She went on to say that there had been a reduction in the number of cardio machines and lighter weights mainly used by women.
She added: “It generally feels like it’s very good for people who already know what they are doing at the gym, but not for people who want to start now. If you’re a beginner, good luck.”
Meanwhile, news of the funding agreement has raised concern about whether the Union was taking too many favours from UCL.
Asked whether the Union now risked being too deep in UCL’s pockets to effectively campaign on issues deemed sensitive to the University, the Activities Officer said: “We campaign for better student facilities, better student extracurriculars, better support, better funding to run these extracurricular activities.”
She said: “[The Union’s] main charitable objective is to improve student life, and UCL really sees that vision.” She pointed to the Student Life Strategy, a multi-million-pound funding agreement co-written by the Union and UCL in 2022.
Boikova added: “We’re really happy to have this partnership and I hope it progresses even further.”
