Boeing boss opens new teaching complex

05/12/07

Boeing boss opens new teaching complex

Boeing UK president Sir Roger Bone has unveiled a new £4 million extension at Kingston University’s Roehampton Vale campus.
The Hawker Wing, named after Australian aviator Harry Hawker who was a test pilot for the Kingston-based Sopwith Aviation Company, was officially opened on 5 December.

Students and academic staff from the University’s Faculty of Engineering have been settling in to the three-floor addition to the campus since construction work was completed early in the autumn.
The new wing provides 10 extra teaching rooms as well as additional office space.

Sir Roger praised the University for its commitment to providing high quality teaching and learning facilities for its students.
“It’s important to have the best architecture to attract students – and Kingston is doing that very well,” he said.
He noted that the University now boasted the third largest engineering faculty in the region.
“To be increasing the number of students in the Faculty of Engineering is a great achievement.
Where other university engineering departments are struggling, Kingston is doing a terrific job of bucking the trend,” Sir Roger said.

The opening comes hot on the heels of an event marking the completion of the £20 million John Galsworthy Building, which now takes pride of place at the heart of the University’s Penrhyn Road campus.
The six-storey teaching and learning facility, named after the Nobel prize-winning novelist and playwright who was born at Kingston Hill in 1867, incorporates lecture theatres, flexible teaching space and information technology suites.

More celebrations lie in store in the new year, when the ribbon is cut at the Nightingale Centre – the new look Learning Resources Centre at the Kingston Hill campus – on 23 January.
Following a £5 million extension, it now provides another 1,500 square metres of study space and boasts a 60-seat learning café.

Director of Property Management and Development Andrew McEwan said such significant redevelopment of the University’s estate meant it was in a far better position to cater for its students.
“Each of these landmark developments will reinforce Kingston’s standing as one of the foremost providers of higher education in the capital,” he said.
“They send a very powerful statement that Kingston University is brimming with confidence about the future and is determined to not only maintain but invest in its record for high quality teaching.”