Monday, May 14, 2012

The New Kitchen Being Put to Good Use!



As you know one of the new facilities in the refurbished building is a kitchen for resident use. In the age of celebrity chefs and numerous cooking programs, it was inevitable that residents would want to experiment in the kitchen. The above video concerning the 2012 ARC student recipe book is hosted by New Collegian Lucy Murrie (who is the editor this year) and the winner of last year's best recipe, Iain Cooper (a current resident of New College). And of course, the kitchen in the film is the New College shared kitchen that is part of the refurbished New College. 

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Some Final Shots of the Building

The building refurbishment has been finished for a few weeks now, although the last few bits of furnishing are still arriving for the courtyard. I thought I'd provide a few last photos to show just how good the building looks. But first my thanks to Lipman for a job well done. The picture below was taken on the day when the team had completed the common rooms and bedrooms. This was an important day for them and us, as it meant that residents were able to move in on time. Of course, they still had the courtyard and roof to complete. As you can see in the background, there was still a lot to do at that stage. But it's all done now!

The Key Lipman Crew Members
A view of the northern end of the courtyard
The new Games Room
The bridge in use as a study space
A space filled with light

A courtyard with varied all weather uses
The Lounge room doubles as a display wall in 'Love Week'
Viewed from the roof of the NCV
Viewed from the Village Green

A key requirement, we can still see the sky!
Thank you to the residents and staff of New College who have endured much during the refurbishment of the building. The good news is that we now have a wonderful building that is helping to add to the already rich community life. As one resident said to me over lunch recently, "The building is now so wonderful, the noise for the first few weeks of semester was worth the pain."


Thursday, April 5, 2012

The building in full use

The building is now complete but for a few minor jobs around the place and the various ne spaces are being used well. The photos below show some of the many wonderful 'new' spaces that are now being enjoyed.

Chilling out on the bridge
New Vs NCV in Master's Challenge
The New College Team, with 'ball boys'!
NCV wins the Table Tennis 4-1 for 2nd year in row
Band Night in the new courtyard
Watching Band Night from the bridge
Starting with the 2012 Fresher Dance
Getting ready to perform


Games Room in Use
New stairway from Dining Room to Courtyard




Thursday, March 22, 2012

Almost Done!

We're within a few days of completion of the work on the building. The first half of the courtyard became available for use on Tuesday and the new Games Room, Lounge, Kitchen and Bridge should follow early next week. The residents plan to celebrate the refurbishment with its use for Band Night. The 'new' space will be perfect for activities like Band Night. It offers a more open venue without the skylights and, of course, it's an all weather space.  Below are some of the latest images.


View from 1B
The floor has a blackbutt wooden floor insert
In the background are the bench seats that are primarily to ensure ventilation of the space via plenums to the external walls
Bridge and Games Room almost ready for use



Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Latest Photos of the Kitchen, Bridge, Courtyard & Roof

The courtyard, resident kitchen, bridge and games room, lounge and central stairway should all be completed by the 24th. Here are the latest shots.



Quite a view!



A tribute to St Patrick's Day, our proud Irish bridge builders!
The courtyard takes shape - timber and tiles
Central stairway down to the dining room
Roof with the louvres installed

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Almost Done!

While there still seems a lot to finish the renovations to New College are nearing completion. The shots below were taken last Wednesday. Progress has continued since these photos were taken. Major progress has been made to:

The courtyard - most paving is now done and should be finished early next week.
The Bridge is finally looking as designed.
The Games Room & Lounge are taking shape.
The kitchen needs its oven and the floor tiling.
The central stairway is within a few days of completion.
The roof is completed although the downpipes and louvres to the sides are not finished.
Our expectation is that the majority of the work will be completed in a week.

The view from the 2A balcony
The floor is close to completion
The roof is finally covered with glass & polycarbonate
Louvres starting to take shape



Thursday, March 1, 2012

Steady Progress on the Roof & Courtyard

I haven't posted for two weeks, but O'Week has kept us all busy. Progress on the building has been good. While visually it has been hard to see the dramatic progress of some weeks, a great deal of work has been done on the courtyard floor, the Games Room and, the Lounge & Kitchen. As well, work on the louvres that protect the sides of the roof from rain has been underway. The engineering residents have had a field day observing the action form the balconies. All the while life in the common rooms and dining room has returned to 'normal' (if we ignore the noise and zones that residents can't access). However, completion of all spaces is expected within two to three weeks. Key achievements in the last two weeks are:

The courtyard slab floor has now been poured
Tiling is set to commence
The games room is taking shape with most of the glass walls installed
The ground floor apartments for visiting scholars and guests have been completed
The shared kitchen is almost ready for use

The photos below give some sense of progress.

Games Room Taking Shape
Completing the Courtyard Floor
New College Viewed from the top of the NCV


Normal O'Week Life in the Common Rooms




Thursday, February 16, 2012

The first residents return and the glass goes in

It was exciting to welcome back the advance party of residents to the building on Tuesday. The RAs returned after our annual retreat for residential advisers. The RA flats weren't quite done so they bunked in 3D. The NCSA exec and the O'Week Team returned yesterday. While the courtyard and the new shared facilities are about 2-3 weeks from completion, the rooms and common rooms look fantastic and the ground floor will be back to normal by Friday. The images below capture some of the early moments from Damien Wang's camera and my photos of the first glass sheets going onto the roof are from my excited camera.

The elevator now talks!
First look at 3E Common Room
Smile Trev & Amy
Sad Liz, "Where'd my old room go?"
Down the stairs
First sheet of glass is in!
Now the 2nd!

This is freaking me out!