The newly refurbished Regent House will be opened for the month of April and May as an exam space for students, providing an additional area to study in the lead up to exams.
Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) successfully advocated for the opening of Regent House as a study space in the hope that it could act as an alternative for students as the library becomes increasingly overcrowded during the examination period.
Regent House, which just this month completed a lengthy and delayed refurbishment, is currently one of the key spaces for hosting society events within College. It has been used in the past as a revision space for students during exam season, as well as being opened for study for those sitting the annual Schols exams.
In a college where space is famously limited, there are rarely enough seats for students in the library during exam season. The JCR, for instance, turn the Trinity Hall canteen into a study area for parts of April and May.
Speaking to The University Times, TCDSU President, Kieran McNulty, said he was “very happy to see more desks being made available during the mad study period of April”.
While there was little opposition from College to the request for space, McNulty said he hoped it could lead to more spaces becoming available.
The refurbishment work of Regent House involved an extensive remodelling of the space as part of the Trinity Visitor Experience, which, as a part of Trinity’s commercialisation strategy, aims to improve the experience of the College’s visitors and tourists.
Refurbishment works to the room included the installation of an elevator, accessible bathroom facilities and improvements to the already existing audio visual system.
During the works to the the room, which took three months longer than planned to complete, several student societies faced disruption as they were forced to carry on their activities in alternative locations. The space is regularly used by societies such as Trinity Orchestra, DU Dance Society and DU Choral Society, amongst others.
Last year, speaking to The University Times over email, Trinity’s Director of Commercialisation, Adrian Neilan, said that as College improves spaces for commercial reasons “then in the long term students and staff will benefit from this”.
