Coventry University’s new CU London campus has officially launched at Dagenham’s former Civic Centre.
Celebrations were in full force as the event coincided with the 80th anniversary of the landmark.
The Grade II listed building opened its doors on Friday for a community celebration at the Rainham Road North venue where a gallery of photographs and newspaper cuttings featuring the Civic Centre were on display and residents were encouraged to share their stories.
Barbara Partridge, 75, of Margaret Road, Romford, said: “It’s such a prominent building so we thought we’d take the chance to come in today and see what it was like. “They’ve really brought old and new together without disturbing any of the original features. What a lovely view of the park too. Lucky students!”
For William Tickner, 83, visiting the Civic Centre brought back memories of his early career in local government finance.
“I was a junior clerk which involved licking stamps, doing the teas and coffees and dealing with the rate books,” he said.
“It is great to see the building in full use like this, and for local youngsters and others to get a chance of a good education. As a rate payer I am delighted to see it being used!”
Andy Ginn, associate pro-vice-chancellor of CU London, said: “It is essential for us to be ingrained in local life. There is access to us through schools, colleges, community groups, businesses; we’re very much open doors. In that way there is no change as to how the civic centre operated and we’re a university for everyone, for the borough.”
Jordan Ismail, 18 and Diana Broja, 20, are the heads of the mooting and law society at CU London.
Jordan explained how the civic centre’s history reaches out to students, saying: “It is a very beautiful building with beautiful surroundings. It has great facilities, particularly the council chambers which we can use for future law events. It’s a fresh canvas for us to put our stamp on.”
Diana added: “It brings an air of history and professionalism to everything which a brand new campus might not have.”
The first CU London students put together a time capsule containing messages about what they would like to achieve, which will be opened on the Civic Centre’s 100th birthday.
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