News
Class of 2009 property students get under the skin of Swindon’s Union Square
Tue 11th August 2009
Final year property students at the Royal Agricultural College (RAC), Cirencester, have been working closely with The New Swindon Company (TNSC) as part of a year long project looking at how to improve Swindon town centre.
Using Union Square - the largest of Swindon’s regeneration zones - as a case study, the students had the opportunity to take on the role of the developer and really put their property development and marketing skills to the test.Working in teams, the students had to identify how best to use the space, all 18 acres, and promote economic growth in the area.
Robert Martin, a participating student from the RAC, comments: “In particular, my team thought that there was huge potential and benefits to be had in expanding the business district in Swindon, as the town is very well placed with good transport links to neighbouring towns and cities. In order to attract companies to locate here however, the town centre needs to boost its offering and provide new coffee shops, restaurants, gyms and shops to serve an expanding business community.”
33 students took part in the study which involved visiting Swindon and learning about the different aspects of the Union Square scheme, as well as considering the current market conditions in the town. After compiling reports and delivering presentations, two of the groups were congratulated on completing the exercise most effectively and coming up with a winning strategy for Swindon’s Union Square.
Chris Hitchings, Director of Development, The New Swindon Company, adds: “For us, this was a great chance to get a young and fresh perspective on our plans for regeneration in Swindon. Overall I was very impressed with the standard of the students and the two winning teams in particular delivered professional presentations, original marketing strategies and showed that they had a true grasp of the market place.
“I would certainly have loved to have had this opportunity when I was a student to take a real life project and get to develop and present my own ideas on how to make it a success. I hope it stands the students in good stead for the future and I wish them all the best of luck.”
Kerriann McLackland, course tutor at the Royal Agricultural College, comments: “Using a real life example always works best as the students can actually visit the site and gain a true understanding of the unique considerations that apply to that particular development. It was a great learning exercise and I know the students enjoyed the task. We would like to thank Chris Hitchings and The New Swindon Company for working with us and hope this is something we can do again.”