Booking Rooms & Spaces

This guide will offer advice on how best to book rooms for your Student Group to ensure they are submitted correctly and in a timely manner, so we have the best chance of facilitating your booking!

1. Consider which room is most appropriate for your activity

Through the Students' Union you can book Student Union owned spaces and many University lecture rooms and seminar rooms. You can take a look at the layout of the rooms and their capacities through here: Learning Environments’s albums | Flickr. You might also consider booking JC's Y Twyni and other venues, which are excellent spaces for more social activity. You can take a look for further information here: Your Spaces. 

We can facilitate most teaching spaces on both campuses, however, we have priority of certain Seminar and Lecture Rooms (further information later on). If possible, try bear in this in mind when requesting. 

As a general rule of thumb, Lecture Rooms are larger and would be most appropriate for any bookings with larger than 40 people or if more open space is required. Seminar Rooms are most appropriate for 40 people or under. When looking at bookings the SU booking team will look at the details you specify on the form such as number of people expected, technical requirements etc. So if we feel the details don't match the room you've requested, we may place you in an alternative space.

Rooms we have priority over are:

• Fulton House (Singleton) - Lecture Rooms A, B and C and Seminar Rooms 1, 3 and 5
• Faraday (Singleton) - Seminar Rooms E, G and H
• School of Management (Bay campus) - Seminar Rooms 107, 111, 113 & 239

2. Consider which time is best for your booking

We can largely only take bookings outside of teaching times. Please ensure bookings are made with these times in mind, to ensure there is a better chance of facilitating. 

Times we can best facilitate bookings are:

• Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 18:00-21:00 
• Wednesday from 13:00-21:00 
• Saturday and Sunday from 9:00-21:00 

Please note - All times are subject to availability and change, and the opening and closing times of certain buildings may vary.

3. Complete Risk Assessment 

You must ensure your Student Group has submitted a Risk Assessment for us to facilitate your booking. Your student group may have submitted a Standard Risk Assessment for your group's activity already. In this case, you would not need to re-submit, however, for anything not included in that initial Risk Assessment, you will need to submit a new one. For example you may be holding a particular event, with high footfall which may escalate the likelihood of risk occurring, this is when you would need to submit a new Risk Assessment.

For further guidance on producing a Risk Assessment you can navigate to here: Writing Risk Assessments 

Once completed, you can attach it to the room booking form, if necessary.

4. Familiarise yourself with the Terms & Conditions

Please pay attention to the Room Booking Terms & Conditions and click the checkbox on the form, once understood. If Terms & Conditions are violated you will be issued with a warning, then Strike on your Student Group. If you receive 3 strikes, we will suspend your rights to book a room with us and possibly take further action.

The Terms & Conditions are as follows: 

1. Before booking a room you must ensure that your Student Group has filled out a Student Group Standard Activity Risk Assessment attached at the bottom of this guide, outlining your Student Groups’ general activity for the year. If you are holding a particular event, that is not captured in the Standard template, a new Risk Assessment should be submitted for the new activity along with a completed Room Booking Form.
2. You must complete a Room Booking Form 10 working days' prior to the date you are requesting to book a space. 
3. Any correspondence we send will largely be sent to your Student Groups email address. So please check regularly!
4. Any space that is booked during office hours must not be used for loud activities, and any noise made must be kept to a minimum.
5. If furniture needs to be moved for any reason, then all rooms must be put back to the way they were found. Each room has a picture depicting the accepted layout to follow. Failure to do so will incur a fine.
6. For any out of hour bookings on either campus, there is potential that additional costs could be incurred. Societies and Sports Clubs will be informed of any potential charges before the booking is confirmed to ensure all parties are in accordance before proceeding. 
7. Do not remove chairs or other furniture from any of the rooms without permission from either the Engagement Department, or the University Estates Department.
8. Tidy up after your booking, including throwing away any rubbish. Failure to do so can incur a fine. 
9. If you wish to cancel your room booking, you must do so one week prior to the booking, or else risk incurring a strike.
10. HDMI cables and AUX cables cannot be provided for your rooms, so you will have to bring your own if needed.
11. Under no circumstances should alcohol be consumed in any rooms used for teaching. Any alcohol being consumed in licensed premises within Fulton House and Union House (JC’s & Rebound) must be properly risk assessed, and only alcohol purchased from the bars may be consumed. 
12. Catering cannot be provided in rooms that are used for teaching, unless it has been arranged through Campus Catering. Catering for Students’ Union booked rooms must be previously agreed by the Societies Department, and properly risk assessed. 
13. If you are inviting an external speaker onto campus, you must fill in the External Speaker Form attached at the bottom of this article and submit it at least 15 working days' prior to the event taking place. 
14. Strikes can be administered to Societies and Sports Clubs when in breach of the agreed to Room Booking Terms and Conditions. Three strikes per term will result either in weekly bookings being cancelled for the following week, or, no rooms will be booked for the Society or Sports Club for the rest of term.

5. Consider all aspects of the form

To book a room or space on campus, you need to fill in the Student Group Room Booking form. 

You must submit 10 working days' in advance of bookings or we may not be able to facilitate

If you are hoping to have an external speaker, an extra process needs to be followed. More information can be found here: External Speakers & Guest Lectures. Once the form is completed, you can attach to your initial booking request. 

6. Approval

Once submitted, and if all the Terms & Conditions are followed, we will facilitate your booking. As certain rooms are highly requested and may have limited availability, we may suggest a different time or date for your booking.

You will get a notification from the room or venue sending a calendar invite to your Group's email address. 

We email all correspondence regarding your booking request to your Student Groups' email address, so please check regularly!

We try our best to facilitate every booking we can, however, during high pressure work periods, we may be a little slower getting back to you to facilitate. You can get in touch with us any time to chase up your booking by contacting hello@swansea-union.co.uk or by creating a ticket at hello.swansea-union.co.uk!