Careful Weighing of Innovation Centre Use
25 March 2006
One of the reasons why the University has been so successful
over the last decade is because of our flexibility, responsiveness,
and adaptability. We have regularly reviewed our directions and
made appropriate adjustments.
We are now clearly at a point where a review of the Innovation
Centre is not only necessary, but also highly responsible.
We have, for some time, been concerned that there are not a
large number of bookings for the Auditorium, spread evenly
throughout the year. As the Coast continues to develop it is
conceivable that other competing venues may emerge which can offer
more complete and comprehensive conference, catering and
accommodation packages. Such venues would adversely impact on the
Auditorium hire costs, which we use to repay our debt on that
building.
It needs also to be emphasised that the Auditorium was only
designed to be a temporary facility, whilst we awaited more
prestigious campus buildings of similar or greater scale.
First and foremost the Innovation Centre was built to house the
start-up business incubator. We built on an enhanced scale to
signal the confidence we had for the future of business development
on the Coast. We deliberately avoided using previously occupied,
refurbished buildings elsewhere. The Auditorium was to give us a
Graduation and Exam venue, and its commercial activities would help
retire the substantial debt borne by the University, because of its
commitment to economic change.
Whilst end-of-year bookings are healthy, the rest of the year
shows relatively weak demand. Add to this the ever changing needs
of those who went to book event venues, and the decreasing number
of very large stand-alone group functions, and it is clear that we
have to investigate the various options open to us.
Another factor is that by March 2007 we will, with Education
Queensland, have jointly constructed a new sports stadium that will
seat 3000 people for events like Graduation. This is a 50 per cent
increase over the capacity of the Auditorium.
I have received preliminary reports from a consultant and final
decisions will only be made when the University's governing Council
has interrogated the various options.
The possible options are varied, at this stage. The Auditorium
could continue, but would need more extensive marketing and
bookings to retire the debt. Alternatively the Auditorium could be
reconfigured to match emerging needs more directly. A further
possibility is that it could house much needed research space for
researches linked with business generation. Another possibility is
that further business generation activities could be housed there
to provide more jobs. Yet another variant could be matching
conference-accommodation needs more neatly. And of course, there
could be a combination of these.
Nevertheless, whatever the eventual outcome, it would be highly
irresponsible in the current circumstances, not to investigate all
options carefully and decide in favour of what is best for both the
rapidly growing University and the equally rapidly evolving
Coast.
Professor Paul Thomas is Vice-Chancellor of University of
the Sunshine Coast