Metric finally set to open
After almost two months of delays, the new club opens its doors to students
After almost two months of waiting, the Union’s new club, Metric, is set to open triumphantly on Saturday 20th November. The launch marks the end of ‘Phase 3’ of the £2.5 million Union redevelopment, which included the refurbishment of the old Da Vinci’s bar, now FiveSixEight, and a scrub up of the Union Bar.
The refurbishment, which began at the beginning of the summer, has been beset with problems relating to the age of the building, including the discovery of asbestos a month ago. In addition the removal of a central pillar in Metric, which threatened to jeopardise the clubs’ ability to act as a live music venue, proved to be a greater construction challenge than thought. As a Union spokesperson put it, “the club would have opened for Welcome Week if it weren’t for the pillar”. The original opening date of the 2nd of October was first moved back to the 29th, but the discovery of asbestos meant it was pushed back again to the 20th of November.
The event is almost guaranteed to be a sell-out. At the time of writing over 400 tickets had been sold in advance and builders were working well into the night adding finishing touches to the venue. However some students have complained that the cost of entry is too high, citing the delayed opening as a reason to have free entrance, “This is actually a joke. How is this not free considering how long its taken to open?” said one student on the Facebook event. The issue was also brought up during the Union Council meeting on Monday 15th November. However the Union rejected this criticism saying, “bands don’t come for free regardless of whether there’s asbestos delays or not”. In addition Union President Alex Kendall told Council that the Union were spending £6,000 on the event and even if they sold out, they would still make a £3,000 loss on ticket sales.
The event has a focus on live music that will become the hallmark of Union events for this year and years to come. The club was redesigned with live music in mind and so finally the theory, drawn from student surveys, that Imperial students want more live music will be put to the test.
