Room Bookings as a RSU Society

As part of an active society, one the benefits you get is a variety of spaces to run different activities or meetings.

This could be a one hour session once a week on a regular basis during the academic year, or a couple of one off bookings for events, celebrations or talks that you may want to put on for your members. We encourage students to book up rooms on a regular basis, so there is some regularity to their society activities. These are booked up each term, and priority goes to first come first served.

However, due to the nature of the university and number of societies, rooms do get booked up in advance and may not always be available on your preferred timings or dates. Therefore I have created this document for you to see what are your options, what processes you will need to follow and the time frames you will need to consider.

IMPORTANT: Although every effort is made to ensure all needs are met as far as possible, requests for specific named individual rooms cannot be guaranteed. Please bear this in mind where applying, though we will always try and come up with an alternative option if possible.

When booking a room, you will need to consider the following:

How many do you need to accommodate for?
When do you need to hold it?
What timings would you need?
Do you need to include set up and set down time in your booking?
What type of room would you require?
Is space required, or is seating preferred?
What type of set up do you need? Would you need audio or visual equipment?
Is this a regular booking? In which case what dates will you need it, and have you taken in account holiday and exam dates?
Could this be held in a Student Union reserved space, or does this need to be a University Space?
Will you have an external speaker? ( Further information down below)
Will you be charging for the activity?

External Speaker Policy

If an society wishes to hold an event in which an external speaker will address society members (this can be through speaking to the group, or just a few individuals), this must go through the external speaker process. The RSU must be given information (in the Event Request form) regarding the speaker, their profession, organisations that they are affiliated with, and a link to a website regarding their work. Arrangements must not be confirmed with the speaker before RSU approval is received! Please give 2 weeks’ notice to avoid disappointment!

Room Booking Rules and Information

We encorage societies to use the space for any activities they see possible. However, if you use the space, it needs to be left clean, tidy and exactly how you found it. If you change the layout of the tables and chairs, it needs to be put back exactly how you found it. Please also remember to log out of any computers in the room that you may have logged into.
You can book rooms from 8am till 11pm (exceptions can be discussed for larger events) on campus during the week. You can book rooms during the weekend between 8am - 10pm.
If you use a room in Grove House (when booked) , you must be aware that this is a listed building and therefore nothing can be stuck on the walls in this space. It is also the only space on campus where Elior have control of all catering arrangements. Therefore, if you want to cater an event in this space, it can only be done through Elior. If you do not, then I would recommend looking outside of Grove House for your booking.
Details of an event must not be publicised until a room booking is confirmed.
Bookings commence on the hour and rooms must be vacated by the times specified in the room booking confirmation, allowing ten minutes before the hour, for changeover at the end of the session.
Rooms are allocated on the basis of the expected attendance provided at the time of booking, nature of the event and room capacity.
To report any broken equipment, furniture or maintenance issues in the room please email societies@roehampton.ac.uk.
We do not do room bookings for anyone outside of Societies - if you are a Sports Club, or Part Time Officer, please go direct to your first staff point of call.
The rooms can only be booked by Society Signatory members. They are solely for the purpose of Society use, not individual or external use (e.g. church, business, individual student). If an event is found in breach of this, the Society risks their room bookings being removed for the entire academic year. This includes previously booked rooms and event spaces.
If an external asks for space on campus to use for their activity/ talk through a society, they will need to book and pay for the space. To do this, please encorage them to go direct to the Events Manager.
Weekend bookings are prioritised for paid external bookings as this creates revenue for the SU. To enquire about rates please email josh.goddard@roehampton.ac.uk. However if there is weekend space available, we will happily book it for your society providing it can be managed by security.
If you are running an activity or event, a generic risk assessment will need to be conducted. Please email samantha.nelson@roehampton.ac.uk for further information on this.
Be mindful of the needs of other student groups when making bookings. There are many different societies here at Roehampton and unfortunately not enough space for everyone to meet their needs. There are loads of great spaces on and off campus to suit your group’s needs. Therefore please don't try and book a room for 50 people, when you know that only 20 are going to turn up.
No smoking or vaping is permitted anywhere in any University building. Any group found to breach this will face disciplinary action. This is because vaping sets off the fire alarms.
Please take your plates & glasses back down to the bar if anything if necessary and leave the room exactly as you found it. If you arrive at a room and it is messed up, please let the Student Union know immediately, and we will contact the previous occupiers.
Failure to respect the space and disobeying these guidelines will result in the Union revoking the right for the offending group to be able to book rooms for that academic year.
If you have booked a space but no longer need it please cancel the booking, please cancel up to 24 hours beforehand during the working week. The Union reserves the right to cancel future bookings/revoke booking rights where groups have booked but are not using the space.
We do have equitment for you to hire for your bookings, however it is down to you to set it up and down, and bring it back to where it originated from.

University Lecture and Seminar Rooms

Using University rooms is free but you may be charged for extra porter cover when necessary or for things like cleaning or security. We will not have access to the system to book this space until 7th October once university lectures have been booked.

You will need to fill in a room booking request form to do this. However please remember that due to the amount of lectures and events, these spaces get booked up way into the future. Therefore if you are planning an event, book earlier rather than later. Last minute bookings are also unlikely due to the demand.

The Chaplaincy

Any rooms managed through the chaplaincy need to be done directly. Please contact chaplaincy@roehampton.ac.uk with the Activities Coordinator cc'd into the email. All multi faith rooms on campus are free for all students to use for relevant usage, but they are spaces which cannot be booked.

Sports Facilities

You can book MUGA and Davies Hall as an active society. However the priority of these bookings is to Sport Roehampton, therefore availability will be limited and is more likely to be during off-peak times. Approval for all bookings for these spaces will have to be requested, so please leave plenty of time to book. To book this space , please contact Sport Roehampton directly, but bear in mind that Sport will be prioritised.

Exceptions to Direct Room Bookings (Societies Only)

There are some rooms which we are unable to book through the room booking system, such as drama studios , dance space and music rooms. Therefore if you have a society with a direct link to the academic department, you can reach out to them directly to liase regarding the room bookings as some specify you have to be students of the department to use the space. However you will still need to apply to doing risk assesments, and ensuring that timing is followed and the space is left exactly as you found it.

How do I book the rooms online?

You can book any rooms through the Admin Page on your society website. Just log in and click the room booking form to begin your request. We do ask in Semester 2 for any requests for long term bookings into the next academic year, so just be aware that we may email your society around this time to put the request in. You can find out more in the Room Booking guide below.