University residence to shake off temporary title after 20 years

Published on Thursday 16 February 2012 00:00

IT HAS been a home away from home for students at Scotland’s oldest university for nearly 20 years. But despite being given the “temporary” title of New Hall in 1993, St Andrews University’s largest halls of residence was never officially named.

Now the university has launched a competition to come up with a permanent name for the building to help mark the institution’s 600th anniversary, which takes place next year.

Students, graduates and the local community are being asked for nominations, with the inventor of the kaleidoscope and golfing great Seve Ballesteros among the early suggestions.

Home to more than 550 undergraduate and postgraduate students, the hall of residence was initially named New Hall as a temporary measure at the time of its opening.

The search for its new name was initiated by the students themselves, who had grown tired of their temporary home having a temporary name.

Matt Harrison, the senior student at New Hall, said: “New Hall currently finds itself in a period of transition, becoming fully self-catered for the first time and in the process of establishing a new sense of community.

“Many of the present students living in New Hall were only just born at the time the hall was built, and we’ve decided that it is time for a change.”

He added: “There is a shared goal in the hall of making 2012 a successful year – a year characterised by ambition and forward thinking.”

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