Bishop Stephen Venner helped
officially open Canterbury Christ Church University’s Augustine
House on Tuesday.

The £35 million state-of-the-art
library and student services centre, in Rhodaus Town, was finished
in September and since opening its doors has been used by an
average of 2,000 students a day.

The university’s pro
vice-chancellor for learning and quality, Dr Keith Gwilym helped
steer the vision for the glass fronted, four-storey building from
artist’s impressions to bricks and mortar.

He said: "About 15 years ago the
university started sitting down and addressing how we needed to
improve and extend our building stock from beyond our North Holmes
Road campus, but a working group for this building was only set up
around five years ago. Once we’d identified a brownfield site and
acquired the former Clarkson House and demolished it, the building
itself was completed in around 18 months.

"We’re absolutely delighted with
what you see here today and everyone would say that this building
is much more beautiful than its predecessor, but more importantly,
it also works for the people who are going to use it.

"That’s much more important than
just looking spectacular."

Video: Augustine House is
officially opened by Bishop Stephen Venner.

Bishop Venner, a member of the
university’s governors, admits the new building is a symbol of a
promising future.

He said: "You simply cannot vdrive
past this building since it opened three months ago without seeing
students hard at work and enjoying the facilities.

"I’m delighted to see we have
created a building that will provide a really top-class experience
for students."

The opening ceremony also included
speeches of thanks from vice-chancellor and principal, Prof Michael
Wright and performances from the Cantata Choir, led by head of
music, Prof Grenville Hancox.