Yesterday, Thursday 30 April, Bournemouth University’s (BU) new Bournemouth Gateway Building turned blue for the night to show support for the NHS.
As people across the country clapped at 8pm to show their support for NHS staff, BU’s new Lansdowne building - which will be home to the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences when it opens – lit up in blue.
Like the regular Thursday clap, the gesture shows BU’s support for NHS staff – who are working tireless during the coronavirus pandemic – and will be repeated every Thursday night.
Turning Bournemouth Gateway Building blue ties in with the #makeitblue campaign that aims to say thank you to frontline staff by flooding social media with the blue colour. This could be a photo, video or message spreading positivity and the only rule is to make it blue.
Physically lighting up the building in blue was no small task considering the building is still under construction. Kier and their subcontractor Mitie were instrumental in sourcing the required equipment from Rexel UK Ltd, Edmundson Electrical Ltd. Mitie are also providing the engineers to set up the lights each Thursday evening for free.
Greg Auld, Senior Project Manager who co-ordinated the light up, said: "We wanted to light up the building to show our support and gratitude for the amazing work that our carers are doing each and every day during this crisis. It seemed particularly fitting to light up Bournemouth Gateway Building as it will be the building where all our future healthcare heroes will be trained."
