Conor was delighted to attend the topping out ceremony of Bournemouth University’s new Gateway building. The new structure in St Paul’s Lane Bournemouth and very visible from the Wessex Way, will be the home of social sciences.
The university’s new chancellor Kate Adie who spent some time living and working in Scandinavia, after studying Scandinavian Studies at Newcastle University, took charge of the proceedings and explained that this ancient Scandinavian religious rite and originally involved the placing a tree atop a new building to settle the tree-dwelling spirits displaced in the construction of the building. Kate brought a branch which is to be placed is placed on the topmost beam. The ceremony normally takes place in masonry construction to celebrate the bedding of the last block or brick.
