Universities to form shortlist

Three or four consultancies will be shortlisted to pitch for the design of a brand identity for the university created out of the merger of the University of North London and London Guildhall University, in January.

The merger has been approved by the universities’ board of governors and is effective from 1 August 2002. It will create the largest university in London with almost 30 000 full-time students and a combined annual revenue of more than £110m.

A new name for the university has yet to be finalised but six names have been put forward for consideration. Once a name has been selected by a joint committee it will be considered by the Privy Council, which could take as long as three months to finalise its decision.

The date of a consultancy appointment depends on the Privy Council’s decision, according to a University of North London spokeswoman. The tender went out on 8 November.

It is likely that signage for the university, which will be split across existing sites in the City of London, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Holloway and Highbury, will be handled in-house, according to the spokeswoman.

The Workroom rebranded London Guildhall when it switched from City of London Polytechnic in 1992 (DW 24 May).