Accessibility and special arrangements should be requested by the graduand (graduating student), on your registration form.  The form is accessed via the invitation email which will be sent to your personal (home) email address, when registration opens for your congregation.

Note that we cannot make accessibility arrangements for your graduation ceremony before registration opens.

Specific requirements

If you have requested accessibility arrangements on the registration form you will be contacted for further information.  If you have not requested arrangements via the form, please email graduation-office@bristol.ac.uk with your requirements and we will do our best to help you.

Support we have been able to offer at previous ceremonies includes wheelchair access, mobility support, British Sign Language interpretation and taking account of guests suffering from acrophobia (fear of heights). 

If you do not contact us to discuss your requirements before Wednesday 10 December 2024 we regret that we may not be able to make arrangements in time.

Please note, you will need to declare if the accessibility requirements are for guests who will receive your guaranteed tickets, or extra guest tickets if allocated.

Carers

Tickets are offered for carers to accompany students or guests into the Great Hall for the duration of the ceremony if 24 hour professional/medically trained care is required.  In other circumstances, carers can be issued with an entry pass to allow them to escort students or guests into the building and remain in the areas near the hall while the ceremony takes place. 

Information about requirements for carer tickets should be given when you are contacted for details of your accessibility needs.

Disabled parking

We have extremely limited disabled parking available if you have a blue badge, which is allocated on a first come first served basis and should be requested via the registration form.

Students who tick the accessibility arrangements box on the form can book car parking when you are contacted about your requirements.  If you have already completed registration and did not request assistance by ticking the box on the form, please contact graduation-office@bristol.ac.uk. 

Clean Air Zone

A clean air zone operates in Bristol, so some vehicles may incur a charge on some routes to our graduation venues.  See Bristol City Council's Clean Air Zone webpages for maps and information.

Venue information

Wills Memorial Building

The graduation ceremony takes place in the Wills Memorial Building. 

There is a gown drop-off point on the ground floor during graduation.

Find out about access information for Wills Memorial Building.

Richmond Building (The Students' Union)

Ticket and gown collection takes place in the Richmond Building on the day of your ceremony.

You can also find the official photography and merchandise stalls, gown drop-off point and live screening. 

Find out about access information for the Richmond Building.

Logistics

It takes about 15 minutes to walk between these two locations. It is a downhill walk from the Richmond Building to the Wills Memorial Building. 

The areas around these buildings will be very busy, so you should take this into consideration.

Parking

There is no designated general car parking on the University precinct. However, there are various multi-storey car parks near the University. The nearest are:

• Trenchard Street, BS1 5AN
• West End (Berkeley Place), BS8 1EH

See our Travel, parking and venues page for links to information about other travel options.