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Heating projects

26 Sep 2007

Information for staff and students

During the course of the summer months, the University has been embarking on two major heating boiler replacement projects. These projects were initiated to replace original, obsolete and highly inefficient boilers, improve campus heating infrastructure and provide more efficient boiler plant to achieve energy consumption reductions for the institution.

The two significant projects are:

  • Precinct Centre boiler replacement which provides the power for the district heating system serving the vast majority of buildings on the west side of Oxford Road on the south campus, including the Students' Union, Samuel Alexander Building, Refectory and Moberly Tower, John Rylands Library, John Owens Building, Beyer Building, Christie Building, Whitworth Hall and Committee Rooms etc, Coupland III, (old) Pharmacy Link Building, Rutherford Building and Precinct Centre.
  • Boilers and underground heat linking in the new Energy Centre within University Place, which will provide heating for the Williamson, Roscoe, Schuster and Alan Turing Buildings.

Both these projects are complex in their delivery and the work has been managed around an extremely tight work programme for the completed jobs to be available for the beginning of the heating season which usually begins around mid October. The total investment in these projects is just under £5 million.

Inevitably, with major schemes of this nature and complexity, we are working to the wire on both of these projects and not all of the systems will be fully operational by mid October and it is likely that there will be teething problems once the heating has been switched on. Therefore, we would ask for the patience of University staff and students in the early weeks of the adoption of these systems if some heating systems are not fully functional. All buildings will be provided with heat but in some instances the operating temperature will not always be at that which most people find comfortable.

Please be assured that the Directorate of Estates will use every effort to try to minimise the effect of this work and deal speedily with any problems if and when they occur. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Directorate of Estates