Windows
For once this title on a blog does not actually refer to software, it does in fact refer to the panes of glass and frames that support them that allow light and air into a building. It is however yet another post about the management at my university.
It was recently decided (by whom I don't know) that the university would look much better if all the old buildings had matching windows. While they were at it they decided to refurbish some of the departments as well. Now I have no problem with this, some areas are looking tacky and when you have visitors round to see what wonderful facilities/research you have then it's nice not to feel ashamed about the decor. My problem is with the mind-numbing stupidity it must have taken to make certain decisions.
Firstly, on our floor alone, half the windows that are being replaced were only installed 5 years ago with the refurbishment then, so of the £3.6m that it's costing to do our building's windows, a large proportion could have been saved if they'd chosen to match the existing up-to date windows rather than replacing the whole lot.
Secondly, and from my point of view, most importantly, they didn't really think through what the windows were needed for. Our office houses 7 PhD Students, each with a centre Linux desktop, 4 of us with windows boxes and another 5 laptops which are regularly here and running. (it's a computer vision lab, we need lots of computers!) so in total this little room has 16 computers providing the heating system. We are also on the top floor above the electronics labs which tend to produce a fair amount of heat. The upshot of this is that even during winter we used to have a window open.
It is now summer, we have been experiencing a little sun and the computers are all still running. Now however there is a difference; we have new windows. If I were to talk about windows in metres square, I would say that we have lost nearly 2 square metres of opening windows (it would have been more but I kicked up a fuss and we now have 2 little openings in place of 1). I appreciate the university doesn't want all its stressed PhD students jumping to their deaths but I would like to point out to them that if we were going to do so we could quite happily use one of the many roof tops easily accessible to us rather than a window that would be awkward to climb out of. So as I sit at my desk and write this I am boiling. The stress dot (a little colour changing sticker) I was given during health week is bright blue, which would be great if it were on my hand, instead is is on the corner of my desk out of the sun. The long and short of it is that this room is now at least 33 degrees centigrade and it is only the beginning of June. (I know I need a proper thermometer!)
Unfortunately the HSE does not specify a maximum room temperature so the university are not obliged to do anything about this, instead when asked about air conditioning we were told that it would be "too expensive and use too much energy" it would have been nice if they'd have thought about that before spending £10m on the refurbishment of one building.
Why is it that decisions like these are always taken without consulting the people it will affect? At least they sent out a survey when they started the re-branding process; when it's our comfort though we sure as hell don't get a say!
It was recently decided (by whom I don't know) that the university would look much better if all the old buildings had matching windows. While they were at it they decided to refurbish some of the departments as well. Now I have no problem with this, some areas are looking tacky and when you have visitors round to see what wonderful facilities/research you have then it's nice not to feel ashamed about the decor. My problem is with the mind-numbing stupidity it must have taken to make certain decisions.
Firstly, on our floor alone, half the windows that are being replaced were only installed 5 years ago with the refurbishment then, so of the £3.6m that it's costing to do our building's windows, a large proportion could have been saved if they'd chosen to match the existing up-to date windows rather than replacing the whole lot.
Secondly, and from my point of view, most importantly, they didn't really think through what the windows were needed for. Our office houses 7 PhD Students, each with a centre Linux desktop, 4 of us with windows boxes and another 5 laptops which are regularly here and running. (it's a computer vision lab, we need lots of computers!) so in total this little room has 16 computers providing the heating system. We are also on the top floor above the electronics labs which tend to produce a fair amount of heat. The upshot of this is that even during winter we used to have a window open.
It is now summer, we have been experiencing a little sun and the computers are all still running. Now however there is a difference; we have new windows. If I were to talk about windows in metres square, I would say that we have lost nearly 2 square metres of opening windows (it would have been more but I kicked up a fuss and we now have 2 little openings in place of 1). I appreciate the university doesn't want all its stressed PhD students jumping to their deaths but I would like to point out to them that if we were going to do so we could quite happily use one of the many roof tops easily accessible to us rather than a window that would be awkward to climb out of. So as I sit at my desk and write this I am boiling. The stress dot (a little colour changing sticker) I was given during health week is bright blue, which would be great if it were on my hand, instead is is on the corner of my desk out of the sun. The long and short of it is that this room is now at least 33 degrees centigrade and it is only the beginning of June. (I know I need a proper thermometer!)
Unfortunately the HSE does not specify a maximum room temperature so the university are not obliged to do anything about this, instead when asked about air conditioning we were told that it would be "too expensive and use too much energy" it would have been nice if they'd have thought about that before spending £10m on the refurbishment of one building.
Why is it that decisions like these are always taken without consulting the people it will affect? At least they sent out a survey when they started the re-branding process; when it's our comfort though we sure as hell don't get a say!
posted by Egmel at 7:36 pm
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