Residents of the new Langwith College on Heslington East have become dissatisfied after complaints regarding issues with the heating in accommodation blocks have been met with “inappropriate, unnecessary and plain rude” responses.
The heating system is controlled by the University’s building management system and is set to come on between 7am and 11am and 2pm and 11pm, with the temperature regulated to remain between 19 and 21 degrees. However, several complaints have been made to both the college and the University regarding issues with the system since the start of term, with little progress being made.
Because the University has subcontracted the maintenance of Langwith College to a private company, called Derwent Facilities Management, residents are forced to make paid phone calls to draw attention to their urgent maintenance issues. The company require students to telephone an ‘0843’ number, with calls charged at 40p per minute from mobile phones.
“I have spent over £40 in the last few months reporting urgent issues to this private company. On every occasion, they have been extremely unhelpful and unsympathetic. This is unacceptable when I pay over £120.00 per week in accommodation fees,” said fourth-year resident Peter Gould.
First-year Langwith resident Jamie Chatfield told Vision: “Issues, especially heating, have been raised multiple times and very little has actually been done about it, we’ve been here six weeks, and it took a rather large row that took place over the space of more or less the whole day before we were actually being taken seriously in a way that people feel they’d like to be, and that is very alienating for a lot of people in the college. The heating in rooms tends to be either too hot or too cold, especially at night; one of my housemates’ rooms was unbearably hot for a while before anything was done about the issue.
“We do live in some of the most expensive (and brand new) accommodation on campus, and I can understand why that would frustrate people even more,” he continued.
Chatfield was also heavily critical of the way he and his fellow students have been treated when raising issues, particularly on the college Facebook page.
“I find it just totally unacceptable,” he said. “I raised an issue in a polite way and I essentially got talked down by one of the Welfare Tutors.”
Another first-year resident, Anna Simmul, shared similar concerns: “Instead of help, we get condescending emails about checking that our windows are closed. Ironic that we managed to get into university yet some believe that if people are cold, their common sense would not dictate to close the window. In the past few weeks I have experienced several occasions where those in ‘authority’ have behaved, in what is in my opinion an inappropriate, unnecessary and just plain rude manner.”
“There are times that I’m studying in my room and I give up after a while because I feel my hands and my nose are so cold!” complained another first-year resident, Ellie Tsougrani.
“I’ve never entered my room and felt warmer, and I can compare it with the kitchen and the corridor which are always warmer. Because other people had the same problem we emailed someone and [college administrator] Suzanne Dekker replied by saying that there is nothing that can be done.”
Langwith College Dean Jenny Underhill admitted to the problems with heating in the accommodation blocks, telling Vision: “We are experiencing some issues with heating at the moment, teething problems due to the new buildings. Between the College, Derwent FM, the builders and the University we’re working hard to try and sort them out.”