By Kenneth Watt
Residents of Birkbeck Court have expressed frustration after suffering from three overnight hot water outages in the last month.
Students took to Facebook to discuss the lack of hot running water and heating in the second week of November, establishing that the fault affected all 17 blocks of the residences, home to around 380 students.
A defect with an underground pipe discovered one evening had caused the problem but could not be repaired until the following morning, affecting the majority of the 17 blocks.
The second instance, a fortnight later, was unexplained and was reported on social media to have caused another night without hot water.
A third fault, reported as a ‘major burst,’ caused the supply to 96 residents to be isolated from noon until the pipe was repaired the following day. Affected residents were advised that the showers in the sports centre were available for use and that temporary heaters could be borrowed.
Tenant Taylor Gardner said: “Whilst they did get it fixed quite quickly, the cold shower in the morning was fairly unbearable and it’s pretty bad that it’s happened so much in the last month.”
A University of Strathclyde spokesman said: “After receiving a report of a heating fault, engineers found a burst pipe was the source of the problem. The heating system was drained to allow the repair to be made, before the system was restored to full working order.”
The issue has already been brought up at the fortnightly halls committee, which is attended by presidents of each residence and Kwaku Adjei, USSA President.
Birkbeck President Vicky Rakova said: “We think it’s possible to be informed on time by the accommodation office in a situation like this and we hope that after raising the issue at the last halls committee meeting this will actually happen from now on.”
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