Business student Vivian Ha is always cold anyway, and when the weather outside gets worse, she avoids the UB as much as possible. ‘I just can’t concentrate when I’m constantly shivering. I’d rather just not go to the UB. Last year I brought blankets, but that didn’t really help either.’
Marc van Mensvoort, international business and management student, has also noticed that the temperature isn’t always under control. ‘I get overheated in the UB sometimes, especially in the cafeteria on the third floor. When it’s busy, that place is like a sauna. Other times I’m really cold, though. Especially when I’m studying, probably because I’m not moving. So I always bring an extra sweater this time of year.’
Icebox
Frank den Hollander, communications officer at the UB, has heard the complaints before. In the summer the UB is too hot, and in the winter it’s too cold. Complaints on Twitter are rife. ‘It was especially awful when the UB was reopened in June. The ventilation hadn’t been set properly and the place felt like an icebox.’
This doesn’t just impact the students; the staff is also suffering. One employee tells us that her colleague brings in blankets because of a draft coming from an air vent. At other places, people actually get sleepy.
Solution
After the reopening in July, a new ventilation method was supposed to have solved the problem. But it still needs some tuning. ‘It’ll probably take us until the end of November to find the perfect setting’, says expert Peter Hartman. ‘We expect to have no more troubles with the temperature after that.’