The University of Leicester is dealing with a “major incident” over crumbling buildings on campus that will be closed for years and require a major relocation of classes while they undergo repairs.
Two large buildings on the university’s main campus, where students attend hundreds of lectures and seminars each academic year, will be closed owing to concrete degradation and the corrosion of steel reinforcements that support the structures.
The Bennett Building, home to the school of geography, geology and the environment, along with the physics and astronomy building next door, will be closed for at least two years while they undergo repairs.
A total of 1,500 events, such as lectures and seminars, are being moved to alternative spaces while the work is being carried out.
A spokesperson for the university said: “As two buildings are involved, the university is treating this as a major incident, in as far as there has had to be extensive planning to move staff, teaching and research activities to alternative spaces on campus. There is ample space and the planning will be finalised in time for the new academic year.”
Built in the 1970s, the buildings require work to their roofs and steel frameworks to ensure they are “structurally sound” and “safe for continued occupation”, according to LeicestershireLive.
“The impact of re-timetabling will be felt across all university schools and departments,” it reported, citing leaked correspondence between the university and staff.
The nearby Adrian building, which houses the schools of biological sciences and genetics and is famous for being where the principle behind DNA fingerprinting was discovered in 1984, is also suffering from degradation and will be permanently closed down. Activities in the building have been wound down over the past two years.
The university said the final cost of all the repair works was not known, but wanted to reassure staff that no redundancies would be made as a result.
It also said it had “statutory obligations to teach our students in person” and the closure of the buildings would not lead to lectures being moved online.
“Our students studying degrees in the buildings affected by closure will be taught in different but equivalent spaces. There is also enough room for staff to continue working on campus,” a spokesperson said.
Institutions across the country are facing hefty repair bills to fix ageing buildings and crumbling concrete.
The NHS in England, for instance, has recorded a record repair bill of £12bn for improving rundown buildings and dated equipment, up from £4.7bn in 2011-2012.
The problem has been worsened by concerns about potentially dangerous reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in some older buildings, which forced hundreds of schools and public buildings across the country to close last year.
