Pipe fault causes extensive damage to Aero building
A PhD student is rumoured to have bungled, resulting in damage to labs and lecture theatres
A water leak in an Aeronautical Engineering lab has caused extensive material damage within the department.
A PhD student is rumoured to have incorrectly attached a water pipe to a laser cooling supply system on Friday 8th October, however this is unconfirmed. The leaking supply was left running over Friday night, before being detected by Security at 4am on Saturday morning. Power supply was temporarily lost to the building over the weekend due to the flooding. The incident occurred on the third floor of the building, with water flowing down to the lower levels.
Badly affected areas include offices 148A and 148B on the mezzanine floor of the department, the L50 area on the ground floor, the Donald Campbell wind tunnel and rooms 148A and B on the first floor, and the second floor corridor and LTs.
The lecture theatres in the Roderic Hill building were closed on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with students re-directed to other rooms. All affected areas have been cordoned off.
The full financial cost of the damaged equipment is currently unknown
Delays to research work will inevitably ensue, with staff and postgraduates required to wait until a full assessment of the damage is conducted – not least for insurance purposes. The Head of Department Prof Ferri Aliabadi was unable to comment on the specifics at this present time due to the delicate nature of the insurance claims, though did confirm that the leak originated from the cooling water supply in one of the labs and may have been due to a faulty connection. The full financial cost of the damaged equipment is currently unknown.
Wilson Rios, the Assistant Building Manager, assured Felix that all was being done to get the lecture theatres and labs up and running. Prof Ferri Aliabadi stated that the main concern for the lecture theatres was ensuring that the ceilings were structurally sound – though the lecture theatres should by now be reopened. The labs are expected to take longer to reopen due to the nature of the damaged equipment.
The ACE & Roderic Hill Building Manager Peter Schreiber was unavailable for comment.
It is unclear as to how the leak occured made the error in the first place. The lasers in Aero require a constant cooling supply, otherwise they are severely damaged. It is plausible that a PhD student simply forgot to turn off the supply in their excitable anticipation for the PhD Mingle taking place the following day at the Union.
