make the doors to building 38 automatic

Sophie Moores submitted on

Wednesday 27th October 2021

Complete

the doors to building 38 are manual, rendering the building inaccessible to those in wheelchairs or mobility scooters. the only way the building is accessible, is if the door is left propped open. leaving the door propped open is quite nonsensical; as it makes the building freezing cold (i can attest -- i work in the lobby as a 'testing ambassador'!!), and so this means the heater must be turned on above the door. Of course, this creates a bit of an environmental issue, as hot air is essentially being pumped out into the freezing cold outdoors. compounding this issue further, for some unknown reason the aircon unit near the doors is often turned to cold, even on cold days, and so there would be a heater and a cooler running simultaneously... 

i feel that this door should be fitted with a button like the doors at wessex lane to allow those in scooters/wheelchairs to open the doors themselves. or, if easier, it should just be made automatic!   i understand this would probably incur a cost; however I consider this to be an issue worth the price. 

at the end of the day, i am far from an expert, for all i know there is an architectural reason why the door isn't automatic, which would be understandable. 


Responses

Here, you can view the complete set of official responses from the sabbatical officers regarding this submission.

Students' Union replied on

Friday 5th Nov 2021 1:27pm

Hello - I have an update from the University's Director of Estates Operations, which I hope will go some way in alleviating this problem in due course:

"When I did some asking around it seems that this is a known problem.  I visited the building to confirm the situation that the height above the doors and the roof of the building is so small that installing electric door closers is very difficult indeed.  Something being difficult doesn’t mean that it cannot be done though.  One solution would be to put a new door in the middle of the wall of the Arlott bar and also gaining access via B40 where the door looks fine.

I continue to look into this one.  Sorry there wasn’t an immediate solution".

I will continue to look into this for you.

- Ben. 

Students' Union replied on

Tuesday 2nd Nov 2021 1:59pm

Thank you for this submission and I'm sorry to hear about your experience with the apparent inaccessibility of Building 38! I have just passed on your concern to the Director of Estates Operations in Estates & Facilities at the University, who will provide me with an update in due course, which I will of course pass on to you via this submission thread - look forward to speaking soon. 

- Ben. 

Actions

  • Forwarded to Union President

    Friday 29th Oct 2021 9:14am


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