Tropical TES was “simply unbearable”

There have been numerous complaints made to the Students’ Union regarding the temperature quality of the Temporary Events Structure, referred to by the SU as the ‘TES.’

It was erected this year as a temporary replacement for the SU building, which was knocked down as part of the Students’ Union £11 million rebuild.

Many students have found the high heat within the structure extremely overwhelming and unbearable. It has even been compared to a giant greenhouse by some.

The large volume of people at most Union events only helps to exacerbate the temperature problem. One second-year student commented on the state of the current situation, saying, “It’s like walking into a wall of heat, it gets increasingly hotter as you walk into the building, and once you’re in the main hall, you’ve just entered a completely different climate, it’s simply unbearable.”

Complaints have also been made about the overcrowding of the TES. One fresher remarked, “the queues are huge, and once you get in you have to queue for up to an hour, sometimes more, to get a drink at the bar.”

It seems though that these concerns are being heard by the SU as effective lines of communication are in place and continuously being improved. Mike Pidgeon, Communications Officer, said, “we found that the venue was a bit too crowded in general, so we are taking steps to reduce the problems. We have reduced the capacity from what it started at; one of the reasons for this was the heat.

“Air conditioning has been a problem and we are working on it. It’s not a simple, easy answer of opening the doors to cold air, as this would break the noise control. It is also easy to forget the scale of the project, given that we’re almost operating normally. This is, after all, a rebuild project.”