Henry Lodge, News Editor
11th December 2007
Problems with power supply have left LSE Halls of Residence, Bankside House, subject to intermittent cuts in heating and lighting over the coming few days.
Bankside House experienced a power cut that left rooms without heating and lighting for over three hours on Monday, 3 December. In an attempt to fix the problem, Initial Services turned off the power again on Wednesday 5 December, but were unable to restore power completely.
An email sent from Bankside Management informed student residents that “emergency electrical work” was to be carried out between the hours of 11 am and 6 pm on Wednesday afternoon/evening that would partially effect the building’s lighting, power and heating.
However, a subsequent email sent on Thursday 6 December explained: “Unfortunately, the electrical problems we have been experiencing are worst than first anticipated” and warned that maintenance work to be carried out on Monday 10 December to Wednesday 12 December would cause “intermittent power failure to your room”.
The lack of a 24 hours library is likely to be felt this week as residents of Bankside House working on essays and problem sets due before the Christmas break were advised to “keep up to date with saving your work on [their] computer”.
As questions of safety were raised, Ian Spencer, director of residences at the LSE, told The Beaver: “All our halls are covered by 24 hour provision for gas and electrical problems and the contractors arrived at site and began investigating the fault as per our contract. Any situation involving the loss of an electrical supply is potentially serious which is why we have 24 maintenance provision. We would take this opportunity to remind students that they should take electrical safety extremely seriously.”
Despite the recent problems, Bankside Hall remains one of the most popular LSE halls. One resident, Vedika Bhaskar, a first year Philosophy and Economics undergraduate commented: “If you changed the location of Bankside to that of High Holborn, you’d have perfect student housing.”