Study association rooms in the Buys Ballot building remain extremely hot

When walking through the corridor on Buys Ballot's second floor, it is clear that the renovation work is not yet complete. A wooden partition blocks the passageway, but the sounds of lively conversations drift out of some of the rooms, which have their doors open. That's where several student societies from the Faculties of Science and Geosciences are based.

Outside the rooms, there is no sign of the high temperatures that faculty councillors from the Faculty of Science complained about earlier this month. But when you walk into the room occupied by A-Eskwadraat, the study association for Mathematics and Physics, the air immediately gets warm and stuffy. Several A-Es members – as they abbreviate the society – are sitting there studying, chatting, or enjoying a cup of free coffee.

Hotter
The scene is reminiscent of a living room in a student house in the IBB housing complex. “It’s 24.6 degrees in here right now,” says the association's chair, Jort Berg (23), pointing out that his weather app says it’s only 20 degrees outside. Temperatures above 30 degrees are forecast for the rest of the week. “And there are just five of us here now,” he adds. “Just imagine what it’s like when it gets busier, such as when we organise a party on a sunny day.”

The study association A-Eskwadraat. Photo: Koen van den Helder

Jort walks us into the room of the Computer Science study association, Sticky. The building also includes the rooms of the study associations UAV (Earth Sciences), VUGS (Geography), Incognito (Artificial Intelligence), Unitas Pharmaceuticorum (Pharmacy), Storm (Sustainability Science) and Helix (Innovation Science). According to Jort, they’re all suffering from the heat.

At 24 degrees, Sticky's room is just a little cooler than their neighbours' at A-Eskwadraat, but that’s probably down to the Dyson fan they bought. According to internal commissioner Rens van Moorsel (22), the heat isn’t the only problem: the air quality also leaves a lot to be desired. “When the room is full of people, the CO₂ meter even goes into the red,” he says, pointing to the new control panels installed during the refurbishment. “The university can read these figures too,” he adds with visible irritation.

He has also requested the data himself. In early April, the CO₂ concentration regularly exceeded 750 ppm, peaking at 1200 ppm. To put that into perspective, air quality is considered good up to 750 ppm; moderate up to 1200 ppm; and poor above 1200 ppm. That's all according to Milieu Centraal.

Sticky's Dyson fan. Photo: Koen van den Helder

Refurbished for air quality
So, the rooms are hot, and the air quality doesn’t seem to be all that great. Yet, the redevelopment of the Buys Ballot Building is “necessary to improve air quality and prepare the building for a sustainable future”, as UU states on its website. Six years ago, DUB revealed that many people who used the building complained about the indoor climate, including the student societies, whose rooms were sweltering even back then. “Isn’t it strange that the problem seems to have gotten even worse?” Jort wonders.

The sun shining on the Buys Ballot building. Photo: Koen van den Helder

“We’ve also noticed that fewer people are coming in here during breaks, which is a real shame.” Rens adds: “When we have drinks on hot days, people leave straight away as soon as they feel how hot it is inside.”

And that’s not all. The board members’ work is suffering from the heat, too. For example, Rens spends more time in the room reserved for the board, which is usually cooler. As a result, he's seeing the association's other members less.

“I’m getting less of my work done because I can’t concentrate at all," says Jort, for whom working in the boardroom is out of the question.

What now?
Ideally, they’d like to see the UU take action to solve the issue. “Why can’t we just open the windows? Or why can’t they install an air conditioner?” Jort wonders. Rens is a bit less specific: “I just want something to cool us down,” he says with a sigh.

Rens (in an orange T-shirt) alongside other members. Photo: Koen van den Helder

Student Council member Olaf Boekholt raised the issue at a Faculty Council meeting this month. Olaf was a member of Sticky's board last year and hoped that the renovation works would bring some relief. “The strange thing is that it always seems to be a lot cooler in other parts of the building.”

The members of the Faculty Board reacted with surprise and bewilderment. They said they would look into the matter. “Apparently, they knew nothing about it, so I’m glad I brought it up. Now they know it’s a problem for us.”

The council member says he understands that the building’s ventilation system is a complex issue. He also knows that the small student society rooms were never intended to serve as cosy or festive spaces for gatherings of more than ten people. “However, it would still be nice if student associations could get a bit more fresh air.”

When asked to respond to these complaints, the university’s Campus & Facilities management team and the Faculty of Science state that they understand the students' frustration. They ask the study associations to be patient for a little while longer.

According to a spokesperson, the ventilation systems have been upgraded throughout the Buys Ballot Building, including in the student societies’ premises. As a result, the air entering the building is now cooler and cleaner, and the humidity levels have improved. However, the study associations are unlikely to notice any difference until the renovation works are completed and the new systems are fine-tuned, which is expected to happen in October. At present, the air-handling system is still switched off in part of the building due to renovation.

“We realise that not everyone is currently experiencing this improvement, and it is, of course, possible that students and staff may encounter issues in the building in the future. That is one of the reasons why we always maintain an open dialogue with the users of our buildings,” the spokesperson added. The management points out that the “strong concerns” raised by the study associations had not been brought up during regular consultations.

Regarding the high readings on the CO₂ monitors, the spokesperson says: “All the readings recorded are within acceptable limits. However, we have observed that, in a few cases, the threshold values were not set correctly in all locations, resulting in warning messages being displayed on the screen when they should not have been. Wherever this is identified, it is rectified immediately.” Here too, improvements are expected to be noticeable from October onwards. The same applies to the increase in the building’s cooling capacity.