Statement on heating issues in the UCL Main Library

The Wilkins Building, where the Main Library is located, experienced a problem with its heating this week which affected certain areas of the building.

We're sorry if this impacted you. UCL Estates and Library Customer Service teams are working hard to get the system back to full capacity.

What work is being done?

The Estates team has emptied all the pipe work and refilled the system and it's going through the various zones of the library to heat up at the moment. Because it's an older system the refilling process takes a little longer to cover the whole building. You should start to notice a difference over the next week.

Why do heating problems take a while to fix?

The Wilkins Building dates back to 1826 and was still standing after the Second World War albeit with some major restructuring. However, detailed building plans marking out all the pipe work haven't survived. This means that when things go wrong, if it's a new problem with a pipe, we need to locate it.

Developments in technology have made it much easier to identify where all the pipe work is and to locate the problems but the process is still time consuming.

How to avoid the chill?

The heating problems are affecting certain areas of the library. If you normally sit in one of the areas affected, please ask at the Help Point and we'll help you find the warm parts of the building.

We have 17 libraries around Bloomsbury and in north London, plus study spaces in UCL Senate House Hub which you are welcome to use for studying. If you are a postgraduate student the Graduate Hub is also available.

For more information please the library website for more details or pick up a map from the Help Point.

As usual in the Main Library you are welcome to bring hot drinks into the study areas.

You can follow updates on Twitter @UCLMainLibrary.