Ancient university buildings under threat (UK)
Anthony Edwards wasn't perturbed when he first saw the hole. Given its position in the Regent House Combination Room in Cambridge's Old Schools, where for three centuries all the business of the university was conducted, it must, he assumed, have been dug to deal with a bout of woodworm, a plumbing problem, or something worthy of archaeological investigation.
It was a month later, as the professor walked down Kings Parade and spotted two friends with "faces like thunder", that he found out the truth: the gap cut in the dais floor in the corner of room first used in 1400, revealing the concrete ceiling of the room below, was not simply for access to the pipes or dry rot but was to make way for the installation of a lift.
Appalled, he set about getting a copy of the plans. He was not impressed. "The Regent House is the oldest, the most beautiful and most important room belonging to the university," Edwards, a fellow of Caius college and former senior proctor, says.
"In fact, it is historically the most important room in the universities of the English-speaking world. It is the cradle of Cambridge's democracy, our Westminster Hall...
... But the row throws a spotlight on the ongoing tension between the need to modernise universities' historic buildings, with their treacherous staircases, uneven floors and lack of IT infrastructure, and the desire to preserve their centuries-old beauty.
Although there are special considerations for how the access demands of the 2004 Disability Discrimination Act are applied to listed buildings, they are not exempt. Another reason for modernisation is simply the need to make older buildings fit for purpose, for instance so that the technology often central to learning today can be used...
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
It was a month later, as the professor walked down Kings Parade and spotted two friends with "faces like thunder", that he found out the truth: the gap cut in the dais floor in the corner of room first used in 1400, revealing the concrete ceiling of the room below, was not simply for access to the pipes or dry rot but was to make way for the installation of a lift.
Appalled, he set about getting a copy of the plans. He was not impressed. "The Regent House is the oldest, the most beautiful and most important room belonging to the university," Edwards, a fellow of Caius college and former senior proctor, says.
"In fact, it is historically the most important room in the universities of the English-speaking world. It is the cradle of Cambridge's democracy, our Westminster Hall...
... But the row throws a spotlight on the ongoing tension between the need to modernise universities' historic buildings, with their treacherous staircases, uneven floors and lack of IT infrastructure, and the desire to preserve their centuries-old beauty.
Although there are special considerations for how the access demands of the 2004 Disability Discrimination Act are applied to listed buildings, they are not exempt. Another reason for modernisation is simply the need to make older buildings fit for purpose, for instance so that the technology often central to learning today can be used...