REF:66-2207-3073314 - Air conditioning in the Arts Centre

Your comment: Can Air Conditioning be installed in the Arts Centre? Heat in summer during graduation is nothing unusual - and this would make everyone's graduation more comfortable.

Our response:

The current system was installed in 1967 which disperses air into the Great Hall and throughout the Arts Centre, unfortunately there is no control to direct it only to the Great Hall. We have installed temporary portable air cooling into the Air Handling Unit, but a major limiting factor is that air cannot be recirculated, due to both COVID considerations and the extraordinary levels of CO2 that are generated during a graduation session. This means that we cannot benefit from the continual recycle of cooling air as you would with your cars a/c (windows up), we can only have direct intake air at whatever the ambient temperature may be, which is then extracted after completing a through cycle. 

A planned major refurbishment of the Arts Centre is going to include new air handling units, which will be able to dehumidify and cool the intake air.