Six week's holidays...

And they go all around the corner and
into the carpark and all of Regis Road

...and their are that many builders about I struggled to park this morning!
So, the students and staff are off, there is a small skeleton staff on duty, parking is awkward, the electrics are off, then on, then off, again. Servers are being stopped and started and we have all had the big move ready for phase two. Staff have spent the last few weeks boxing up and labelling stuff needed after the move and clearing out all the junk, into skips, of anything not needed again...er, hopefully!

Little boxes...everywhere!

In hindsight, a marvellous 20:20 vision, I still feel, along with many others, that if you have the room, then build a new school and THEN knock the old one down. I suspect it may even be cheaper after listening to some of the horror stories that abound around here...but, then possibly the builders like a laugh and a joke too!

Six weeks to go!

However, I digress. If all goes to plan we should be moving into the first phase of the new building in September, albeit, we will not truthfully be ready. The cabling is in for the computers and I believe, the phones but...no kit is in yet and even if it is put in place by the removal team, we still have to go and make all the necessary connections to complete. Looking at some of the rooms, with only six weeks to go, its impossible to believe we will be moving in...but, I have seen this situation time and again on many a site when I was an Architectural Ironmonger many moons ago. The ammount of work done in the last week always simply amazes me.

Once in, each department will probably need a week to get some sense of order in the respective department as it is all new to them too, so... teaching and learning will be interesting at first!
My only hope is that staff and students alike treat the new build well and embrace it better than the old school and move "onward and upwards!"

Exciting (and stressfull) times ahead...