Incompetent building work at the Bodleian library has resulted in a litany of structural damage. Students at the Radcliffe Camera and Old Bodleian are facing weeks of noise and tar fumes, with repairs set to continue until Christmas. Workers for C. J. Pearce, the civil engineering contractor employed by the University, punctured vital asphalt damp-proofing while restoring cobbles on Radcliffe square in Spring 2006.
The blunder caused water to leak into the underground library, which stores one million volumes. "We were catching drips in buckets", one Bodleian librarian said. However, C. J. Pearce went bankrupt less than a month after completing the £500,000 Radcliffe Square work, rendering the company unable to repair the damage. The current builders, from the small local company Ashlar Construction, said, "C J Pierce's mistake was careless." Ashlar workers have now criticised the University for failing to prioritise the repairs, leading to massive delays in the resolution of the problem and disruption of students' studying. Builders are being sent by the University to a number of other jobs around Oxford. A workman said: "If we were here all the time, we could get the digging and asphalting done in a couple of weeks."
The University has allegedly issued misleading instructions to Ashlar builders currently working in Radcliffe Square. Builders caused further damage to the roof of the underground library when they were instructed to dig to a depth of one metre to reach the original problem. The damage was in fact just two feet down. A University spokesperson denied any knowledge of the error. Ashlar expects the repairs to continue until Christmas. The cobbles will be carefully removed from an area of around 25 by 4 metres and carefully polished by hand. Library users have already experienced weeks of noise and disruption from the re-cobbling in Spring 2006. History student Christian Hannemann has started wearing earplugs to help him concentrate. He said: "I will definitely stop working in the library if the work continues."
Click for Bodleyworld's next item (Oxford Times version of same story) or for the Underwater Library Sub-index.