Unexpected guests encouraged to leave Childs Hall

Monday, 13 September 2010

As the University celebrates the completion of phase one of the brand new halls of residence, the second phase of the programme, is already underway. This involves the re-development of Childs Hall of residence, replacing the ageing buildings, which date back to mid 1960's and are now tired and past their best, with new, environmentally-friendly halls. The style and feel of the new buildings will mirror those of the phase one halls and be a mix of that style with some townhouses built around central courtyards.

As with most carefully thought out plans, the University's Facilities Management team have encountered a small problem- a colony of bats living in Childs Hall.

In order to protect the colony and carefully manage its eviction, a European Protected Species Licence has been obtained from Natural England, and work has been delayed until this month to protect younger bats born in the summer that will now have developed their flight abilities and will not be dependent on their mothers for food.

Commencing this week, lighting will be installed to shine on Childs Hall elevations one and a half hours after dusk and will remain on throughout the night until dawn. This will encourage the bats to set up home elsewhere.  As the cladding panels are removed from the structure there will be no opportunity for bats to return to this location and so the lights can be removed. This will happen progressively over a 5 week period and will ensure that there is no detrimental effect on the colony at all.