Dear colleague,
Further to yesterday’s message regarding Storm Babet and the extension of the red and amber weather warnings, we have decided to close our Old Aberdeen and Foresterhill campuses tomorrow (Friday 20 October) as the safety of our students and staff must be our priority.
Vital on-campus services will still be delivered such as providing support to students at Hillhead and essential research can continue. Outside of this, however, we are asking students and staff to stay at home.
Here is the position for tomorrow:
- In-person teaching will not take place. Teaching staff are asked to update MyAberdeen if an online alternative will be available. Essential labs and other activities which cannot proceed will need to be rescheduled.
- Hillhead Student Village will be open and operating as usual
- Security will remain on site providing services as normal
- The University Mailroom, Cruickshank Botanic Garden and Rocking Horse Nursery will be closed
- The Sir Duncan Rice Library and the MacRobert building have already closed today due to high winds causing safety issues with the automatic doors. Both are expected to reopen at normal times on Saturday if weather permits.
- Student Advice & Support, Infohub and the Careers & Employability Service have had to close in-person services today, and will remain closed tomorrow, but their services are still available remotely between 9am and 5pm.
- The ground floor of the Students' Union Building (SUB) at Old Aberdeen will be open as warm space for students, but the rest of the building will be closed
- There will no cleaning services at King’s College and Foresterhill from today at 4pm through to Saturday morning, when normal service will resume
- All catering outlets will be closed. Catered residents at Hillhead will be provided with meal boxes for dinner, breakfast and lunch together with snacks. These will be available for collection from Hillhead reception later this afternoon
- The shuttle bus between Foresterhill and Old Aberdeen will not be running
- Aberdeen Sports Village is closing today at 5pm and expected to reopen tomorrow at noon. All services, bookings, classes and aquatic lessons will be cancelled during that time
- A skeleton staff from Estates and Facilities will be on site providing emergency support with arrangements and requirements communicated to these teams by their managers
- There will still be swipe access to most buildings although some areas may be closed for safety reasons (like MacRobert) and local signs will be in place to advise
- All staff currently on campus should ensure that all windows are closed tightly and exterior doors to buildings are properly secured when leaving their building today
The Met Office has issued the following weather warnings with exceptional rainfall expected to cause severe flooding and disruption in Aberdeenshire and Angus.
The red warning runs from 6pm tonight until noon on Friday. Amber and yellow warnings for rain and wind are in place across most of Scotland and other parts of the UK. On Friday morning, the warning extends down the east of England to the south coast.
Just a reminder you can get tips and advice from Transport Scotland, our own Winter Preparedness website and Ready Scotland, along with other local sources including councils, Police Scotland and Traffic Scotland. Scotrail is urging passengers to check for cancellations and delays although rail services in areas covered by the red weather warning have already been cancelled.
If you are on our campuses today and have any concerns about getting home, speak to your line manager about leaving early.
Best wishes and please stay safe
Tracey
Tracey Slaven
University Secretary and Chief Operating Officer