The following statement is sent on behalf of the registrar Dr. Paul Greatrix about the university fire As you may be aware there was a major fire on the Jubilee Campus on Friday evening affecting the GSK laboratory for sustainable chemistry which was under construction on Triumph Road. Thankfully no one was injured but the building itself was destroyed. We are incredibly grateful to our staff and students for their fantastic response in dealing with this major incident and would like to express our gratitude to Notts Fire Service. It was the quick action of their fire crews which prevented this incident from being much more serious. We have also been extremely touched by the messages and best wishes from our close neighbours out in the community. We would like to thank the wider higher education community across the UK for its support – we have had many offers of help from other universities around the country, for which we are extremely grateful. To put this loss into perspective, we need to remember that this was one building, that thankfully no one was injured and that the fire was prevented from spreading further on to campus. We want to stress that it is business as usual at The University of Nottingham. Our Open Day 2014, to which we will be welcoming thousands of prospective students and their families is going ahead as planned and will be unaffected by the incident. Our ability to deliver teaching and research through our Chemistry department is completely unaffected by this incident. This is a setback for us but one from which we have no doubt we will recover. The University of Nottingham has an international reputation for scientific excellence, underpinned by the world-leading expertise of our academics. It is upon those strong foundations that we will rebuild and renew for the future. The GlaxoSmithKline Carbon Neutral Laboratory for Sustainable Chemistry is a landmark building which is the embodiment of the University’s commitment to sustainability in all its forms, particularly in the area of green chemistry and we will be working closely with our partners at GSK, and the contractors Morgan Sindall, to develop a positive plan of action for rebuilding. The Jubilee Campus remains open as usual and staff who work at the Jubilee Campus should be able to access their normal place of work on Monday morning. Currently, the only access to Triumph Road is via the A609 Wollaton Road. The entrance from the A6200 Derby Road is closed at the moment.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 11:34:57 +0000