While the corona shutdown of the university continues into a third week, the head of building services at Health looks after the faculty's buildings, energy consumption and facilities. Although the faculty is quiet and empty, Conor Leerhøy still has enough to do – new corona laboratories need to be established, and old toilets need to be replaced.

2020.04.16 | Conor Leerhøy

Monday 30 March 2020: New corona laboratory in the Skou Building

We are in the process of establishing a new corona laboratory in the Skou Building. It is a Class 2+ lab and needs fitting out with extra equipment – cupboards have to be hung up, the ventilation system needs altering and special respiratory protective equipment, face shields and special lab clothing need to be found. These are difficult to get hold of in these times. Everything is sold out. So we have been looking in drawers and cupboards, and we have expropriated what we could find in our buildings and succeeded in finding everything that we need. Even an autoclave, which normally has to be ordered first and then produced. We found a distributer who had a prototype. The only thing it did not have was a HEPA filter. That will arrive from Germany tomorrow. So we are still busy. The laboratory needs to be ready from Monday of next week when the research begins. The corona virus has already been delivered and is waiting in the freezer.

Tuesday 31 March 2020: Access control and energy consumption

I begin the day by checking the access control. How many people have been inside which buildings and when. Just straightforward statistics from the access cards, not specific names. A few selected employees still need access to the buildings, for example animal technicians and staff from building services, but it is nevertheless important to keep an eye on things – make sure they are not here at the same time, and that others don’t start returning to the buildings.

I also keep an eye on energy consumption. We are aiming to reduce it by 66 per cent, and we are well on the way. We have turned off or turned down the ventilation systems, technical equipment and hot water. Lowered the temperature to a minimum of 16-17 degrees in our buildings, with the exception of odontology and the Skou Building, where there is emergency treatment and corona research, respectively.

Wednesday 1 April 2020: New toilets in the Lakeside Lecture Theatres and an extra door for the dean

We have decided to utilise these weeks to carry out some of the practical projects that are difficult to complete when the buildings are full of people. The toilets in the Lakeside Lecture Theatres often leak so they’re being replaced. A plumber is busy in one of the laboratories, and builders have made a hole in the wall into the dean's office for an extra door. A water treatment facility is being replaced, and various technical installations are being serviced. I am at the university today to check up on the work and generally help with various tasks.

We have prepared schedules so we have an overview of when and how many outside workers are in the buildings and what they are doing. In fact, this works so well that we are going to continue with it after the corona crisis is over.

Thursday 2 April 2020: Planning the reopening

We are planning a gradual reopening of the faculty. We expect the research laboratories to be among the first places to open again. We are therefore preparing a corona work schedule for the next few weeks; which competences and which employees from building services will be needed to assist the researchers and the laboratories that we think/guess will begin operating first.

We are also looking at the entire reopening of the buildings and the machinery. What is the smartest way to do it and how much time do we need to get everything up and running again? Here and now there are only a couple of my staff who are able to undertake this task – but everyone in building services should be able to take over in the event of illness. Opening up is actually just as difficult as shutting down was.

Friday 3 April 2020: Refrigeration facilities at Anatomy

A few days ago, we were contacted by the Danish Patient Safety Authority. They asked whether we could help with refrigeration facilities if the dreaded red curve were to become relevant, meaning that the hospitals would not be able to keep up with the number of dead. We can help. Today, I talked to Thomas G. Jensen, the head of the Department of Biomedicine, about how we should do things in practice. We have capacity for between forty and fifty deceased and we would need two days to arrange everything. Fortunately, this does not appear to be relevant.

Weekend 4-5 April 2020: Nothing happening

I always have my phone with me and I answer every time it rings. Also in the evening and also at the weekend. But this weekend there was not a single call. In general, the last week has been quiet and both myself and my employees have been pretty much left in peace. This has given us time to delve into tasks that we do not have time for normally. One of the things we have done is take a detailed look at system monitoring and energy consumption, and we have streamlined many processes, so that it will be much easier for us to shut down/turn on machinery, facilities and buildings during holidays etc. – which will certainly be helpful.

You can also read Department Head Siri Beier Jensen’s diary from the second week and Health’s Head of Studies Administration Anna Bak Maigaard’s diary from the first week of the university’s lockdown.