It’s been an up and down few days with successes and setbacks!
Problems with the University’s security requirements looked bad, but I think are all soluable and I’m working hard to close out on that this week. It’s mostly disorganisation at the University side I’m afraid, of all kinds of unlikely types.
But plans for Thursday are awry – both people who can seal paperwork for the University have gone on holiday! They were supposed to be available. We’ve had an option of escalating to a Pro Vice Chancellor and trying to persuade them to do the sealing – this is within regulations but would be a very unsuual practice and has a bit of risk attached because we might not be able to convince them to do it. There’s a few other factors to think about too; it would be a real rush to get all the papers together for Thursday, and actually getting access on Thursday might be tricky. The space is still full of damp papers that must be cleared (I don’t want to be responsible for them if they aren’t removed in time). There are other doors in the building that ought to be secured so that we don’t have access to other people’s space.
So we’ve agreed to do the sealing on Monday 10th, rather than trying to rush everything and risk annoying people badly to get it through tomorrow. A Special Sealing will be scheduled for us on Monday (these usually only occur at 2pm on Thursdays) – I’m not sure exactly what time yet. Once the University has Sealed (meaning it agrees to grant the lease), the solicitors for either side will be able to exchange the signed lease paperwork, and the space is ours!