Umbrellas needed for indoor awards ceremony (From Daily Echo)

Guests shelter beneath umbrellas at Southapton's De Vere Grand Harbour hotel

1:00pm Tuesday 7th February 2012 in Southampton By Bethan Phillips, Reporter

IT WAS supposed to be a glitzy awards ceremony where some of the UK’s biggest powerboating stars celebrated their achievements.

But VIPs were reduced to dining under their umbrellas when a leak sprung from the ceiling at the De Vere Grand Harbour Hotel in Southampton.

Organisers of the Royal Yachting Association Powerboating Awards described a scene of “mayhem” as they tried to set up for the glamorous do with water pouring from the ceiling of the ballroom.

Former powerboating world champion Shelley Jory-Leigh, who was hosting the event, said: “I got there at 3.30pm thinking the whole room was going to be set and staged and found complete mayhem.

“There was water pouring through the ceiling, it was freezing cold in there and all our electrics obviously couldn’t work.

“Later on, I was stood there hosting it with an umbrella over me.

“Everyone was dancing at the end of the evening in the water – the dance floor had to be taken up for health and safety reasons.

“There’s been months of planning for this – it was such a shame.”

The leak was down to a wider problem with Southampton’s district heating system, which pumps hot water from a geothermal well to some of the city’s biggest buildings – including Royal South Hants Hospital, Solent University, The Quays and the De Vere.

Cofely District Energy (CDE), which runs the system, says an “extremely rare coincidence” caused a total shutdown of the whole system.

Four leaks occurred almost simultaneously on Saturday, meaning water pressure could not be maintained.

The company says in the recent cold snap, equipment around the heating network had frozen, fractured and leaked as it thawed.

Royal South Hants Hospital says it had hot water and heating problems from 4pm on Saturday afternoon – but the problem was fixed by engineers by 6.30pm.

More problems were reported at The Quays Swimming and Diving Complex – where showers went cold but the pools remained open as usual.

Residents of Park View flats in the Polygon also had interruptions to their heating and hot water supply, with leaks in some properties.

The De Vere, which was put up for sale last month, says it is still assessing the damage caused by the leak.

Park View flats, The Park Hotel and law firm Paris Smith, which has offices in London Road, have been warned to expect further problems with their heating today, as engineers work on permanent repairs.

CDE say the scheme has been running continuously for 25 years and has only ever had two previous leaks.

Simon Woodward, CDE’s chief executive said: “We regret this problem at a particularly cold time and apologise to all our customers for the loss of heat.

“Maintaining a good customer service is a key operating value for us and we shall be taking all possible measures to understand what happened and prevent a re-occurrence.”