With date changes, room changes earlier in the month and just as we were packing everything up ready for the event, we get some more annoying news.

In the last 24h we’ve been informed by Kettering Conference Centre that the air conditioning in the main Fair Isle hall for EPIC36 has failed, engineers have visited the site and unfortunately the parts required to get the units working again will not be available until August.

That obviously left us and the venue in a difficult position, but between us we’ve been working tirelessly to find a solution that doesn’t result in any sort of cancellations, minimises disruptions and importantly makes sure that everyone has a fun and safe event.

The current solution is that the venue has had the room assessed by engineers for temporary air conditioning and placed an order for that temporary solution, however anything temporary like that is never going to be as effective as something purpose built for the space it is operating in, especially in the case of our events where it is not only people, but PCs and what’s looking to be a warm week for EPIC36. So to give those temporary units a decent chance of being as effective as possible we have decided to remove some capacity from Fair Isle and move around 100 people in to the Lakeside hall (which was going to be sleeping for this event).

It is important to also note that air circulation and air conditioning are separate systems, especially with COVID still in circulation in the population. The room’s air circulation is still in normal operation and we will continue to ensure that the rooms are more than adequately ventilated, just that the air being brought in to the rooms from outside will be warm, hence the need for the air conditioning element to make it more comfortable.

We are working through the seating plan once again to look at the most sensible moves in to Lakeside while keeping groups together, our current plan looks like it will be VALORANT, NSE and casual groups from Fair Isle that fit the number of seats available in Lakeside, leaving CSGO in Fair Isle. Please keep an eye on the #epic36-seating channel in Discord for the latest updates and check your event bookings after the weekend for your final seat.

The knock on effect is then that the indoor sleeping returns to the originally planned Boat House room and we will create a small dedicated area at the back of Fair Isle for any overflow. This should result in sufficient space for those who have indicated they will be sleeping indoors at the venue.

We understand this is not ideal, but faced with the alternative of having to somehow reduce the capacity after people have bought tickets, transport and accommodation, we felt that this was the least disruptive option which allows the event to take place as close to normal as possible.