1. travel
2. tourist destinations
3. national parks

Estates Newsletter No.10
May 2015
Welcome to the May
2015 newsletter
We welcome the
following staff:






Liz Griffiths, Transition
Manager
Charlotte Lewis,
Strategic Space Manager
Agnes Nowak, Cleaning
Assistant
Rachel Sallis, Temporary
Administrator
David Sheppard,
Cleaning Assistant
We say
‘congratulations’ to:
Sally Cronshaw,
promoted to Park Campus
Services Administrator and
for completing her NVQ
Business Administration
course


Steve Falconer,
Securitas Security
Manager for passing his
IOSH „Managing Safely‟
qualification
Gary Norris, for
completing a tandem sky
dive to celebrate his 60th
birthday and raising money
for charity in the process!
We say ‘good luck’ to:





Major projects scheduled for this
Summer include:
Pittville Campus





Kelvin Abbott,
Maintenance Operative,
who will be getting married
to Sarah in the Summer
holidays

Major Projects
Jonathan Wye, Health,
Safety, Environment and
Quality Manager

Summer Projects
the Caretaking Team for
being shortlisted as the
„Outstanding Team of the
Year‟ at the forthcoming
annual Staff Awards
Sally Cronshaw
Graham Crowie
Chris Holyhead
Joan Thorndell
….who are all awaiting the
results of their recent Institute of
Leadership
&
Management
training course assessment.






Completion of the Performing Arts
extension at Oxstalls.
Conversion of the Waterworth
Building at The Park to create a new
computing
and
cyber-security
teaching centre.
Conversion of TC015 at The Park
into a dedicated film production lab
for the Media Department.
Reorganisation of space at FCH to
create subject-specific teaching hubs.
Reorganisation of space on the first
floor of the Bedford Building at The
Park to create a subject community
for the Business School
The formation of a new tarmac road
linking Maidenhorn with Hardwick
main buildings.
Various improvements and upgrades
to the fire and security systems at
FCH.
Improvements to the heating system
at Quad East, FCH, to improve
controllability.
Replacement of the heating boiler at
Broadlands Villa, The Park, with a
new energy efficient condensing
boiler.
Improvements to food serveries at
The Park, FCH and Oxstalls - in
conjunction
with
BaxterStorey
caterers.
The provision of automatic fire
suppression systems in the main
catering kitchens at The Park, FCH
and Oxstalls.
Earlier in the year, you may have seen
reports in the local press about the
University‟s planning application to redevelop
the Pittville Campus into a student village.
Unfortunately, at that time, the application
was deferred by Cheltenham Borough
Council.
In an effort to address concerns raised by the
Council and local residents, a new firm of
architects was appointed and a revised
scheme has very recently been resubmitted
to the Borough Council for consideration.
Alongside this work, the existing teaching
buildings at Pittville are being demolished.
It is hoped that in July, the Council will give
consideration and approval to the revised
redevelopment scheme, after which time the
campus will be handed over to ULiving, a
specialist student accommodation provider to
construct a new student village, housing 791
residents. The residences will be constructed
over an 18 month period. As part of the
scheme, the existing residential blocks will
also be refurbished with the site ready for full
occupation from September 2017. Once
completed, this development should allow us
to offer University accommodation to most
first year students - in line with most of our
competitors.
Estates Newsletter No.10
May 2015
Maintenance & Service contract tenders
Delta Place
Over the past few months, Kevin Farmer, Head of Maintenance and
Steve Davies, Anticipated Maintenance Manager, have been working
with an external consultant to tender new contracts for the routine
repair and on-going planned preventative maintenance of a diverse
range of equipment across all University sites.
This includes equipment such as fire alarms, emergency lighting,
refrigeration, fire extinguishers, lifts, catering appliances, water, gas
and electrical systems.
In total, some 10 new contracts were tendered and quotations sought
from specialist contractors in each sector. These are currently being
st
evaluated with the intention of new contracts going live from 1 August
2015.
Mobilisation of the new contracts will be a major logistical exercise
over the summer holidays.
To facilitate the redevelopment of the
Waterworth Building at The Park into a new
computing and cyber security teaching
centre, over 100 F&P, HR & Communications
and Marketing staff have recently been
temporarily relocated to offices at Delta Place
in the centre of Cheltenham.
This was a large logistical exercise involving
cross-discipline
working
from
several
members of the Estates Department.
During Autumn 2017, staff at Delta Place will
move to new offices at the Pittville Campus.
Sustainability
Service contract tenders
Professor Daniella Tilbury, Dean of
Sustainability recently announced her
resignation and will be leaving UoG in the
next few weeks.
Daniella is taking up a new & exciting
position as the inaugural Dean of
Sustainability at the University of
Gibraltar.
Daniella leaves us with a very strong
legacy and commitment to sustainability
in it‟s widest sense across the University.
One of Daniella‟s final actions before
leaving will be to formally review the
Promising Futures sustainability strategy
2009-2015 with a team of global experts
and propose a new direction going
forwards.
Andy Simpson, Head of Facilities, is currently
in the process of re-tendering Catering and
Security Services contracts. Currently these
are held by BaxterStorey and Securitas
Security Services respectively.
This process happens periodically to ensure
that we are obtaining best value from our
long-term contractors, both in terms of price
and also quality & delivery of service.
In addition to the submission of a detailed
tender document, each contractor has been
required to provide examples of other
organisations where they offer similar
services to those that we require.
Andy has been carrying out verification visits
Estates Newsletter No.10
May 2015
to these premises across the south of the
UK.
Dr Alex Ryan will take up the role of
Acting Dean after Daniella‟s departure.
We make the difference conference
th
th
On 16 & 17 April, Professional Services staff were invited to reflect on the achievements of the past year at the annual
„We make the difference‟ conference. A keynote speech by Richard O‟Doherty, Deputy Vice Chancellor, set the scene for
the conference and strongly acknowledged the essential part that professional services staff have in supporting the
academic process and ensuring that our University continues to encourage high quality students and develop them to
become employable graduates..
The conference continued with input from key academic staff and then split into a number of workshops, focusing on
Estates, Library Information Services & IT and Communications & Marketing. Lively presentations were then delivered by
a number of students on „My Future Plan‟ and the conference culminated in action planning with Departmental colleagues.
Did you know?
In 2013/14, falls from height were the most common cause of fatalities in the workplace
accounting for 29% of all workplace deaths.
There is a commonly held myth that most of these deaths are caused by falling from a
significant height – this is untrue and most fatalities occur from relatively low height working.
Before working at height you must follow these simple steps:
 avoid work at height where it is reasonably practicable to do so.
 where work at height cannot be easily avoided, prevent falls using either an existing
place of work that is already safe or the right type of equipment .
 minimise the distance and consequences of a fall, by using the right type of equipment
where the risk cannot be eliminated.
Estates Newsletter No.10
May 2015
Staff Survey
The Staff Survey 2015, will be launching in the week commencing 1 June and is your opportunity to share your views on
what it is like to work for the University of Gloucestershire. The process is being organised independently from the
University by „Capita‟, a specialist market research company. They will be circulating a questionnaire to each member of
staff.
If you have a University e-mail account, you will automatically be sent an invitation to participate and those who do not
have an e-mail account will be invited to complete a paper copy of the questionnaire. The questionnaire is entirely
confidential and at no time, will individual results be disclosed to the University. There will be a 3 week window for
completing the questionnaire.
Please take time to complete the questionnaire and have your say – it is very important that all corners of the
University are represented, not only those who have direct access to the University e-mail system!
The survey was last completed in 2013 and one of the key conclusions arising said: “Leadership and management needed
to improve”.
In response, the University has:
 Revised Academic Subject Leader (ASL) and Academic Course Leader (ACL) roles to focus on teaching quality
enhancement, and designed a development programme for ASLs
 Run four Higher Education Leadership and Management (HELM) postgraduate programmes. 26 people have
completed the programme and 11 people are participating in this year‟s programme
 Supported 58 managers to achieve the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) First Line Manager programme
accreditation. 11 people are participating in this year‟s redesigned programme
 Run three programmes of five subject specific individual workshops, 126 places have been taken up
 Rolled out SRD Reviewer training focussing on the quality of SRD conversations to 95% of reviewers
 Rolled out Coaching skills for managers workshops
 Facilitated leadership team development, for example Library and Information Services and Pro-Vice Chancellor
(Operations) leadership teams
Jonathan Wye, represents the Estates Department on the „Improving our Working Lives‟ cross-University group which is
seeking to co-ordinate the questionnaire roll-out and then interpret the results .Should you have any questions or queries
about the forthcoming survey, please do not to hesitate to contact him, either on x5051, or in person in room DHB11, Park.
….and finally, we say goodbye to:





Matt Bailey, Groundsman – off to pastures new!
Jeffery Burton, Cleaning Assistant
Barbara Foulkes, Cleaning Assistant
Mo Kinsmann, Park Campus Services Manager
Geoff Lorton, Cleaning Services Supervisor – FCH