News stories from across the Facilities Directorate at the University of Leeds.

FD bulletin

FD Bulletin – November 2024

/by

Email sent to all FD staff from Ann Allen, Director of Campus Innovation and Development, on Monday 4 November.

I’m sure you’ll all join me in giving a warm welcome to our new Vice-Chancellor, Professor Shearer West. If you haven’t already, I suggest you find a moment to read her first blog post on the staff intranet or watch the video.

Very early on in her blog, Shearer mentions how inspired she is by the diversity and inclusivity of our community. We know that inclusivity is a University value and an FD value. As such it is core to our People Positive work, and it’s great to see the posters promoting this area, including the learning from the behaviours training that everyone is attending. We’ve had great feedback and there is plenty more activity to come next year.

I was also interested to read the final blog post from our former interim Vice-Chancellor, Hai-Sui Yu. In it, he reviews progress against the six priorities he set out a year ago and key among those is ‘excellence in everything we do’, including research and student education, and implementing the University Strategy.

I want to say again that the Facilities Directorate is key to achieving this excellence. The work that we do directly affects the smooth running of the University and the wellbeing of students, without which our communities cannot achieve and succeed. So thank you for all you do.

Hai-Su also referred to the challenge faced by all universities as we see a decline in the numbers of international students coming to the UK to study. Thanks to skilful planning, Leeds is less affected by this than many other institutions, and we are optimistic about the numbers of home students still choosing Leeds. But we should all keep an eye on cost savings where we can.

Our Way Ahead & the Employee Engagement Survey  

It’s important to remember that our business plan – Our Way Ahead – is the guide for all of us in the FD. The aims still stand and they align with the University’s strategic priorities.

Please do take time to refresh your understanding of it online or check the copies on noticeboards. You can pick up a copy from Prue Griffiths or Matt Shevlin in the Marketing & Comms team too, or they will arrange delivery to your area if you drop them a message.

The way that we deliver the business plan has been shaped by activities like the outputs from the Employee Engagement Survey that ran in 2023, and the recent Pulse Survey. For example, the People & Culture strategy includes a focus on helping staff to be heard: the Staff Voice group is a clear example of this.

Similarly, people wanted to hear more about what was going on across the University and we have started our own town hall meetings. Look out for more of these soon!

You can find more information about the FD and employee engagement in the Employee Engagement Hub on the staff intranet. And look out for details soon about the 2025 survey.

I’ve said many times how much I value collaboration – this is an FD value, a University value, and core to our business plan. Not only do we learn from each other, but we can also work smarter.

‘Working in partnership to transform our core services’ is the topic of the Professional Services Open Meeting tomorrow, 2:05pm-2:55pm, with Rachel Brealey contributing. Please do join the meeting if you can.

Campus Reimagined

I hope that many of you enjoyed seeing the campus and indeed the centre of Leeds lit up by Light Night, a great example of how our spaces can be used to create genuine impact. The Campus Reimagined project is about how we all use campus, and how it inspires our communities. My thanks to those who came to the online town hall on 15 October to find out more. Here’s a link to the recording of the town hall if you missed it.

The Campus Reimagined student survey went live on 28 October and has had a fantastic response rate so far. There will be plenty of opportunities as well for staff and other communities to tell us what they think. If you have any specific thoughts, please do email us at campusreimagined@leeds.ac.uk

Thanks too to everyone working on the building assets condition survey which will establish a baseline for the campus and feed into Campus Reimagined.

Office Space

People based in the FD building may have been hearing different ideas about how we use our space. The Staff Voice group have made suggestions and the Operational Excellence team have also been looking at opportunities to create better spaces.

I am thrilled that this is an initiative led by your ideas and I look forward to hearing more from both the teams. And don’t worry, there will be an opportunity for everyone to share their thoughts.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Karina Kendrick, who has been appointed Head of Conferences and Events and to Sarah Djuric, who has been appointed as the new College and University Business Officers (CUBO) Residence Life Steering Group Chair.

And finally a date for your diary: the next FD Staff Social will be on Monday 9 December at 3:30pm in the Refectory.

Regards,

Ann Allen,
Director of Campus Innovation & Development

FD bulletin

FD Bulletin – October 2024

/by

Email sent to all FD staff from Ann Allen, Director of Campus Innovation and Development, on Monday 30 September. 

This month I’m giving you my update via a video. I also wanted to share with you the excellent video made by our marketing and communications team that really highlights the important work done by our teams to support students and the University Strategy.

Watch the video

 

I hope you enjoy the new term and I look forward to seeing you out and about on campus.

Regards,

Ann Allen
Director of Campus Innovation & Development

FD Bulletin: September 2024

/by

Email sent to all FD staff from Ann Allen, Director of Campus Innovation and Development, on Tuesday 3 September.

As we gear up for the start of the new academic year, my thanks go to everyone who is working so hard to prepare campus. Thanks also to those who have delivered conferences and other events over the summer. There’s never a dull moment for our teams!

Staff Pulse Survey: results

I’m keen to share with you the FD’s results of the University’s Staff Pulse Survey, which many of you completed in June. Look out for an email this week with an invitation to join an online, FD-only ‘town hall’ meeting on Monday 9 September, 12pm-1pm to hear about them. If you can’t make the session, it will be recorded and sent to everyone, but I hope to see you there.

The Pulse Survey was a follow-up to the main Employee Engagement Survey that ran in 2023. The intention was to check in with staff and assess what we all thought about actions taken by the University and the FD following the results of the main survey.

The overall results of the Pulse Survey have been released by the University – you can read about those on the Employee Engagement Hub. A few of the FD’s results are not as positive as we might have hoped, but there are encouraging signs that we are heading in the right direction with the changes we’ve been making to the FD. Jane Clayton and I will talk you through this in the session and you’ll be able to ask questions.

I want to make sure that you can share any comments directly with the senior team. You can do this through your Staff Voice representatives and I’ll be outlining next steps – including how to feed back – in the session on Monday.

Also on the hub you can read this Spotlight on the Facilities Directorate which details progress following the FD’s results from the Employee Engagement Survey. Key actions include the publication of the People & Culture strategy and the excellent work of the Staff Voice group.

Update on senior team recruitment

In the last year we’ve looked closely at the structure needed to help us all work together as effectively as possible. Our services are key to the success of the University and its strategy, helping students and staff to achieve their best and make the most of their time at Leeds. As you know, we have captured our ambition in our business plan – Our Way Ahead.

With our three directors in place, we looked at what other roles were needed to deliver the business plan, and I’m pleased to welcome Callum Williamson as Deputy Director of Campus Experiences, Residences and Physical Activity, reporting into Rob Wadsworth. Take a look at the updated org chart of the senior management team.

Also joining us this week in a key role is Geoff Brown, Head of Community Safety & Campus Security, reporting into Michael Longstaff. I know you’ll make them both feel welcome.

We will be announcing the date of the next FD Staff Social soon and this will be a chance for you to meet any of the directors or deputy directors.

Brownlee Centre refit supports Net Zero goals

New electrically powered heat pumps at the Brownlee Centre are in place and the installation of the pumps means that the centre, along with the rest of the Bodington complex, is now fully electrified.

The project is part of the University’s Net Zero Delivery Plan. The move from the previous primary heat sources to an all-electric heat pump solution will save the University around 58,850Kg and 2,610Kg of Direct and Indirect CO2 per year, respectively.

Thanks to everyone involved for their work on this.

Internal communications survey

Thanks also to everyone who has helped the Communications team by filling in their anonymous internal comms survey. The results will help them to understand how you like to hear about what is happening in the FD. It closes on Friday 6 September, so complete the survey now to have your say.

If you’d prefer a paper copy, please contact Prue Griffiths or Matt Shevlin.

And finally…

I was delighted to see another cohort of colleagues completing the ‘Learning to Log on’ training recently, with members of the Cleaning Services team receiving their certificates of achievement.
This is such an important initiative – collaborating with IT, People & Culture and the Organisational Development and Professional Learning teams, we are working to help colleagues develop IT skills that will be helpful both at work and outside it. It takes hard work and commitment to complete this course. My congratulations to everyone involved. Make sure you read this case study on the initiative.

Regards,

Ann Allen
Director of Campus Innovation and Development

Staff Images

Saying thanks to fellow Facilities Directorate colleagues

/by
Read more
FD bulletin

FD Bulletin – August 2024

/by

Email sent to all FD staff from Ann Allen, Director of Campus Innovation and Development, on Tuesday 30 July.

I want to start by thanking everyone who was involved in making graduation such a success. It really is such a joy seeing smiling students and their guests on campus, and I know how much work goes on behind-the-scenes to make it work. It’s very much appreciated.

Thanks too to colleagues for their support in organising the UK Corporate Games last weekend – a fantastic event for the University. Congratulations to those from the FD who took part, I heard it was great fun! You’ll be able to view the full results in tomorrow’s eNews.

Operational Excellence team

The newly-formed Operational Excellence team is making great progress. Four secondees from the Infrastructure, Construction and Delivery team – Ryan Ball, Ric Fisher, Richard Martin and Kristian Page – are identifying opportunities for business improvement by gaining insight from colleagues at all levels into their roles and challenges. They then work with FD teams to help implement and develop solutions, supported by the FD’s business improvement team.

Over the past two months they have found nearly 300 potential opportunities and have 30 different live projects. In a quick win for Grounds & Gardens recently, the teams worked together to change their daily briefing meeting, making better use of the time and clarifying processes.

This project is core to the FD’s business plan and to our values. Working collaboratively to improve what we do makes working life better for all of us. At the same time, we are being more effective and efficient and that has an impact on staff and students. Thank you to everyone involved and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Communications

The Marketing & Communications team are running a survey to ask FD staff what they like, don’t like and would like to see from the way they communicate with you all about what is happening in the FD. You can fill in the survey online and they have a paper version that they can bring along to team meetings or leave in staff areas.

They are working with heads of service to get round teams but please do contact Prue Griffiths or Matt Shevlin if you’d like them to get a paper survey to you or if you have any questions. They’re very keen to understand what people think so they can keep making improvements. It closes on Friday 6 September.

Thanks to people across all FD teams who are taking part in focus groups as the team build an intranet for the FD – a staff website that only we can access. This will be a really effective and useful tool for bringing together the FD. Hopefully many of you have been exploring the University intranet.

Fire safety

The most recent annual fire evacuation drill for the FD Building revealed that some staff did not use their nearest fire exit. A reminder that as well as the main entrance to the building, there is a fire exit in the back corner of the building (towards Mount Preston Street). In case of an alarm, providing it is not blocked, staff should always evacuate via their nearest fire exit. Any questions, please contact Tim Knighton in Health & Safety.

Professional Behaviours training

Thanks to everyone who has completed the training. This work is really important to the culture of the FD. Claire Sowerby and the team appreciate your feedback and the training is being finessed in response to that. Find out more about the training and the steps we’re taking towards creating a more inclusive culture.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Mike Leonard, who is a finalist in the Staff category of this year’s Green Gown Awards. Winners are announced on Wednesday 13 November.

Lucy McDonald, Marketing & Communications Executive, is giving a presentation at this week’s Browzer Buzz, an industry event for Residence Life and Accommodation teams across the country.

This will profile work she has instigated and led on establishing new guides to reflect our diverse student population. My thanks to Lucy for going above and beyond, and not just spotting a need but providing a solution.

Regards,

Ann Allen
Director of Campus Innovation and Development

FD bulletin

FD Bulletin – July 2024

/by

Email sent to all FD staff from Ann Allen, Director of Campus Innovation and Development, on Monday 1 July.

Summer is finally here, and while the campus feels quieter with most students having left, our teams are hard at work preparing for conferences, graduations and refurbishing residences. Thanks to everyone involved.

I also want to extend my thanks to everyone who was involved in working with the protest encampment on campus. The protestors have now left.

There were some challenging moments – particularly for the Security team – and I appreciate the calm and professional approach shown by everyone.

Campus Reimagined

I am delighted to share with you that the Campus Reimagined project has taken a big step forwards. This major initiative is a 15-year+ project to redesign aspects of our campus to ensure it meets the needs of its users now and into the future.

This work is different from anything that has gone before it at the University. The development of our campus has tended to focus on new buildings. But what makes a campus special is about more than that: it’s what you see and feel as you walk from one place to another; the view as you turn a corner; whether you feel you belong. It’s about your whole experience of it.

Last week we started recruitment for a masterplanner for Campus Reimagined – someone who will develop a framework, or plan, for changes to campus. You can find out more about that and about the whole project on the new Campus Reimagined website. Please sign up to the newsletter on there and watch the video made by the Marketing and Communications team – it shows off our campus so beautifully. This is the start of the journey.

We will keep you updated.

People Positive: Professional Behaviours training

Following my email last week, I hope that team leaders are encouraging everyone to book onto the Professional Behaviours training. I’ve heard really positive feedback from the training for managers that is currently taking place.

It’s so important that we are all on the same page when it comes to understanding what respect for each other means. The People & Culture strategy is also a part of this, as is the activity following last year’s Staff Survey results. We are all responsible for creating a happy and healthy workplace.

Employee Engagement Pulse Survey

Please remember to complete this survey by the closing date of Friday 5 July. You should have received an email from CultureAmp with the link. Paper copies are available from your manager if you would like one. You can find out more about it on the intranet.

Go Beyond project

The Infrastructure, Construction & Development team are making great progress in their programme to improve operational excellence. A peer-led process, four secondees have been appointed from within the team to take forward ideas for improvement, working with the FD’s Business Improvement team and an external supplier.

They are reviewing the current operational model and recommendations for ‘quick wins’ and short and medium term actions are being formulated.

Mandatory IT security training

Please may I remind you all how important it is to complete your mandatory IT information security training. I’ve been informed by IT that over 350 people in the FD have not done this, and are not therefore compliant. Remember to check your ‘Clutter’ if you can’t find the reminder in your inbox.

We all have a responsibility to understand what might make us vulnerable to security issues. Not doing so can lead to breaches that can affect the security of the whole university. If you haven’t completed your training, please find time to do so asap.

Community Safety & Campus Security Survey

This is a chance to feedback about the service provided by the Security team. The closing date is 31 July and there’s a draw for £100 worth of Morrisons vouchers. You can access the survey here.

Planon update

The team have worked with Marketing & Communications to develop a process for regular updates to the wider team, using a template that can be printed as a poster as well as used online. Good progress is also being made through complex SAP interface work.

And finally…

If you were at the Staff Festival on Friday, I hope you enjoyed it!

Regards,

Ann Allen
Director of Campus Innovation and Development

Staff Images

Working together to improve the Facilities Directorate

/by

It’s been a busy start to 2024 for the Facilities Directorate’s Staff Voice group.

The team of volunteers from across the service have been meeting since last year to discuss ideas, questions and concerns raised by their colleagues.

From stocking up new cutlery in the FD Building, to opening a dialogue with senior leaders about the issues colleagues care about, the team are making an impact on the service. Read more below.

Raising issues that matter to colleagues with senior leaders

Representatives from Staff Voice presented to the FD’s senior management team (FDSMT) in May to showcase what’s been achieved so far and what further support would be needed.

Feedback from FDSMT has been positive and work is ongoing to allow Staff Voice to action suggestions and ideas.

Updating Residential Services on progress

Following this, representatives also presented at the Residential Services away day to update on Staff Voice progress and to show how you can get involved. If you’re interested in Staff Voice presenting at your away day, please contact your Staff Voice representative.

Improving offices in the FD Building

You’ll now find cutlery and cleaning supplies have been restocked within several staff kitchens areas and a refresh of the showers in the FD building. We’ve also made sure decaf is supplied at all catered meetings. Have any other ideas? Let the team know.

Have your say

The physical and virtual Staff Voice suggestion boxes you’ll find across campus now have a process in place to manage the suggestions and ideas to ensure every suggestion is read and considered. The Staff Voice webpage will be updated with details on the process in due course.

The team are keen to make more FD staff aware of Staff Voice so you may have seen posters, flyers and pull up banners located across campus in FD staff rooms and areas. Why not add a suggestion to their virtual dropbox?

The Staff Voice team will be at this year’s Staff Festival – make sure you go and say hello!

FD bulletin

FD Bulletin – June 2024

/by

Email sent to all FD staff from Ann Allen, Director of Campus Innovation and Development, on Tuesday 4 June. 

We are in one of the busiest times of the year for staff and students, with exams and assessments underway, plus planning for graduations. Many of you will be involved in this one way or another. Thanks in advance for everything you do to make this happen.

Action: Staff Pulse Survey

Last year the University ran an extensive staff survey to understand what matters most to you, what’s working and what’s not. It covered a range of themes including equity, diversity and inclusion, ways of working and leadership, and an action plan was published in December.

The FD has made excellent progress to build on learning from its own results, particularly through the publication of the People & Culture strategy and the excellent work of the Staff Voice group. You can read about those initiatives and all the other activity related to our staff survey results in this Spotlight on the Facilities Directorate published on the Employee Engagement Survey Hub.

The University is shortly launching a ‘pulse’ survey in June, a follow-up, shorter set of questions to sense-check how people are feeling and what they think about actions being taken following the staff survey. Senior teams – including the FD’s – want to hear from you so we can make informed choices about what happens next, and identify where to prioritise focus.

Look out for more information through the weekly eNews staff bulletin. As with the staff survey, you’ll receive an email linking to the questionnaire and paper copies will be available. Your heads of service can answer any questions. Please take this opportunity to let us know what you think.

Staff Voice update

Following neatly on…I was delighted to hear from Staff Voice reps at the FD senior management team meeting last month. Reps also presented at the Residential Services away day. If you’re interested in Staff Voice presenting to your team, please contact your Staff Voice representative.

It was fantastic to hear about their ‘you said, we did’ approach, including:

  • Cutlery and cleaning supplies restocked in staff kitchens areas and a refresh of the showers in the FD building. Decaf coffee now supplied at all catered meetings.
  • The physical and virtual Staff Voice suggestion boxes you’ll find across campus now have a process in place to manage the suggestions and ideas to ensure everything is read and considered.
  • Awareness raising continues with posters, flyers and banners across campus in FD staff areas.
  • The group will be at this year’s Staff Festival – go and say hello!

Senior team update

I’m delighted to share that following a competitive recruitment process, Michael Longstaff has been appointed Deputy Director for Campus Services and Engagement and Sam Glenister-Batey has been appointed Deputy Director for Commercial and Business Development. These are key roles in Rob Wadsworth’s area of the FD.

We will also be welcoming Geoff Brown to the University as Head of Community Safety & Campus Security from Monday 2 September.

We will share an update on recruitment to a third role in Rob’s area – Deputy Director for Campus Experiences, Residences and Sport – as soon as we can.

Congratulations

The University and LUU had much to celebrate at the recent Leeds Sports Awards including a highly commended award for our Head of Swimming Jacob Greenhalgh in the Performance Coach of the Year category. The University sponsored the Inspirational Community Champion award, lending its support to celebrating sport in the wider community.

The North Hill Well Wood Project – a joint initiative from Residential Services, Unite and others – has been awarded a Wildlife Gardening Award by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust in recognition of the work undertaken for encouraging wildlife on site. Congratulations to Mike Leonard and team. You can read more about Mike’s work in this article.

Working with students

We recently collaborated with LUU on a new green plaques initiative to support and celebrate student achievement. As you know – and as I said in my introduction to our business plan – we are here to support the University Strategy and to help students flourish and succeed. I’m really pleased that we could be a part of this and my thanks to Leigh Marklew and Matt Shevlin in the comms team for all their work.

Technicians Network

I wanted to draw your intention to this group, which has a really useful focus on skills exchange and professional development. The term ‘technician’ is very broad and in the FD might include colleagues in Print & Mail, Energy, Grounds & Gardens, Energy and Sustainability. Meeting colleagues with similar roles is always helpful, so please do get involved if it sounds relevant to you. Romain Cames from Sustainability is closely involved and I’m sure would be happy to answer any questions. You can find out more about upcoming sessions on the Technician Network intranet pages.

Finally, I hope you’ll be able to attend the Staff Festival on Friday 28 June. Bookings are open for workshops ranging from cocktail making to upcycling! Let’s hope the sun is shining!

Regards,

Ann Allen
Director of Campus Innovation and Development

FD bulletin

FD Bulletin – May 2024

/by

Email sent to all FD staff from Ann Allen, Director of Campus Innovation and Development, on Wednesday 1 May.

Spring has definitely sprung on campus and once again the work of the Grounds and Gardens team is very much in evidence! I hope you’re enjoying the beautiful floral displays as much as I am.

An opportunity to say ‘thank you’

As ever, I’ve got lots teams to thank starting with everyone who helped with the critical IT incident last week. At short notice, several teams were asked to work from home to free up space for colleagues who needed to work together to resolve the issues. Your flexibility was very much appreciated.

Thanks as well to everyone in the FD involved in the Colour Run event, particularly Sport & Physical Activity, Cleaning Services and Security, working together to host a great event on campus to get the University community active. It looked great fun!

Also a big thank you to the many colleagues and teams across the FD who supported the speedy opening of new Pop-Up Study Spaces across campus, increasing the numbers of desks for students to study at during the lead up to exams and end of term. It was a great collaborative effort with colleagues in the Student Experience team and elsewhere. This fully exemplifies the main goal of our work: to use the phrase I used in my introduction to the FD’s business plan, this is to help students – and staff – to flourish and succeed.

People & Culture

I also said in that introduction that in order to deliver on our plan we may need new skillsets and that we were committed to providing training and development to support people as they try new ideas and new ways of working. Our Staff Survey results also highlighted this. I’m really pleased to see the setting up of a new operational excellence/continuous improvement programme within the Infrastructure, Construction and Delivery (ICD) team headed up by Gareth Hughes.

Working with Gobeyond (now part of the Cocentrix group), the programme began with the first training session taking place last week. The first cohort will act as a pilot and if successful the model may roll out to other areas. Look out for updates on this.

Our business plan is founded upon the University’s values, and I was pleased to see this EDI open call from the Vice-Chancellor for colleagues to get involved in the new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee. They are looking for people who have a particular interest in EDI and I would encourage colleagues across the FD who would like to take part in discussion and debate to get involved.

I was delighted to read the Fifteen to One piece with Claire Sowerby about the innovative new partnership between the FD and Organisational Development and Professional Learning (OD&PL). Claire is working to improve skills development and career pathways for colleagues in the FD as part of the People & Culture team, guided by our new strategy and very much informed by our Staff Survey results.

Female colleagues looking to take the next steps towards leadership positions will be interested to hear that the application window for this year’s Aurora Women’s Leadership Development Programme will open from Monday 17 June to Friday 19 July. It’s a fantastic opportunity for colleagues on grades 6-8 to develop their leadership skills through events, mentoring and workshops. Virtual briefing sessions for applicants and line managers are taking place during May.

Finally, don’t forget the Staff Festival, which takes place on Friday 28 June. All colleagues, family and friends are invited to join us on campus for a fun-filled day of entertainment, food and workshops.

Regards,

Ann Allen
Director of Campus Innovation and Development