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Facilities Directorate Staff Bulletin – July 2021

Work to realise the ambitions laid out in the University Strategy continues at pace and over the summer and into the autumn, the University will be articulating how all the strategic plans will fit together, be prioritised and financed. The FD will be heavily involved in the planning, prioritisation and delivery of some of the key enabling projects, for example, supporting our Net Zero ambitions; developing the infrastructure for digital transformation, and reshaping the campus to respond to Future Ways of Working.

With my appointment as Interim Chief Operating Officer, I am starting to look at shaping a post to assume leadership of the Facilities Directorate. This role would report directly to myself and I will of course retain a close interest in the activity happening across the FD and work very closely with the new person to ensure a smooth transition. I anticipate this may take 6-8 months, but I will update colleagues when appropriate.

I can now update on the appointment of Rob Wadsworth as Interim Commercial Director. Colleagues may remember Rob who worked for the University of Leeds previously as Head of Sport and Physical Activity, and has been working in Dubai for the last 5 years. We look forward to Rob starting in his role and I will let you know the full details of a start date in due course.

I would like to draw colleagues’ attention to the communications about managing the transition of some of our activity back to campus and the enabling of staff to move to a hybrid way of working. The Transitional Ways of Working (TWOW) group is working with executive deans, heads of schools and services to understand what types of activities need to be delivered on campus and what activity is best being delivered on campus and line managers have been tasked with developing a shared understanding of this need with their teams. This information will be used to agree the activities that can take place on campus and the space that can be provided for this activity. During this time, we are also assessing what buildings, and spaces in those buildings, can reopen. More details around the TWOW project are due out in mid-July.

I hope that you are all able to take some time to relax over the summer and would just like to thank everyone again for their commitment and hard-work during what has been a really difficult year for everyone. It is very much appreciated.

Finally, I will be asking other members of the FD Senior Management Team to take a turn at writing the foreword for future issues of FD Matters, so watch this space!

Dennis Hopper

 

Read July updates from across the Facilities Directorate:

 

FD Bulletin, July 2021. Foreword by Dennis Hopper

Facilities Directorate Update, July 2021

Facilities Directorate Support Services Update, July 2021

Campus Support Services Update, July 2021

Estate Services Update, July 2021

Sustainability Services Update, July 2021

Residential Services Update, July 2021

Conferencing Update, July 2021

Great Food at Leeds Update, July 2021

Sport and Physical Activity Update, July 2021