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

Students pose for a photo at the Halls Awards 2023

Celebrating the Residence Life Halls Awards 2023

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On 11 May, the Residence Life team hosted the Halls Awards in partnership with LUU to celebrate all the achievements of our outstanding Social Committees, Residence Life Assistants and residents of our halls! 

Residence Life Assistants (RLAs) are students that live in halls and provide support to the other students living at the residence, while Social Committees are students that volunteer and come together to form a team that organises events and activities for other residents in their hall.   

Both teams dedicate lots of time and effort throughout the year to make the halls experience at Leeds supportive and enjoyable so we were thrilled to reward their hard work. We received nearly double the nominations we have in previous years. It was fantastic to see that our students are so appreciative of what they do. 

There were winners from across our halls on the night, with the biggest success of the night being Leodis, who took home a massive 3 RLA awards! There was also a fantastic medley performance from the cast of Devonshire Hall’s production of ‘Be More Chill’, which was nominated for Event of the Year.

Attendees included shortlisted students from across our halls of residences, Residential Services and Facilities Directorate staff as well as members of University senior leadership.   

Organised by Natalie Cherry (Assistant Manager – Residence Life) and Natasha Pickles (LUU Events Coordinator for Residences) and the rest of the Residence Life team, the event was a huge success enjoyed by everyone who attended.   

“It was wonderful seeing so many students and staff come together to celebrate the Halls community and the work going into supporting students in residences. The Residence Life Social Committees and Residence Life Assistants who won awards last week were exemplary of the hard work, dedication and joy that runs through all the work that we do.

I’m particularly happy that we were able to award two students the Halls Hero award, which is an award that any resident can win simply for being a great friend or a supportive flatmate. The number of nominations we received was really exciting and it was lovely to read all the ways in which Residence Life has made an impact on the student experience. Whether it be a great event or a helpful chat with an RLA, residents are clearly grateful for their peers and the work they do.”

– Natalie Cherry, Assistant Manager – Residence Life 

 

Natalie Cherry accepts the award for ResLife New Professional of the Year 2023

Residence Life Assistant Manager wins prestigious industry award

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In May the Residence Life Team attended the annual CUBO (College and University Business Officers) Residence Life Conference in Nottingham. The team had the chance to meet other industry professionals, get involved with workshops and come up with new ideas about how to constantly improve students’ experiences in halls.

During the conference, the CUBO Residence Life Star awards ceremony took place. These awards recognise the hard work of Residence Life professionals and students across the country. The big award of the evening, New Professional of the Year, went to our very own Assistant Manager of Residence Life at Leeds, Natalie Cherry!

Natalie was nominated by the Assistant Director of Accommodation and Residence Life, Rebecca O’Hare, and the Residence Life team for all the time and effort she dedicates to helping our students in halls.

Natalie has done incredible work this year. She completely overhauled the Social Committee programme for Residence Life. This is a voluntary role that helps students to develop new skills and organise their own events in halls. Her efforts led to impressive results regarding student involvement with the Social Committees. This included a 38% increase in students volunteering and a 47% decrease in students withdrawing from the programme.

She is also responsible for organising the Halls Awards every year. This is an incredible event where we celebrate the achievements of our Residence Life Assistants (RLAs) and Residence Life Social Committee (RLSC) members. We also reward students that have made other people’s time in halls extra special. This year we received double the number of nominations we did last year, and the event was an overwhelming success.

“I was truly shocked and so happy to win the Residence Life New Professional award. I work with such a fantastic team, and to have them nominate and support me was a really lovely experience. I was happy to be shortlisted in the first instance, so when they announced my name at the awards, I could not believe it!

Thank you so much to my colleagues Sarah, Rebecca, Rita, Dom, Lucy, Josh and Tasha, and also to CUBO for considering me for this prize. I’m really excited to go to America for the ACUHO-I Conference 2023! I think it will be an eye-opening experience and I hope I’ll learn a lot about how Residence Life operates overseas. I’ll be sure to bring back everything I learn to Leeds so that we can continue to improve our service here.”

– Natalie Cherry, Assistant Manager – Residence Life

 

FD Bulletin web header displaying 'FD Staff Voice'

FD Bulletin: April 2023

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Email sent to all FD staff from Ann Allen, Director of Campus Innovation and Development, on Friday 28 April.

This time of year always bring a fresh burst of energy with it and there has been some fantastic activity here in the FD. Seeing our business plan – Our Way Ahead – come to life is very exciting. Thank you to everyone for your efforts.

New brand for Conferencing

The Conferences team have been especially busy and this week launched their new brand. MEETinLEEDS has become ‘University of Leeds Conferences and Events’. This change brings the service’s identity closer to the main University brand to reap the benefits of the strong recognition that we have as a world-class institution.  

The new brand was showcased at our Cloth Hall Court venue in the city centre on Monday as the team hosted the welcome event for the Conference Hospitality Show Leeds. I was so impressed by the positive buzz in the room about the service we offer and about the venue itself. This represents a fantastic new commercial opportunity for the University. Congratulations to Sam Glenister-Batey and his team.

Commercial success

Maximising opportunities such as Cloth Hall Court and the wider work of the Conferences team to deliver positive commercial contributions to the University is core to Aim Three of our business plan. I want to stress once again that this plan forms the blueprint for everything we do and has two questions at its heart: how do we work together to get smarter with our essential day-to-day service delivery, and how can we do more to help the University deliver its Strategy? Our Way Ahead gives us a clear focus for the next three years.

Staff Voice

I enjoyed chatting to many of you at the FD Staff Social on Tuesday, especially about the launch of the Staff Voice. The People & Culture group have worked at pace on this because defining our culture is the core activity for this year for Aim One of the business plan.  Please do read more about the group and consider applying to be an Ambassador or a Champion. There’s a very short form online or a paper copy will be available from your line manager. It’s your chance to get involved! Thank you to Jane Clayton and the Staff Voice group for all their work.

Single-use plastics

Work to address single-use plastic (SUP) in University operations is continuing via the Plastics Programme. This aligns to the Climate Plan objectives and builds on the Plastic pledge. Many areas across the FD including Catering, Cleaning and Residences have already been instrumental in achieving significant reductions in their SUP. Thank you to all involved for your sustained efforts on this. Please do get behind this work and contact Claire Booth if you have any questions.

Digital innovation

Last week the University hosted the international Digital Universities UK Conference. It was a great opportunity to showcase how the FD creates amazing spaces to enables the success of students and staff. We were able to provide delegates with a preview of HELIX, a new space in E.C Stoner filled with state-of-the-art digital equipment. I can’t wait to see what comes out of there!

I’m also excited to see the progress made with the hybrid meeting rooms project. You may have have noticed new equipment in some of our meeting rooms prior to the pilot beginning next month. This is the start of work to provide a streamlined and efficient service for everyone in the University booking meeting rooms.

Both of these projects are part of our activity to create places that are sustainable, inspiring and creative.

A quick update on the three new Director-level roles that we are recruiting for. I’ve been thrilled with the amount of interest and with the quality of the applicants. The closing date has now passed and the interviewing process is in train. I look forward to telling you more in due course.

Finally, congratulations to Theresa Fahy and Stephanie Bligh from Cleaning Services. They recently clocked up 872,538 steps and raised over £1000 for Cancer Research UK’s ‘Walk all Over Cancer’. Brilliant work!

Ann Allen,
Director of Campus Innovation and Development

Grid of Facilities Directorate employee head & shoulder photos

FD Bulletin: March 2023

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Email sent to all FD staff from Ann Allen, Director of Campus Innovation and Development, on Friday 31 March.

I’m starting this month with a big thank you for supporting the Employee Engagement Survey. I’m pleased to say that 53% of FD staff took part which compares very favourably with other teams across the University.

The results of the survey are being collated by the University and we will use the FD People and Culture group (P&C), part of Our Way Ahead, to undertake some initial analysis of the FD results and share the findings in the coming weeks.

We are committed to finding ways for everyone to be heard. I’m really pleased that the P&C group led by Rob Wadsworth and with representatives from across all of our services is now well-established. A proposal to form a Staff Voice group is their first task – Rob and I will be able to tell you more about that in April.

The end of another term

As we reach the end of another term, it’s been wonderful to see so many more students back on campus. This brings more work, and particular thanks to Catering who I know are getting much busier. Their support around the cost of living initiatives and the £2.95 meal offer is much appreciated. These are still available to everyone and are fantastic value for money.

Looking ahead to the summer term, we know that it will be a busy one with the usual round of exams, graduation and repurposing the campus for conferences and other events. Increasing numbers of staff are back on campus which prompts us to think about how we are using our spaces and whether they are fit for purpose. The pilot scheme for hybrid meeting rooms – launching in May – is one of the ways that we are addressing this. Thanks to Andrea Kerridge, Jon Stothard and the teaching space support team for all their work.

Collaboration across the FD

There are some lovely examples of collaboration to celebrate this month. Examples include the building of HELIX, a new space in E.C Stoner for staff and students to develop ideas for how digital tools can be used to enhance teaching and learning. Thanks to Sarah Bacsich and team for managing this complex build with multiple stakeholders against the backdrop of the Digital Universities UK Conference which the University is hosting from 17-20 April.

The Security team have led an initiative to donate more than 300 bicycles abandoned on campus to a charity which helps train people in prison to repair them. A great result.

Congratulations

Also, congratulations to Ian Robertson and all of the team in Residential Services for their sector-leading scores in the Investors in Students survey. This is a testament to the hard work of many teams, particularly those in student-facing roles in our halls and within our Residence Life team. The data gathered will be used to set objectives to continue to improve the experience of living in halls.

Congratulations to Katie Clegg from Sustainability who has recently been appointed to the position of Director of Sustainability at Leeds Trinity University. While we are sad to see Katie leave, she goes knowing she has made a huge contribution to the University’s approach to sustainability.

We are also saying goodbye to Sara Hayes, our Interim Deputy Director of Estates & Facilities (Campus Services) who is retiring next month. Sara has made a real difference in her short time in the FD and I know that we will all miss her expert advice and energy. She has many exciting adventures planned and we will get a chance to mark both her and Katie’s departures in the coming weeks. Details to follow.

And finally, to those celebrating Ramadan, I wish you a peaceful and joyful month.

Ann Allen,
Director of Campus Innovation and Development

Aerial view of University of Leeds campus

Amazing effort from Residential Services to help stranded students

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At the end of January an inspection by the fire service resulted in the private, non-University affiliated residence Eldon Court being closed at short notice. This left students from several universities including 170 University of Leeds students suddenly displayed from their accommodation. Thanks to the hard work and tireless efforts from staff across Residential Services, the University was able to respond quickly and efficiently to help support these students in their time of need.   

What happened

On 24 January staff were notified that Eldon Court was closing with immediate effect. They got to work straight away to find solutions. Team members in the Accommodation Office and site staff co-ordinated to confirm which rooms were ready for students to move into. Other colleagues and Security Services attended Eldon Court to provide reassurance to distressed students. They then redirected them to the Refectory whilst their emergency accommodation was arranged.  

Our response to help students

The team handled calls, emails and in person meetings with displaced residents to provide emergency accommodation within hours of them having to leave Eldon Court. At the same time they continued to provide a high-quality service for our existing residents in halls. Before the offer of free emergency accommodation came to an end, many of these students chose to stay in our halls for the rest of the academic year.  

End results

The dedication, hard work and perseverance of the Residential Services team provided 173 students with emergency accommodation. The Accommodation Office subsequently offered 159 residents permanent accommodation. Of these, 76 students from Eldon Court are still living with us in halls.  

The Eldon Court incident perfectly demonstrated the amazing things that Residential Services can do when we are all working together, towards the same goal.

Colleagues within the Accommodation Office worked tirelessly to provide invaluable and time sensitive support to help students displaced during an incredibly stressful and disruptive event. I am extremely proud of how they worked to support residents and each other, in the delivery of this service. The success of their teamwork can be seen in the number of residents that we were able to support and the level of service that we continued to provide as standard.

It’s really important to highlight that we wouldn’t have been able to deliver the service that we did without the tremendous effort of colleagues, including site staff at University residences and those that we are partnered with, as well as Security Services.

The level of responsiveness and communication that we received from these colleagues was integral to the service that we were able to provide, and I’d like to thank them for being the face of Residential Services throughout this period.

Chantelle Aleksander, Accommodation Office Manager

Students playing air hocking in Montague Burton

Success for Residential Services in student experience survey

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Residential Services are this year taking part in the Investor in Students survey. This student experience survey is run by student accommodation experts the WAU agency over two rounds of insight. It aims to give a 360 view of the experience of living in student accommodation. This is done by measuring the sentiment of students living in halls, the staff who work in them and the senior management who run them.  

There are currently 16 organisations participating in the survey. This includes other universities such as the University of Birmingham and the University of Sheffield. It also includes purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) providers like Homes for Students.  

First round – student experience survey

The first short survey to students in our accommodation saw a strong response rate of 28% in autumn 2022. The results were largely extremely positive. There were particularly strong scores for the check-in process and the cleanliness and condition of our accommodation when students arrived.  

For both of these questions we scored the highest out of all organisations surveyed. Clearly a testament to the fantastic effort and hard work put in by staff over the summer months! This ensures that students not only have a great first experience of their accommodation, but that their welcome to the University as a whole is positive.  

Second round – including staff in survey

The second round of the survey will be out in late April 2023. This time we will also be asking our staff for their impression of the student experience at the University. This helps to identify where we are succeeding and potentially what is holding us back if we don’t perform as highly in some areas.  

Gathering staff insight on the student experience as part of a formal survey is a new approach for Residential Services. Because of this the senior management team will be engaging closely with site staff to help explain what we’re trying to achieve by taking part in the survey. It represents a fantastic chance for our most knowledgeable resource, our staff, to help contribute their expertise.

Undertaking the student experience survey with the WAU Agency has provided us with the opportunity to uniquely benchmark many areas of our operation with some of our biggest competitors.

To be sector leading in a number of areas is a testament to the hard work of many teams, particularly those in student facing roles in our halls and within our Residence Life team. We’re excited to utilise the data gathered in order to set some achievable objectives so that we can continue to improve the experience of living in halls and help students feel part of a caring community.

Rebecca O’Hare, Assistant Director (Residence Life & Accommodation Office), Residential Services

Improved system for approving staff resource

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A new system to speed up the process for resourcing approvals (ATRs), including recruiting new staff, will be available on the Stonefish system from 1 April.

The ‘Staff Requests’ function on the jobs page automatically guides the user through the approval process, allowing the user to track their form and monitor progress and comments.

Introduction to the Stonefish Approvals System

You can watch the following video for further information.

The introduction of the system follows extensive testing with schools and services. The HR team will continue to review and reflect on feedback to ensure the system is working well.

Further information

To support you in the move to our new automated system we have developed a range of user guides, which can be found on our HR website.

We are also running drop-in sessions via Teams:

If you have any queries, please contact your FD HR representative.

Security team receiving their SafeZone award

Awards for Security team’s support of students

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The Security team at the University of Leeds won the ‘Best use of SafeZone: Study Abroad/ International Travel’ Award at the SafeZone Conference last week.

SafeZone is an app that everyone on campus can use to ask for help. It is there to give extra peace of mind in addition to the other support offered by the University and is linked to the  Security team.

Mark Bownass, Head of Security Services said:

“Our role is to keep our students and staff safe including those on placement or studying abroad. We wanted to use the app to be in contact in the event of a critical incident abroad.”

“Working closely with the International team, it is now strongly recommended to students abroad that they download and register with SafeZone. This means we can let them know if there are potentially dangerous events in their region and they can seek help and advice from the university more easily.”

Danny Malone, Global Customer Success Director presented the award on behalf of Critical Arc and commented that the judges were impressed with how the University of Leeds team had adapted the process to enhance our support of students.

The SafeZone app is free to download and has over 4000 users registered. You can find out more about the app on the Security Services webpage.

Have your say - Employee Engagement Survey

FD Bulletin: February 2023

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Email sent to all FD staff from Ann Allen, Director of Campus Innovation and Development, on Tuesday 28 February.

As we reach the end of February it is heartening to see Spring arriving and flowers coming up all over campus, thanks to the efforts of James Wright and his team. As I walk around and see the sun reflecting on the buildings, I feel a great sense of pride that it is our work in the FD that keeps our campus looking so beautiful.

I hope by now that all of you will be aware of the Employee Engagement Survey. I want to say again how important it is that we all take this opportunity to have our say. With our business plan – Our Way Ahead – now launched, this survey couldn’t have come at a better time, as we consider the future and putting our plan into action.

You are at the heart of the plan: core to our success as a directorate is how we develop our people and continue to create a culture in the FD that makes it a great place to work. You will have plenty of opportunities to have your say through the Staff Voice group that is being developed as part of the People & Culture strand of the business plan, but the staff survey gives us all another platform. It is completely anonymous but the overall findings for our service will be fed back to inform our future working, so please use it – we want to hear the good and the bad!

Opportunities to complete the survey

This was a late addition but there is a drop-in session being held at the LOGIK Centre today until 12:30pm to answer any questions related to completing the survey. If you would like to attend and complete the survey, please bring with you a copy of your recent payslip or have to hand your staff ID (personnel number on your pay slip) and if you have access to a smart phone, the team there say that would be useful too.

There are also now survey stations in the FD building for you to come and fill in the survey, with help on hand in accessing it. If you’d like to use them please just come to Reception – no appointment needed. I know how busy everyone is but I’ve asked the senior team to make sure that everyone is given time to do the survey, so please contact your manager if you’re finding that difficult.

Our Way Ahead

Some of you will already have seen presentations about the business plan in team meetings. The senior team are getting out and about to run through the main points and ask for feedback. I’ve heard plenty of positives and all constructive feedback is welcome. I contacted senior colleagues in the University Executive Group and elsewhere about the plan and have had some very positive comments. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the writing and production of it.

The next FD social

Our next FD social will be on Tuesday 25 April at 9am – 11am in the Refectory, which provides us with another opportunity for discussion. I hope to see you there.

Planon will launch in April and the team are currently engaged in user testing, working with the digital team in Marketing and Communications. There will shortly be workshops for colleagues to learn how they will get to use it in their everyday roles. Self-serve pages built into the website mean that staff will be able to log and monitor their own issues and those across their buildings without having to chase up through the FM service desk. Thank you to Kirsty Gill, Majid Khan, Dave Kellett, Amanda Payne, Adam Maddison, and everyone else involved for their work.

Kirsty and her team would like to remind you that the door of FD building will remain locked for the time being. If you don’t have a fob you’ll need to press the reception intercom button on the post. If you need access after 4pm you’ll need to contact someone inside the building.

A new statue arrived on campus

Finally, you may have noticed that a new statue arrived outside the Edward Boyle Library last week of Sir Isaac Newton. Christopher Wade, our Architectural Technical Officer, and others in his team have been working with Layla Bloom, curator in the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery on its installation, including on creative aspects such as the lighting design. It looks stunning. Thank you to them for all their work. Another example of the FD enhancing the campus!

Ann Allen,
Director of Campus Innovation and Development
Great Hall aerial view

FD Bulletin: January 2023

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Email sent to all FD staff from Ann Allen, Director of Campus Innovation and Development, on Tuesday 31 January.

Across the FD, we deliver services to students and colleagues. As a highly-skilled and dynamic workforce we are also constantly challenging ourselves and contributing to key projects across the University.

You may be aware that we are shortly launching the FD’s first business plan, the purpose of which is to be clear on our focus for the next three years and what we are realistically able to deliver. Called Our Way Ahead, it builds on your great work in helping the University deliver its Strategic Plan: we all know that we are here to ensure the best possible experience for students and staff.

The plan will be with you all next month and a member of the senior leadership team will be attending meetings across the FD so that you have an opportunity to ask questions and feedback. Details of dates and how to join will be sent out in the next few days. We appreciate that some of you work shifts and some of you will be away from work taking strike action so we are working to give everyone the greatest possible opportunity to attend.

Two things are at the core of the FD’s new plan. Firstly, we must always provide the best possible campus experience and service for our communities. Secondly, I want to help everyone in the FD to collaborate: it will make all our jobs easier and our activity more impactful. To enable that to happen as effectively as possible I am introducing three new senior leadership positions and there will be some re-grouping of services. Most people will be unaffected.

The new Director-level roles will be advertised in February and replace our current interim leadership roles in Estates and Facilities, Commercial, Campus Support and Sustainability. Roles like this take time to fill and any other changes will not happen until after the roles are in place.

I will keep you informed as the recruitment process continues and the senior leadership team will talk through the structure and which service each team will sit in when we run the presentations for the business plan. I’d also encourage you to contact your head of service/line manager with questions.

The new senior management structure will be as follows:

  • Director of Campus Innovation: Masterplanning, Asset Management & Sustainability
  • Director of Campus Innovation: Infrastructure, Construction & Delivery
  • Director of Campus Innovation: Campus Services, Experience & Commercial
  • Director of Residential and Catering (this role is unchanged and not part of the recruitment process.

Another focus of the new business plan is creating opportunities for everyone in the directorate to help shape how we work and have their say. Towards the end of last year the new FD leadership forum was established which is an opportunity for leaders to come together to shape and inform our strategy and activity. In a similar way, I want everyone to have a voice and the next step is to set up a “staff voice” group, bringing colleagues together from all levels. This is in addition to other routes for having your say such as trade unions, line managers or talking directly to HR or senior managers.

Please look out for those opportunities and also for the new, University-wide staff engagement survey which launches in February. I’d like us all to take part in that and encourage others to do the same. This is another great opportunity to have your say and make a difference.

It is a busy time but we must continue to make our campus experience the best it can be for students and our colleagues across the University. Thank you for your continued hard work.

Ann Allen,
Director of Campus Innovation and Development