Email sent to all FD staff from Ann Allen, Director of Campus Innovation and Development, on Monday 3 February.
I hope that your 2025 has started well. January wasn’t without its challenges, including the very bad weather. My thanks to everyone who helped make campus safe during that period.
There is plenty going on in February, including the first Student Offer Days on campus, which many of our teams are involved in. While student recruitment numbers remain challenging for Leeds – as it is for many in the sector – these events are especially important.
Chief Operating Officer (COO) meeting
I was delighted that colleagues from the Facilities Directorate presented at the recent public meeting chaired by Rachel Brealey, the Chief Operating Officer. The FD is part of Rachel’s portfolio, and Mags Massip and Dawn Abel from Cleaning Services had been invited to talk about the success of the Functional English course that colleagues recently took part in.
We also heard from Kitty Binns-Hall and Michael Hern about the achievements of Staff Voice, and from Rob Wadsworth about Campus Reimagined Live. Thanks to all of you for your hard work. It was a wonderful showcase for the FD and attended by over 700 colleagues from around the University.
FD online town hall
We had the next in our series of online town hall meetings on 28 January, entitled ‘Have Your Say’. This was a chance to hear about the University’s Employee Engagement Survey – which goes live on 24 February – Campus Reimagined Live, and Staff Voice. Thank you to everyone who found the time to attend. Please let us know if you have ideas for future themes.
In the event, our new People & Culture Lead, Angela Baker, outlined the work that has been done to address responses to the last Employee Engagement Survey in 2023, and last year’s Pulse Survey. You’ll be hearing more about the Survey over the next month. Heads of service and line managers will be ensuring you all have time to complete it, and I can’t stress enough how important it is to our future. You can hear Rachel Brealey talking about it in this update.
Also in the town hall, Kitty Binns Hall, Lee Bedford and Geraldine Baker updated us on Staff Voice. Applications have closed to join Staff Voice and people can expect to hear from the team this week. If you’ve missed the deadline but would still like to get involved, you can email the Staff Voice team. And you can watch a recording of the town hall here.
Campus Reimagined Live | 10-12 February
It’s nearly here! With free coffee, competitions and more than 25 talks by leading experts, Campus Reimagined Live lands on the University precinct and in the Refectory from 10-12 February.
As Will Reed outlined in the town hall, this is an FD-led initiative and offers colleagues and students the opportunity to feed their ideas into plans for the future of campus. Please go along; your line manager will make sure you have the time.
A huge thank you to the team behind this event including Will Reed, Rosanna Booth and Sue Pimblett and her team.
International Women’s Day/Women’s History Month
The University wants to celebrate inspirational women at the University by creating a digital gallery on the Staff Intranet. You can use this online form to nominate colleagues.
News from our teams
I was delighted to hear about the recognition for Residential Services in the recent Unipol Rate Your Landlord awards. Well done!
- Winner – Most Improved Landlord award
- Runner-Up – Best Purpose-Built Student Accommodation Building – Devonshire Hall
- Runner-Up – Best Purpose-Built Student Accommodation Provider
Print & Mail last week demonstrated their commitment to sustainability by taking part in a tree planting event at Smithills Estates in Bolton, organised by supplier Premier Paper. Scott Fleming, Print Production Manager, helped to plant 600 trees on the Woodland Trust’s largest estate in the country. This is a great effort and my thanks go to Scott. You can read more about the event here.
Finally, those who attended the town hall will have heard that over the coming weeks I am going to be less available while I spend more time with my family. Rob Wadsworth, our Director covering Campus Services, Experiences and Commercial has kindly agreed to step in as my deputy.
This arrangement will be in place initially for six months and he will have delegated authority to lead the Directorate when I am not available. I want to pass on my thanks to Rob for stepping into this role and to all of you who have passed on your best wishes to me.
Regards,
Ann Allen,
Director of Campus Innovation & Development
FD Bulletin – February 2025
/by Matthew ShevlinEmail sent to all FD staff from Ann Allen, Director of Campus Innovation and Development, on Monday 3 February.
I hope that your 2025 has started well. January wasn’t without its challenges, including the very bad weather. My thanks to everyone who helped make campus safe during that period.
There is plenty going on in February, including the first Student Offer Days on campus, which many of our teams are involved in. While student recruitment numbers remain challenging for Leeds – as it is for many in the sector – these events are especially important.
Chief Operating Officer (COO) meeting
I was delighted that colleagues from the Facilities Directorate presented at the recent public meeting chaired by Rachel Brealey, the Chief Operating Officer. The FD is part of Rachel’s portfolio, and Mags Massip and Dawn Abel from Cleaning Services had been invited to talk about the success of the Functional English course that colleagues recently took part in.
We also heard from Kitty Binns-Hall and Michael Hern about the achievements of Staff Voice, and from Rob Wadsworth about Campus Reimagined Live. Thanks to all of you for your hard work. It was a wonderful showcase for the FD and attended by over 700 colleagues from around the University.
FD online town hall
We had the next in our series of online town hall meetings on 28 January, entitled ‘Have Your Say’. This was a chance to hear about the University’s Employee Engagement Survey – which goes live on 24 February – Campus Reimagined Live, and Staff Voice. Thank you to everyone who found the time to attend. Please let us know if you have ideas for future themes.
In the event, our new People & Culture Lead, Angela Baker, outlined the work that has been done to address responses to the last Employee Engagement Survey in 2023, and last year’s Pulse Survey. You’ll be hearing more about the Survey over the next month. Heads of service and line managers will be ensuring you all have time to complete it, and I can’t stress enough how important it is to our future. You can hear Rachel Brealey talking about it in this update.
Also in the town hall, Kitty Binns Hall, Lee Bedford and Geraldine Baker updated us on Staff Voice. Applications have closed to join Staff Voice and people can expect to hear from the team this week. If you’ve missed the deadline but would still like to get involved, you can email the Staff Voice team. And you can watch a recording of the town hall here.
Campus Reimagined Live | 10-12 February
It’s nearly here! With free coffee, competitions and more than 25 talks by leading experts, Campus Reimagined Live lands on the University precinct and in the Refectory from 10-12 February.
As Will Reed outlined in the town hall, this is an FD-led initiative and offers colleagues and students the opportunity to feed their ideas into plans for the future of campus. Please go along; your line manager will make sure you have the time.
A huge thank you to the team behind this event including Will Reed, Rosanna Booth and Sue Pimblett and her team.
International Women’s Day/Women’s History Month
The University wants to celebrate inspirational women at the University by creating a digital gallery on the Staff Intranet. You can use this online form to nominate colleagues.
News from our teams
I was delighted to hear about the recognition for Residential Services in the recent Unipol Rate Your Landlord awards. Well done!
Print & Mail last week demonstrated their commitment to sustainability by taking part in a tree planting event at Smithills Estates in Bolton, organised by supplier Premier Paper. Scott Fleming, Print Production Manager, helped to plant 600 trees on the Woodland Trust’s largest estate in the country. This is a great effort and my thanks go to Scott. You can read more about the event here.
Finally, those who attended the town hall will have heard that over the coming weeks I am going to be less available while I spend more time with my family. Rob Wadsworth, our Director covering Campus Services, Experiences and Commercial has kindly agreed to step in as my deputy.
This arrangement will be in place initially for six months and he will have delegated authority to lead the Directorate when I am not available. I want to pass on my thanks to Rob for stepping into this role and to all of you who have passed on your best wishes to me.
Regards,
Ann Allen,
Director of Campus Innovation & Development
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