Buildings and Estates Annual Report 2021

Shaping a Sustainable Future Annual Report 2021 Buildings and Estates

Sustainability is a key priority for the Buildings and Estates Department and across the University. We continue to make efforts to ensure that the operation of our buildings is as sustainable as possible.

Shaping a Sustainable Future

AY 2020/2021 has been yet another extraordinary year in the history of the University. The COVID-19 pandemic continued to pose serious challenges for the operation of the University. Indeed only essential laboratory and teaching activities were permitted under Level 5 restrictions that were in place during the second semester. The Buildings and Estates Department undertook extensive work to improve ventilation characteristics in multiple teaching and laboratory spaces. With the introduction of vaccinations in Spring 2021 the University was able to introduce a framework to enable a safe return to on-site activity. Guided by the proceedings of the Space Management Committee, which sat 43 times during the year, the framework was largely put in place by the Buildings and Estates Department in close cooperation with all the Faculties and administrative departments.

Despite this the Buildings and Estates Department were involved in numerous large and small capital projects during the year. Significantly the largest capital project, the New Student Centre, unfortunately made no progress during the year due to hyperinflation in the building industry and the reticence of main contractors to sign up for a completion contract. The process to appoint a completion contractor is continuing. However significant progress was made on 18 smaller projects during the year. A further 12 projects were completed during the year.

I am pleased to advise the Buildings and Estates Department has successfully launched an online Help Desk during 2021. This will allow continuous improvement in customer service for the campus community.

The University places a very strong emphasis on sustainability in all areas of its activities. The Buildings and Estates Department continue to adhere to this principle in the development and maintenance of the campus. Physical developments that have occurred in recent years have been located in brownfield sites.

Director’s Welcome

As part of our management of carbon on site we continue to upgrade existing buildings to achieve higher energy efficiencies and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Waste from different streams are tracked and new initiatives are introduced to avoid the creation of waste e.g. the deployment of water bottle filling stations throughout the campus which in the library alone record over a half a million dispenses per year.All new developments are designed to the highest environmental and sustainability standards. We are one of the first Universities in Ireland to receive the internationally recognised Foundation for Environmental Education Green Flag accreditation.

The Buildings and Estates Department continue to provide an excellent service to the campus community. This is facilitated by the Buildings and Estates Department team, including administration, projects, technical services (including goods inwards) and operations (including porters and grounds staff). The Buildings and Estates Department have a broad cross-functional team of 52 university staff and up to 150 outsourced core service providers (mechanical, electrical, architectural, security, cleaning etc.). These all contribute in a very significant way to the upkeep, maintenance and development of the University estate. I want to acknowledge and thank them all for their significant efforts during this most difficult period where their work had to be undertaken during the pandemic conditions.

Mission and Vision

Vision

The Buildings and Estates Department delivers services to ensure the provision of outstanding physical facilities for the pursuit of academic, cultural and recreational activities. The Buildings and Estates Department provides the framework for the infrastructure that realises this vision through the campus/physical development plan.

Mission

The University of Limerick’s mission is to build on the expertise of its scholars in creating, harnessing and imparting knowledge for the benefit of its students and the enrichment of its community. This mission shapes that of Buildings and Estates, which is to support the University to achieve its goals.

Our Brief

Buildings and Estates (B&E) is a customer-driven department that aspires to providing an excellent service to the UL campus and wider community. The B&E mission is to support the University to achieve its goals; its vision is to provide outstanding physical facilities for the pursuit of academic, cultural and recreational activities; its ethos is to sustain and seek to continually improve the quality of the services it provides to the campus community.

B&E is responsible for, amongst other things, new buildings and works projects, maintaining the campus building fabric and associated building plant, maintaining campus grounds, cleaning, waste management, portering, traffic and parking management, space planning and management, the safety of the built environment, goods receiving, security and energy management.

B&E comprises 52 full-time UL direct staff and up to 150 outsourced core service providers.

In addition to the full-time contract staff, B&E hires specialist contractors to maintain items such as safety systems and other mechanical and electrical systems. B&E’s current organisational structure is depicted on the organogram on page 62.

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, B&E’s brief includes the following functions:

Progress Report

Buildings and Estates Strategic Plan 2017-2021

In 2017, Buildings and Estates published a five-year strategic plan to provide a medium-term development and management plan both for the department itself and the UL estate. The plan was written to align with and support Broadening Horizons, UL’s strategic plan 20152019. Whilst the activities of B&E have always supported the strategic direction of the University, this was the first strategic plan devised by B&E. To support the UL plan, B&E identified the following five pillars around which to formulate its own plan:

On 1 November 2019, UL launched a new strategic plan, UL@50, to cover the period 2019–2024. In November 2020, the President established a Consultation Review Group (CRG) to develop a process by which all UL staff are given the opportunity to feedback and contribute to looking at the emphasis and detail of what we do well, what we could do better and how this can be achieved in relation to the UL@50 Strategic Plan goals. The ultimate aim of the Consultations is to ensure that staff have a voice in determining the University’s strategic initiatives. The final report is projected for early summer 2021. It is envisaged that this report will cover both the recalibration of the Strategic Plan and a sustainable structure for consultation into the future.

Once the report is published B&E will review the University’s strategic initiatives and will issue, as necessary, an addendum/amendment to its own strategic plan progress to bring it in line with the new institutional strategy.

An overview of the status in December 2020 of each pillar is presented on the following pages.

2.2 Infrastructure improvement plan

A completion contract for the New Student life Building is being procured for a re-start in Q2 2022. A design team was appointed for the design for the next phase of City Centre City Centre Campus brown field site. In the interm a portion of the internal space on the first floor of the building was designed and built for a new space for the UL FabLab, the +CityxChange project, an innovation lab and community engagement lab which was completed in December 2021. A briefing document on The Framework for Physical Development 2020-2030 is complete, as is a 3D model of the proposed plan. The plan is due for presentation to the Governing Authority. Planning permission for an additional North Campus sports pitch granted.

The Framework for Physical Development envisages a significant recurring budget to tackle backlog, recurring maintenance and building energy efficiency upgrades. B&E was successful in securing €1.3m under the HEA Devolved Grant 2021/22.

See Note under 2.2.1 above. The Campus Landscaping Masterplan will follow.

During 2021 works were completed on a road connection into Kilmurry Village, thereby creating a third exit on to Plassey Park Road for UL traffic. The link road from Kilmurry Village to the University Road (at Troy Studios) was completed, along with a full resurfacing of University Road.

The Framework for Physical Development envisages additional student accommodation being being built on campus. The brief for the City Centre Campus includes provision of more student accommodation.

Rollout for additional buildings is on hold due to COVID-19.

2.5

Sustainability strategy

Physical infrastructure to enable commissioning of the OPW’s EM&T are now in place with the aim of reducing energy consumption. OPW has completed an energy review of buildings. The President officially launched the UL Sustainable University Steering Group in late April 2021. B&E’s

Energy Manager has been nominated to lead the Campus Community and Operations thematic. As per the Energy Efficiency Directive UL are now obliged to conduct energy audits on buildings covering 85% of their consumption every 4 years. B&E has engaged with the Munster Technological University on the SEAI funded Project Resilience i.e. a research project aimed at reviewing the impact of NZEB design on the thermal performance of buildings. The Library Phase 2 is being proposed as UL’s building for inclusion in the project. UL submitted an expression of interest (in July 2021) to the Higher Education Energy Efficiency and Decarbonisation Pathfinder Programme.  The IBC Block 2 project has progressed to the second round.

As of mid Jan 2020, the dual bin system was installed in all buildings bar International Business Centre.

UL signed up to the All Ireland Pollinator Plan.

The filtering system in the Arena, PESS and Schrodinger were upgraded.

Shaping

The Director B&E gave presentation in May 2021 to the Executive Sub-Committee Quality Committee (ECQC), chaired by the Provost Deputy President, on progress made towards implementing the findings of the external Quality Review Group in March 2020.

B&E continue to monitor customer generated feedback as part of its QBR meetings. Draft Service Level Agreement (SLA) for the B&E department submitted to the office of Director Transformation for review.

Communication with the campus community continues through the use of the department website and B&E Email Notices and stakeholder engagement is ongoing through various meetings with B&E staff.

UL is ranked 21st out of 956 universities worldwide in the UI Greenmetric rankings. In the overall THE Impact Rankings as UL was ranked 50th out of 1,115 universities this year – moving up from a 101-200 ranking out of 768 universities in 2020.

The major improvement in the overall ranking is a result of UL’s performance in SDG 17 (Partnership for the Goal) where UL is ranked 39th this year compared to 301-400 in 2020.

UL is ranked 10th globally for SDG11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and is the top ranking Irish university in this category.

Enabling modules (SFG-20)for data reposititories for a CAFM system have been identified and ordered. B&E launched its Sharepoint hosted Help Desk to its staff with a launch to the wider campus planned for Q1 2022.

Introduction

Since the publication of the Return to Work Safely Protocol in May 2020, UL’s Space Management Committee (SMC) has been responsible for formulating and implementing UL’s COVID-19 response. As SMC’s appointed Project Manager for UL’s COVID-19 response, B&E has had significant input into all 43 SMC meetings held in 2021. Over the same period B&E was required to prepare 21 reports for Executive on SMC activity.

Some COVID-19 mitigation measures undertaken/managed by B&E in 2020 continued into and in some cases throughout 2021 including:

✓ Weekly reports to SMC on implementation of COVID-19 mitigation measures, issues arising and future planned activity.

✓ The distribution of homeworking equipment

✓ The distribution of PPE including FFP2 respirators

✓ The distribution of face coverings to students including (i) UL-branded face coverings to incoming first years and international students (distributed via the Student Life and UL Global respectively), and (ii) DFHERIS supplied disposable face coverings (distributed via the Student Life and Postgraduate Students’ Union)

✓ Approval of (updated) COVID-19 Business Response Plans

✓ Facilities management measures including the provision of stocked hand sanitising and self-cleaning stations, Eco Static cleaning and thorough cleaning of frequently touched surfaces.

✓ Observations of space utilisation including the Library.

Spring semester 2021

Due to a deteriorating epidemiological situation in December 2020, Ireland was placed under Level 5 restrictions for all of January 2021. Early in January, the Minister at the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) asked third level institutions “use their existing discretion to restrict onsite attendance further, only allowing the most essential work to take place onsite”. As a result, and due to ongoing high case numbers/constrained roll-out if the vaccine in the first quarter of 2021, only limited on-campus teaching went ahead during the Spring Semester. To further restrict onsite activity, B&E implemented an agreed restricted building access procedure, which meant buildings not used for teaching (except for the library) were kept locked. Furthermore, events taking place on campus had to adhere to a B&E/Health and Safety (H&S) devised process endorsed by SMC.

Prior to the roll-out of the vaccine in the community (which commenced with the over 85s in February 2021) the focus of containing COVID-19 was extensive case finding and tracing of infection. In collaboration with local Public Health Office and others, B&E facilitated three mass testing events on campus in 2021 during which nearly 2,200 students were tested for COVID-19. Later in the year when the focus switched to vaccinating individuals, B&E facilitated two vaccination clinics for students at which over 400 individuals were vaccinated.

Towards the end of the Spring Semester, B&E in conjunction with the Information Technology Division led the development and deployment of a COVID-19 Day Pass Portal (aimed at students). This was primarily implemented in the Library where compliance was monitored and reported on by B&E over the duration of the trial which lasted 5 weeks.

Exams

B&E put in place some specific COVID-19 mitigation measures during the exam periods

✓ Summer 2021 Exams: To facilitate students undertaking proctored and nonproctored exams, B&E deployed 100 additional bookable desks set up in accordance with the required COVID-19 measures and supervised.

✓ Winter 2021 Exams: B&E implemented a room-by-room, exam-by-exam ventilation strategy to ensure good ventilation in accordance with the relevant guidance (e.g. WHO, CIBSE, REHVA etc.) whilst simultaneously mitigating against thermal discomfort. As Storm Barra occurred during the Winter 2021 exams, measures were devised to ensure exams could proceed with the necessary ventilation and heating in place if necessary.

✓ B&E prepared a position paper which considered the costs and logistics of both self-administered antigen tests and antigen testing as a service as a COVID-19 mitigation measure for exams. Having considered both, SMC decided not to pursue either option.

A return to activity on campus

In late April 2021 the government made a commitment to a significant increase in on-site higher education and research from the beginning of the 2021/2022 academic year. In June 2021 DFHERIS published a A Safe Return which provided the framework to enable a safe return to on-site activity.

Accordingly, research activity on campus ramped over the summer 2021, with on-campus teaching reverting to near pre-COVID levels at the start of the Autumn 2021 semester (except for large lectures with over 300 in attendance which remained online). Through the actioning and approval of COVID-19 Business Response plans and implementation of the provisions contained within the Work Safely Protocol B&E played a central role in preparing the campus for a safe return to onsite activity. As restrictions around dining remained in place for much of the Autumn 2021 semester, B&E set up a marquee in the main plaza for those availing of take-out dining.

Ventilation

Throughout the pandemic the pandemic B&E has carefully reviewed and implemented guidance on ventilation in the context of COVID-19 including that provided by REHVA, CIBSE, ECDC, WHO and the Work Safely Protocol (as updated) and has consistently recommended maximising ventilation in naturally ventilated spaces. Over the course of 2021 B&E undertook a comprehensive ventilation review of c. 2,500+ multi-occupancy spaces including lecture theatres, classrooms, laboratories, multi-occupancy offices, meeting rooms and single occupancy offices with meeting room facilities which included both mechanically and naturally ventilated spaces. This was a resource intensive and complex task involving multiple teams. Where ventilation issues were observed, solutions were identified, implemented, and verified with the objective being twofold: (i) to return spaces to normal occupancy and (ii) roll-out long-term fixes in the shortest timeframe possible.

Rapid Antigen Diagnostic Testing

In late 2021 B&E successfully rolled the HSE’s Rapid Antigen Diagnostic Testing (RADT) Pilot at UL. The aim of the program was to operationally test a self-managed RADT programme for asymptomatic adults in education settings and establish the feasibility of implementation at scale. In total 244 staff and students collected their antigen test kits representing a 96% takeup compared to the number of kits issued to UL for distribution by the HSE. In December 2021 DFHERIS announced a €9m Antigen Test Fund to provide a small number of free antigen tests to all students in further and higher education institutions. B&E quickly secured a stock of antigen tests and in association with the Office of the Provost, Academic Registry, Student Life, the Postgraduate Students’ Union, and H&S facilitated issuing circa 2,000 students with a box of five antigen tests prior to their returning home for Christmas.

Department Activities

Help Desk

Buildings and Estates Launch a New Online Help Desk, Buildings and Estates | University of Limerick (ul.ie) and Welcome to the Buildings and Estates Help Desk (sharepoint.com)

The B&E department at the University of Limerick develops and maintains the physical environment and infrastructure that enables the University of Limerick to carry out its mission of achieving excellence in teaching and research.

The Department’s customers comprise all members of the campus community, which includes staff, students, academic departments, support departments, researchers, commercial units and visitors to the campus.

The Department’s goal is to sustain and seek to continuously improve the quality of all services which we provide to the campus community.

B&E is a customer driven department that aspire to providing an excellent service to all it’s customers. Functional areas within B&E’s operational brief include:

of the campus building fabric and associated building plant

of all campus grounds, sports fields, roads, pavings, water features, lighting and services

building and works projects

Buildings and Estates is a customer driven department that aspires to providing an excellent service to all it’s customers.

Mission to support the university to achieve its goals

Vision to provide outstanding physical facilities for the pursuit of academic, cultural and recreational activities

Ethos to sustain and seek to continually improve the quality of all services that it provides to the campus community

Buildings and Estates Annual

Some numbers…

B&E receives in excess of 20,000 customer generated requests annually across all functional areas, with 9,809 maintenance requests received in 2020 alone.

Between 13 March and 23 December 2020, the B&E Helpdesk Team received 15,447 emails of enquiry. The number peaked at 247 on one day in August 2020

On average 92% of maintenance requests are completed in 3-days or less and 95% of maintenance requests completed in 5-days or less.

Since 2006, B&E have used Microsoft Excel to log and track all maintenance and minor works requests. Before that paperbased log books were used. The Excel workbook have evolved and been refined by the B&E team over the years to reflect the continuous improvement in customer service and any adjustments to the service level agreement with the University. Building on this experience, the development of the online Help Desk has been delivered by our own team over the past year. This allows great flexibility to adapt the online Help Desk to reflect any changes required to meet customer feedback or service improvements.

Prior to the launch of the B&E online Help Desk, all customer generated requests received by the Department had to be manually inputted by the administration team into the respective log. This resulted in a significant amount of data entry duplication.

With the increasing volume of customergenerated requests being received, B&E strive to maintain the same high level of key performance indicators and the development of the online B&E Help Desk will assist greatly in this.

Why are we launching an online helpdesk

The online Help Desk will also provide the customer with the added benefit of been able to log a request with B&E at any time through the Help Desk Portal and receive an automated unique ticket reference.  The customer can quote this unique ticket reference to receive an update on their original request.

Currently, the online Help Desk allows the customer to log a request for a number of services offered by the Department,

Using the Help Desk

Where Can I Find The B&E Help Desk Portal?

The B&E Help Desk leverages on Microsoft Power Applications and can be found on SharePoint: Welcome to the Buildings and Estates Help Desk (sharepoint.com)

What Does The B&E Help Desk Portal Look Like?

Staff:

As a UL staff member, you have access to our new online helpdesk located here.

Choose one of the categories listed for more information on how to log your call.

If your request does not fall under the categories on the helpdesk, please click on the “Any other Queries - Contact Us” button and submit your request using the option that opens.

To avoid call duplication, please submit your request using one platform (e.g. log your request through the helpdesk or by email. Do not log a call through the helpdesk and email the same request)

Students and External to UL:

Please log a call by sending an email to buildingsmaintenance@ ul.ie providing the location of the request and as much detail as possible.

Some more numbers…

Since the launch of the Online Help Desk

The SharePoint site has been visited 7,872 times. Customers are directly logging approximately 70% of requests on the active categories.

and Estates Annual Report 2021

How do I log a Help Desk Request?

Portering

The Portering team has a wide-ranging mix of duties and responsibilities. The following are examples of the activities carried out by the Portering team:

Setting up and regularly spot-checking teaching spaces, communal areas, seminar spaces and a significant number of non-scheduled labs, computer labs and PBL (problem-based learning) rooms

Setting up and regularly checking exam centres for central and locally held departmental exams

Setting up and supporting special events, such as VIP visits, ceremonies, open days, teaching, and career fairs, as well as numerous local departmental events and functions

Transporting and delivering goods inwards materials and sorting and delivering SDS postal items and general postal packages

Moving equipment, furniture and other large items around the campus

Actively participating in UL emergency response procedures and being first responder for emergency calls

Moving Print Room material, including A4 paper and printed matter

Reporting faults to the Buildings office

Being responsible for housekeeping in communal areas and teaching spaces

Being responsible for the security of campus buildings

Being responsible for the security of internal spaces, including individual offices and restricted areas such as labs and roof access

Providing frontline support for AV equipment in several outlying buildings, lecturing spaces and seminar rooms

Providing frontline interaction, information and support for students, including students with a disability

Generally supporting members of the public by dealing with their enquiries and providing visitors with information on events and seminars. The ongoing presence of Covid continued to bring with it logistical challenges, and the portering team ensured all centrally scheduled teaching and communal spaces were set in line with the ever-changing Government and HSE guideline and restrictions.

Spring brought with it a new chapter for the portering team as 4 new members, Tom Flaherty, Myles O’Shaughnessy, Michael McCarthy, and Kieran Nash joined us in February/March of 2021. Our new porters back filled positions that had been vacant and ended a recruitment process that had been greatly impacted by the global pandemic. We welcome all to the B&E family and wish them well in their new positions.

Building Architectural Maintenance

The Building fabric of the University of Limerick’s Academic Buildings is the responsibility of the B & E. This work is carried out by an external building maintenance contractor procured through the OGP tendering process.

The appointed contractor maintains of the Architectural building fabric (excluding M&E installations) with an on-campus Building trades team and manages 3rd party contractors specialised in the maintenance of the building fabric.

The on-campus building maintenance team consists of

Building Maintenance Supervisor

Work carried out by the Building maintenance team includes the repair and upkeep of the building fabric, carrying out Planned Preventative maintenance (PPM’s), Delivery of furniture between campus buildings as well as carrying out “Minor Works” requested by other University Departments.

In the Period between Oct 2020 and Sept 2021 in addition to general maintenance / Repairs, other works completed included

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79No. Minor Works with a value of €105,000.00. ♦ Carried out substantial Covid related works in preparation for student return for Autumn semester in September, this involved

f Putting up and maintaining all Covid related signage on campus.

f Putting up and maintaining all hand sanitizers.

f Putting up all hand towel and soap dispensers on campus, removing cotton towel dispensers as necessary.

f Serviced and repaired sash windows campus wide to facilitate fresh air intake into buildings to support Covid ventilation guideline requirements.

f Reconstruction of Compound yard enclosures and construction of new enclosed waste compounds

Space Management

The B&E Department continues to work to consolidate and rationalise the space occupied by the various faculties, divisions, departments, schools and research centres within the University. While most of us worked off campus for large parts of 2021, the year still brought significant expansion and rationalisation plans for many areas throughout the University. The year also saw the introduction of a number of new University initiatives which have significantly added to the challenge of space planning and management in general.

Increased numbers of staff returning to work on campus has seen a gradual increase in office moves when compared to last year. A total of 103 office moves took place which has helped to resolve some pressing issues and has also led to further consolidation of many divisions, schools and departments across the University. All office moves are agreed in advance with ITD to ensure that UL staff have their computers, printers and phone extensions moved and operational on the day of their agreed move. This also ensures that the Space Manager has full oversight and approval of all planned office moves and re-allocations.

University’s Space Committee

In 2021, there were several meetings of the University’s Space Committee. The Committee comprises several members of the University’s senior management. The Committee makes key decisions in relation to future space planning as well as considering proposals on how vacant and decanted spaces should be re-allocated to best serve the strategic plan of the University. Over the course of these meeting, B&E outlined the space requests and challenges that are facing the University and presented a detailed space redistribution proposal on how some of these challenges can be mitigated, chiefly by using vacant space in Park Point and the City Centre Campus. The proposals were broken down into various bundles and included details on space requirements, costs, timelines, risk, benefits etc. Some of these proposals included moving existing UL units off campus and others proposed re-distributing existing on campus space.

Over time, the proposals were considered, debated and revised and were eventually agreed by the Space Committee.

They were then presented to the Executive Campus and Infrastructure Committee on two occasions for consideration and approval. Once that was approved by the Committee, they were presented to Executive Committee by the Chief Operations Officer. A number of the proposals were agreed and some remain under consideration. Among the proposals agreed are;

1. Reconfiguration of circa 2,300sqm of IBC Block 2 building to accommodate the first intake of students in the new Immersive Software Engineering and Human Capital Initiative programmes in September 2022

2. Re-allocation of the former Coaching Ireland space in PESS building to the Physical Education and Sport Sciences department. The new space of 440sqm will consist of new laboratory, staff and postdoc office space as well as much better shower and toilet facilities for PESS students

3. Re-allocation of the vacant former café space in the Computer Science building to the CSIS department. This will provide 177sqm of much needed new undergraduate and postgraduate laboratory, studio and workshop space for CSIS

4. Creation of a “Changing Places” facility in EG-005. This new facility will support students, staff and visitors with complex physical disabilities for whom existing wheelchair bathrooms are not adequate

The Space Manager also gave a presentation at the Executive Committee away day where comparisons between UL space norm averages and those of other Irish and UK HEIs were outlined.

Amongst other changes, 2021 also saw the:

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The re-purposing of MC0-010 as a 45 seat centrally scheduled classroom ♦

The re-purposing of ER2-011 as a 30 seat centrally scheduled classroom ♦

Use of the existing Field Biology Unit as a temporary Geography Lab ♦

A full utilisation audit of over 170 teaching laboratories ♦

Provision of space for circa 140 new Algerian PhD students ♦

Provision of space for a Centre for Research Training in Maths

2021 also saw B&E carry out a number of COVID-19 space related initiatives including:

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Provision of space to the HSE on multiple occasions to enable vaccination clinics to be run on campus ♦

1m social distancing surveys undertaken for the Library, student communal areas, restaurants etc. ♦

Monitoring (in conjunction with Library colleagues) of occupancy levels in the Library to ensure that over-crowding did not take place and that opening hours were sufficient to meet student demand

Provision of socially distanced space for the holding of proctored exams. This facility enabled students with unsuitable home environments, poor WiFi etc. to take their exams in a quiet and controlled space. This space also doubled as a Library study spill over location ♦

♦

Monitoring of on-campus teaching plans for all departments and schools across the entire spring 2020/21 semester ♦

Provision of areas, occupancy capacities etc. to B&E Technical Services colleagues to enable them to put measures in place to ensure adequate ventilation was achieved in over 2,300 individual rooms comprising open plan and individual offices, laboratories, classrooms, lecture theatres, meeting rooms etc.

2022 is certainly going to be another very challenging year in terms of space planning and allocation, with a number of significant requests for additional space to be considered as well as ongoing office allocation type requests.

Campus Cleaning

B&E is responsible for cleaning UL’s academic buildings. The work is carried out by Bidvest Noonan. The contract for the provision of cleaning services for the university was tendered in 2019 in consultation with the Office of Government Procurement (OGP). The contract was awarded in August 2019 and the duration is according to the guidelines of the OGP.

Generally, the cleaning of buildings is carried out between 6pm and 2am, Monday to Friday. All general areas and teaching spaces are cleaned daily. Offices are cleaned twice a week on an agreed cleaning schedule, which is available on the cleaning section of the B&E website. Daytime janitorial staff provide a toilet service from 9.00am to 5.00pm, Monday to Friday, and attend to any emergency cleaning situations that might arise during these hours.

In 2020/ 2021, the cleaning service was extended to include Confirm in Park Point and City Campus.

COVID Cleaning

B&E continued the additional cleaning services in accordance with the requirements of the Return to Work Safely Protocol and the Guidelines for Public Health Measures in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).

The cleaning scope included an additional daily clean of all toilets, use of disinfectant chemicals, sanitisation of common touchpoints in buildings and ecostatic spraying of lectures theatres, classrooms, library spaces, public spaces and seating areas of catering outlets.

Additional Cleaning Service: ♦

Additional daily toilet cleaning service ♦

Provision of pedal bins in toilets

Additional Sanitisation: ♦

Twice daily sanitisation of all touch points within each building (push plates, door handles, bin lids, lift buttons, hand rails) ♦ Automated audit system of sanitised areas

B&E were able to provide in house COVID cleaning where required within a 24 hour response.

In addition to the above, B&E took advice from public health to purchase vacuums with HEPA filters for use across the Campus.

Sustainability within the Cleaning Contract

As part of the cleaning contract, Noonans operate an electric van that supports the contract across campus. Noonan Bidvest introduced biodegradable waste bags across campus in 2021. This is in line with the Single Use Plastics Directive (EU) 2019/904.

Noonans also operate an electrical van for delivery of equipment and materials across campus.

Staff

B&E would like to take this opportunity to recognise the outstanding work provided by our cleaning staff through out what has been another very challenging year.

Window Cleaning

The contract for the provision of window cleaning services for the university was tendered in 2017 in consultation with the Office of Government Procurement (OGP). The contract was awarded in August 2017 Bidvest Noonan and the duration is according to the guidelines of the OGP.

All external glazing and internal windows are cleaned between July and September annually, when the campus is at its quietist. The contractor uses a reach and wash system that is environmentally friendly as no chemicals are used. It also eliminates the need for ladders or high access equipment, which reduces health and safety risks.

Campus Security

The B&E Department is responsible for the security of the UL campus infrastructure and the safety of the campus’s 14,000 daily users. B&E aims to provide a safe, secure environment for staff, students, invited guests, and visitors while on campus. To achieve this the campus cecurity team comprise of a security site operations manager, a campus security manager, duty supervisors and security officers (full-time and part-time) who provide a 24/7 – 365-security services. Portering staff within the buildings provide in-house security to complement the work of the campus security team, who generally patrol the campus externally during normal working hours.

Outside of normal working hours, the security team take overall responsibility for the security of the campus. The campus security remit includes the management of on campus traffic and car parks, out of hours building access and the constant stream of delivery & collection vehicles required to support UL’s daily operations.

As part of the securities, responsibility to sustainability the twicedaily security patrol vehicle operational checks have moved from a paper-based exercise to a cloud based electronic check via a mobile phone app. This move from paper-based checks while good for the environment also eliminate the requirement for the paper-based checks to be scanned, saved and filed as this now happens seamlessly as part of the electronic process.

Sec urity

GRO UNDS

UL Campus Grounds

Brief Overview of works this year

Our team are on the ground uprooting, upgrading and uplifting across campus so that our grounds are in tip top shape.

In line with our commitment to sustainability, we have introduced pollinator friendly practices on campus with the rejuvenation of natural areas and bulb and tree planting across the grounds, and the upgrade of the library and Arena entrances.

We invest in machinery to help us maintain natural areas and to get our day to work done including chemical free hard surface clean ups, riverbank litter collections and the completion of drainage works across ten acres of land.

We pay particular attention to our pitches making sure they are consistently fit for purpose to host day to day matches, Tag ruby events and Community Games throughout the year; and this year our civil engineering team installed new goal posts.

We have also been on the ground delivering a number of projects during the year including soft landscape upgrade works at Plassey Village, carpark maintenance and a major storm clear up.

Additional Work Practices

The commencement of 2021 saw the continuation of working from home for the B&E administration team as the Covid 19 pandemic continued, with additional tasks incorporated into each administrator’s working day.

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The introduction of Business Response Plans for those departments intending to return to campus e.g., researchers and chief technical officers charged with preparing labs for face-to-face teaching as well as professional support staff were all submitted to the B&E administration team for processing, distribution to the relevant teams and maintaining a line of communication with the requestor. The team processed 88 RTW’s during 2021.

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B&E administrators continued to process PPE Requests throughout 2021, tasked with the receipts of requests, the ordering and distribution process for PPE equipment to those researchers and essential staff returning to work. During 2021 we processed requests for more than 30,000 items of PPE.

Positive Changes

It is 24 months since the campus first closed due to the Covid 19 pandemic and we have learned so much about ourselves, how we work best and what we want to change. For the administration team the biggest positive changes include:

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The move to Sharepoint for collaboration on common documents for the department that the administration team contributing to Audit files, project files etc.

Movement of maintenance request logs to Sharepoint ensured all teams could access the logs simultaneously eliminating being “locked out” of a log when in use by someone.

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The use of MS Teams meetings in lieu of face-to-face meetings when gathering was not permitted improved time management.

The hybrid working model facilitated uninterrupted time to focus on demanding/ time sensitive tasks.

B&E Help desk - The introduction of customer generated request forms for some (not all) types of requests currently received by buildingsmaintenance@ul.ie was circulated within the B&E department only and has proved a success. The helpdesk is expected to significantly reduce the number of emails received by buildingsmaintenance@ul.ie. In 2021 alone the team responded to 16,000. emails

Covid Initiative

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C-19 Declaration and Training: All B&E staff underwent training and contact tracing procedures in order to return to a safe working environment on campus, no matter how short the visit. The administration staff commenced a rota of weekly visits to campus to assist customers with the issuing of keys, parking permits etc. Though interrupted in November 2021, this rota continues.

♦ Workers Representatives: The B&E Department appointed C-19 Workers Representatives for each discipline within B&E and those staff members including administration staff underwent training and these duties remain.

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PPE Expenditure Tracking: The B&E Department was assigned the duty of tracking Covid-19 related expenditure around PPE, cleaning, ventilation and security with the goal of facilitating researchers and essential staff to return to work safely. As Government guidance documents were constantly updated, we must be able to react promptly.

Insurance

The B&E Department operates in an ever-changing environment and challenged even further with the onset Covid 19. This has changed how we do business on so many fronts including our approach to the protection of the UL Estate/occupants in the insurance space. The following insurance policies are administered by the B&E Department on behalf of the University of Limerick and Specified Associated Bodies:

Property Damage & Business Interruption, Public & Products Liability, Employers’ Liability, Professional Indemnity, Motor, Computer, Directors and Officers Liability, Personal Accident, Travel for staff and Erasmus students only, Marine Hull, Crime, Engineering, Fine Arts, Environmental Impairment Liability and Cyber Liability.

♦ UL is a member of the IIMG (Intervarsity Insurance Management Group) The purpose of the group is to ensure that all opportunities for collaborative working are identified and evaluated in the short, medium and long term and to assist in ensuring that an effective insurance programme is in place across the six member universities. The members are UL, UCC, NUI Maynooth, NUI Galway, TCD and DCU.

♦ 2021 saw the creation of many new universities and this may open up opportunities to bring new member into the group at the appropriate time if it proves advantageous to both parties.

IIMG collectively purchase Property Damage/Business Interruption, Employers Liability, Public/Products Liability, Professional Indemnity and Motor insurance.

2020/21 saw the impact of Covid 19 on higher education institutions, in particular costs associated with increased costs of working. Every member of the IIMG sustained increased costs and significant losses due to loss of income and as a result, business interruption claims are now in progress. Covid-19 is impacting a broad range of insurance lines with varying degrees

Following a crippling cyber-attack on Ireland’s Health Service Executive and other large organisations in 2021, premiums were driven up, cover reduced for those who had cyber liability insurance, and many organisations who did not have cover cannot buy it at this time. This is proving an increasing challenge for our procurement colleagues around cyber liability insurance limits of indemnity clauses in contracts.

During 2021, design teams and contractors alike experienced increasing difficulty in securing Professional Indemnity insurance. The impact of Grenfell is being felt across the entire building industry and the Office of Government Procurement recently issued guidelines around the limits of indemnity public service organisations are permitted to seek in their Requests for Tender (RFT’s).

This year UL in collaboration with NUIG ran a tender for the engagement of specialist building consultants to carry out a review of UL’s estate portfolio over a five-year period and provide building reinstatement valuations for each property. This project proved critical to ensuring the UL infrastructure is insured to the appropriate level with increases experienced across the estate.

At insurance renewal 2020 we were in a “hardening market” causing renewal rates to increase on key lines of cover. The last significant hard market occurred after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. The underlying causes of an already hardening- market were:

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Claims: Natural catastrophes costing more than $220bn

Social Inflation: substantial increase in the cost of punitive-damage awards brought about by demographic, societal and jury composition changes and attitudes collectively.

Profitability: Historically low interest rates, a decade of declining insurance and reinsurance rates brought about by excess capital and (re)insurer competition. Re-underwriting, reduction or withdrawal of insurance capacity as insurers tackle troubled or under-priced lines of insurance and aim to reduce volatility.

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Reinsurance: Increase in the cost of reinsurance, driven by claims experience. Changes to risk tolerance of the insurance linked securities market following successive years of insured Catastrophes and then Covid-19 struck.

The impact of Covid 19 on:

Property: markets continue to trend upwards.

Capacity: Insurers still seeking clarity around business interruption values.

Challenges: Accounts with losses and poor risk management, heavy risk exposure occupancies; hospitality, senior living, woodworking, metal processing, manufacturing

Coverage: Underwriters tightening, reduction in sub limits and increased excesses.

Significant changes within terms and conditions of certain policies held by UL also occurred, the most significant changes being: 1. Covid 19 General Policy Exclusion wording: The insurers will not pay any claim directly or indirectly as a result of or is contributed to, by or is a consequence of:

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) or

Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) or

Any derivative or mutation of either A or B

10% rate increase in excess layer Employers Liability and Public Liability insurance cover due to rising reinsurance costs. 2. Brexit: Unknowns attached to the UK withdrawal from the EU otherwise known as “Brexit”. 3. Directors & Officers Liability and Crime: The Financial Lines insurance market is really challenged at the moment with insurers reducing limits of cover, increasing policy excesses and applying significant rate increases. 4. Travel: Travel pattern decreased along with decreased projections and the Covid 19 exclusion referred to in 1 above.

5. Cyber Liability: an emerging risk with significant impact on limits of cover, policy excesses and increased rates.

IIMG / B&E Insurance Future Goals:

During 2021 the IIMG members attended webinars arranged by the IIMG’s insurance brokers on the following topics during 2021:

Cyber Risk

Future proofing your Life Sciences Business

IIMG insurance brokers will continue to assist with arranging forums on topics of growing interest to the group as we endeavour to stay abreast of new developments within the insurance space and UL strives to grow their share of regulated and unregulated clinical trials, address the increasing concern around cyber security and the challenging Professional Indemnity insurance market.

Procurement And Audit Compliance

The commencement of 2021 saw the continuation of working from home for the B&E Procurement and Audit Compliance Team as the Covid 19 pandemic continued, with all the challenges that presented. The following are some of the achievements of the Team in the last 12 months.

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The number of audits managed by the B&E Procurement and Audit Compliance team grows annually and during 2021 we participated in eight such audits carried out by both internal and external auditors. The audits ranged from Capital Projects, Non-Capital Projects, Small Capital Projects to the B&E recurrent budget expenditure, all of which took significant time and commitment to respond to the auditors queries in a comprehensive and timely manner.

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The Procurement and Audit Compliance Team provides support to Project Managers, Facilities Managers and other Managers within the Department and administers the use of the etenders.gov.ie platform to upload proposed projects, send invitations through existing Frameworks created by B&E, manage clarification questions submitted by tenderers and manage the receipt of bids and tender openings to ensure government procurement audit compliance. During 2021 the Procurement and Audit Compliance Team managed the administration of projects in excess of €36m through this platform.

♦ Securing professional procurement advice should they be required by Managers within the Department.

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Preparation of the B&E’s Multi Annual Procurement Plan (MAPP) following consultation with Project Managers, Facilities Managers and other Managers within the Department. The University of Limerick’s MAPP is important to assist the EPS/OGP National Procurement Plan and as Facilities Management and Maintenance contributes €425m of the MAPP Education Sector spend of €1.8bn B&E’s contribution is critical.

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Another project being taken on by the Procurement and Audit Compliance Team this year is the migration to Sharepoint to facilitate collaboration to share Audit files, project files etc. to expedite responses to queries/clarifications submitted by internal/external auditors.

Projects

Green Campus

Sustainability at UL

In 2021 UL successfully renewed its Green Campus accreditation, attained certified water stewardship, and achieved 21st position in the UI Green Metric Ranking (see below Tables) – placing UL in the top 2% of universities entering the rankings. A blank cell means the university in question did not partake in the scheme that year.

In addition to participating in a ‘Green Campus Roundtable’ with Universities from Norway and Germany in early in 2021, B&E gave invited presentations on sustainability at UL at number of fora including to the UL Management Council and the EMERGE group of universities. On campus, B&E worked with the Office of Public Works on the roll-out of the Optimising Power at Work Campaign with the initial focus the commissioning and validation of the associated campus-wide energy monitoring and targeting system. Concurrently priority was given to raising awareness/achieving energy behaviour change amongst students and staff in the villages, arena and library through the setting up of Energy Teams, hosting of virtual quiz nights, virtual energy clinics and lunchtime talks. In 2022 it is intended to host in-person awareness raising events and extend the Optimising Power at Work Campaign to a small number of academic buildings – which will include out-of-hours energy audits.

Later in the year a B&E staff member and others who had “already contributed greatly” to sustainability on campus were invited to participate in the UL Sustainable University Steering Group. The purpose of the group, which reports directly to Executive and enjoys both project management and administrative support, is to develop a holistic and integrated approach to embedding the UN Sustainable Development Goals into “the heart of everything UL strives to become”. By the end of 2021 the first draft of UL’s Mission-Based Sustainability Framework 2030 was nearing completion. Once complete the document will require both Executive and Governing Authority approval before publication and integration into the recalibrated/ future University strategic plans.

Quality

Quality Statement

The Buildings and Estates Department is a customer-driven organisation that strives to provide excellence in the services it delivers. We believe that the campus community is entitled to a high standard of quality from us. The department’s quality ethos is

“to sustain and seek to continually improve the quality of all services that we provide to the campus community”

Health and Safety

Health and Safety 2021

2021 began with a continuation of the “new normal” with the challenges posed by COVID-19 still very much part and parcel of the daily lives of all B&E staff and Service Providers. Thankfully B&E (with the help and support of the aforementioned) navigated its way through 2021 without any significant H&S incidents either COVID related or other. Notwithstanding this, due to the large variety of high-risk work either undertaken or managed by B&E such as work at height, tree felling, work with high voltage electricity and work in deep excavations, health and safety remained very much to the forefront of our daily working lives. B&E have a dedicated Safety Steering Committee that meet on a weekly basis and are tasked with establishing and maintaining a robust Safety Management System that fits the needs of the department. Thanks to everyone on the Safety Committee and anyone associated with B&E for their ongoing commitment towards a safe and healthy working environment.

Below are some of the headline H&S statistics for the year that was 2021.

Lost Time Accidents (LTA) arising as a result of work activities (+3 days lost)

Workdays lost as a result of accident/incident or near miss

No of different Service Providers (contractors) used by B&E to undertake works on campus.

What

we can do for you

Maintenance

Promptly acknowledge receipt of your request

Respond to your urgent requests immediately

Advise you immediately when your request has been completed and within five working days when your request has not been completed

Cleaning

Clean buildings as per Service Level Agreement with cleaning company

Collect recycling paper from offices weekly

Provide janitorial service during normal working hours for toilets and emergency clean-up of spillages

Carry out deep clean of new buildings & vacant offices

Clean building glazing once a year

Provide feminine hygiene service in female toilets

Security

Provide a safe and secure environment on campus

Monitor vehicle parking to ensure compliance with UL parking policy

Be responsible for traffic management

Be responsible for security of campus building stock

Respond to incidents/accidents and contact emergency services when required

Space Management & Office Moves

Promptly acknowledge receipt of your request

Respond to the changing requirements of UL’s teaching and research priorities

Allocate space in the best interests of UL according to space allocation protocol

Provide you with a suitable single/shared office or workstation

Endeavour to provide everyone with sufficient space to enable them to carry out their function

Discuss with you your space requirements or any issue about your office move

Landscaping & Grounds

Manage the maintenance and development of the campus landscape to provide an attractive and pleasing environment for the campus and wider community in support of UL’s mission

Manage and maintain the field sports facilities

Keep the campus clean

What

Maintenance

Send an email to Buildingsmaintenance@ul.ie, including location room number

Read emails from BENotices

Give at least 24 hours notice for collection/delivery requests

Cleaning

Report any floor spillages that could result in an accident

Segregate paper and general waste

you can do for us Our Customer Charter

Dispose of general waste in corridor waste bins

Report toilets that require servicing (including blockages) to Buildingsmaintenance@ul.ie

Security

Park in official car park spaces

Follow instructions issued by security officers

Report any suspicious behaviour by individuals or vehicle occupants

Inform campus security of any proposed events taking place on campus

Space Management & Office Moves

Outline your space requirements to your faculty manager or head of department

Make your request as clear as possible

Ensure your department’s existing space is fully utilised before seeking additional space

Adhere to UL’s space allocation protocol and understand that space is a valuable and finite resource

Relinquish any unused or under-utilised space

Landscaping & Grounds

Enjoy and respect the parkland facilities and riverside setting

Report any safety or hazard issues to Buildingsmaintenance@ul.ie

What we can do for you What you can do for us

Minor Works

The same as maintenance, above, with the addition of the following:

If your request is on hold because we’re awaiting information from you, we’ll send you a reminder after 10 working days

If you don’t receive a quotation within five working days, we’ll advise you of the status of the request

Porter Service

Promptly acknowledge receipt of your request

Set up and support special events

Take responsibility for housekeeping in communal areas and teaching spaces

Provide security in campus buildings and car parks (in conjunction with Campus Security)

Provide frontline support for AV equipment in a number of outlying buildings, lecturing spaces and seminar rooms

Participate in UL emergency response procedures, including fire alarms, major incidences and medical emergency calls

Provide information about events and seminars to visitors

Deliver goods inwards material, sort and deliver SDS postal items and sort and deliver general postal packages

Insurance

Promptly acknowledge receipt of your request

Provide evidence of UL insurance cover

Advise on existing UL policies

Liaise with UL insurance brokers on your behalf

Update Asset Register with new plant/equipment

Lodge settlement cheques to your dept. cost code

Seek additional cover on your behalf (additional charge may apply)

Submit claims on your behalf

Assist with incident investigations

Minor Works

Porter Service

spaces in the correct setup for the next class (leave them as you would like to find them)

Include your room number on orders that are being delivered to UL

Insurance

Key Business Processes

Figure 1 below sets out B&E’s key

(on the right)

provide and

The associated Quality Management System processes are shown on the left. The supporting procedures, which underpin these processes, are reviewed, discussed and challenged in accordance with the schedule set out in the departments Quality Calendar.

outstanding physical

Benchmarking

Quality Team

Although B&E has had a quality leader in place, the department does not have a dedicated quality team as such. All core members of staff are considered members of the quality team, and quality features as a permanent agenda item at multiple departmental meetings (e.g. Quality Business Review, Coordination). Whilst a representative subgroup of B&E’s quality team was tasked with compiling the 2020 Self Assessment Review (SAR), all members of staff were involved in the selfassessment exercise to some extent. In addition, the wider quality team members were encouraged to provide feedback on a draft version of the SAR prior to the delivery of the final report to the Quality Support Unit (QSU) for circulation to the external quality review group.

Quality Improvement Plan

The B&E department maintain a Quality Improvement Plan(QIP). Contained within the QIP are action items arising from multiple sources, including customer focus groups, staff and student surveys, QBR meetings and self-assessments. The action items span a wide range of issues, including environmental improvements, facilities improvements, outdoor events, maintenance and minor works and improvements to the QMS itself. Specific action items are overseen by the relevant forum, such as Operations meeting, M&E Team meeting, Minor Works meeting. The overall implementation of the QIP is monitored at the QBR, and the efficacy of specific quality improvement action items is measured using existing feedback channels.

2020 External Review

The Universites Act (1997) obliged universities in Ireland to formally establish quality assurance procedures aimed at improving the quality of education and related services. Furthermore, the Act stipulated the necessity for an evaluation of the quality assurance procedures implemented to take place at regular intervals (but not less than once in every ten years). In support of the requirements of the Act, UL published a standard framework for support departments on the implementation of a Quality Management System (QMS).

B&E were early adopters of a QMS and for this reason its most recent external quality review was the third of its kind. The earlier external quality reviews primarily focussed on ensuring a QMS was adopted and an examination of its fitness for purpose. The most recent Quality Review whilst still featuring an examination of the QMS in place focussed more so on strategic alignment, organisational structure, management and governance.

In preparation for B&E’s third external quality review B&E appointed a new quality team leader, established a core quality team, undertook focus groups (amongst both staff and students), introduced new and more effective mechanisms for collecting and actioning feedback, reviewed its Quality Manual and associated procedures in their entirety compiling the resulting actions into its Quality Improvement Plan and completed a self-assessment report i.e. the primary document used by the Quality Review Group (QRG) as the basis for their review. The QRG said the following of B&E’s self-assessment report:

The QRG found the B&E self-assessment report (SAR) to be a very comprehensive and professional document, showing evidence of commitment to the UL quality process over a long period and a keen awareness of the need to monitor and account for the division’s performance.

“B&E provides an excellent operational service within its resources”

“We wish to record our appreciation of the excellence of the SAR and of the effort thatclearly went into preparing it.”

The delivery of the B&E strategic plan, Building a Sustainable Future, 2017-2021, and the subsequent annual reports demonstrating progress against this plan.

The division’s commitment to and delivery of the environmental sustainability agenda and Green Campus and its active collaboration with the UL Environmental Society.

The clear recognition by B&E of risks posed by specific resource gaps for the division’s capability and capacity to support the University’s strategic plan.

B&E received ten Level 1 recommendations and thirteen Level 2 recommendations twenty-two of which B&E have accepted in full or in part with only one being rejected. The QRG’s recommendations can be largely broken into three thematic areas namely the strategy for developing and managing the estate, additional human resources, and, communication. B&E’s External Quality Review took place over three days from 2nd – 5th March 2020 just after the worst of the flooding and before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland. The Buildings & Estates QRG report was approved by the Quality Committee on 28/05/2020 for publication.

As part of its ongoing quality drive B&E made a presentation in May 2021 to the Executive Sub-Committee Quality Committee (ECQC), chaired by the Provost Deputy President, on progress made towards implementing the findings of the external Quality Review Group in March 2020. B&E reported that both its Level 1 and Level 2 recommendations were 70% complete despite the significant additional workload and upheaval caused by the pandemic.

The presentation was very well received by the committee with the most popular comment being:

B&E were commended for amongst other things:

“Well done to B&E on incredible achievements”

Recurrent Expenditure

Recurrent

2020 / 2021

Energy and Water Consumption Trends

To demonstrate an exemplar leadership role in energy efficiency and climate action, successive iterations of the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan to 2020 set an ambitious target of improving energy efficiency in public sector buildings by 33% by 2020 (thereby exceeding the requirements set out in the Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU). Progress towards this target, including that of UL’s, was monitored by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. The below figure shows UL increased its energy efficiency by 43.4% by 2020 compared against a baseline consumption period of 2006-2008. The Education Sector and Public Sector as a whole reported savings 49% and 34% respectively. For more please see the Annual Report 2021 on Public Sector Energy Efficiency Performance

Electricity and Gas

The below graph shows UL’s pre-pandemic electricity consumption grew gradually year-on-year over the previous 5 years. During 2019/2020 and again in 2020/2021 electricity consumption dropped by about one-eighth compared to 2018/2019. Gas consumption also dropped by about one-eighth in 2019/2020 but was back to pre-pandemic levels by 2020/2021. The winters of 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 were almost identical in terms of degree days (both being about 10% colder than 2018/2019) and so the uplift in gas consumed in 2020/2021 can be attributed in part to a colder winter and in part to increased activity levels. The split between electricity and gas consumption remains relatively consistent at approximately 50/50. 20,525,000 21,069,000 22,914,000 21,547,000 25,238,000 23,681,000 25,345,000 28,159,000 24,199,000 21,203,000 24,740,000 20,177,000 20,550,000 20,814,000 20,703,000 21,777,000 22,401,000 22,893,000 22,930,000 23,489,000 19,790,000 20,245,000

Water

From 2008 up until 2019 water consumption on campus, both in terms of the overall volume of water consumed and the normalised volume of water consumed (i.e. cubic meters of water consumed per square meter of built space) remained relatively flat. This can be attributed to the roll-out of a program to detect and eliminate water leaks and deploy water saving technologies and fittings. The onset of the pandemic meant that water consumption nearly halved in 2020, but commensurate with an increase in activity 2021, water consumption began to return to near normal levels.

Recurrent Expenditure

Electricity and Gas

The University’s total spend on electricity in 2020/2021 was €2.59m. Of this, local users paid €0.92m and the balance of €1.67m was paid by Buildings and Estates. The corresponding spend on natural gas was €1.3m. Of this, €0.45m was charged to others and the balance of €0.85m was paid by Buildings and Estates. To avail of the most economically advantageous energy rates, the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) monitors energy market trends and tenders for public sector electricity and natural gas, including that consumed by UL. UL’s non-domestic electricity and natural gas accounts are in contract until May 2023 and August 2024 respectively. The above graph shows the unit cost of electricity paid by UL has begun to rise sharply over the last two financial years. In contrast the unit price of gas has remained relatively flat over the last 15 successive financial years.

Water and Waste Water Charges

To support our commitment to sustainability, we have provided this report in an online form only to avoid the unnecessary use of paper required for a print version.