07. Operations

Operations

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.

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

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 ♦ 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

1

Building Maintenance Supervisor

8

Carpenters

4

General operatives

Building Maintenance Metrics - Breakdown of Completed Jobs Total Completed % of Total

GM (Customer Generated) 2,573 43%

GM (PPM Generated) 1,152 19%

Minor Works / Projects

PPM 79

309 1%

5%

Forklift 499 8%

Van 1,391 23%

The B&E Department currently manages 262,136m² (2,821,608ft²) of space across 47 University buildings. The information above sets out how this space is broken down into different room types and indicates the broad spectrum of the space portfolio which is handled by the department.

Type of space, Area m² and % of total space.

Office and related 32,408M2 12.4%

Laboratory and support 33,265M2 12.7%

Teaching

11,775M2

4.5% Library

9,758M2

3.7%

Non-assignable 52,240M2 20%

Other

23,014M2

8.8% Catering/bar/commercial

8,405M2

3.2%

Student residences 76,142M2 29%

Sports facilities 15,130M2 5.7%

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: ♦ 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: ♦ 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 Wi-

Fi 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.