A review of the University of Bath’s Estates and ahs Departments that began last year has completed, culminating in new names for each department, and a new organisational structure that will enable a refocus of the activities each one undertakes.

The purpose of the review and subsequent restructure is intended to further improve the consistency and co-ordination of service activities delivered across the two Departments, bringing all up to the same level of excellence. This review responds directly to our University strategy, where strong campus infrastructure and services are essential to underpin excellence in education, research and experience for students and staff alike.

Locating all user-facing campus services in one department – called Campus Services (formerly ahs) enables a focus on providing the very best, enhanced, service delivery to customers. The new structure also allows the Campus Infrastructure Department (formerly Estates) to be agile and apply a strategic approach to managing the campus estate, delivering major capital works, and providing associated services to users.

Leading the two departments are Jane Loveys, Director of Campus Services and, when he joins in September, Dev Biddlecombe will become Director of Campus Infrastructure.

Key changes in structure

Two teams are moving from the Estates Department into Campus Services, within the Campus Services Facilities team, which will be headed up by Andrew Nash, Head of Campus Services Facilities. These teams are:

  • The Cleaning & Portering team, led by Sharon Ventress
  • The Landscaping team, led by Andy Veale

The existing Mail & Central Stores team in the Estates Department becomes two separate teams with the mail services function moving into Campus Services Facilities. After the move, this team will focus primarily on mail service delivery and be known as the Mail Services team, led by Jason Carpenter who will report into Andrew Nash. Campus Services will develop Inventory and Facilities Purchasing & Inventory Management in the Autumn.

The Stores purchasing function for workshops will remain the responsibility of the Campus Infrastructure Department, with the team reporting into Tony Griffin.

In the Campus Infrastructure Department the review recommends that five new service areas are created, which Dev Biddlecombe will decide how best to resource when he joins, either through refocusing existing resources and/or by including them in the next budget planning round. These areas are:

  • Space Planning & Coordination
  • Infrastructure Asset Management
  • Transport Infrastructure
  • Campus Infrastructure, Sustainability
  • Relationship Management

To understand the full changes in detail please refer to the new organisational chart.

Additional project outputs – including Facilities Helpdesk

Plans to improve access to the Facilities Helpdesk have been developed. The first of these plans will be actioned this summer with the creation of a new website landing page that will signpost users to services offered and how to access them. All existing routes to requesting support via the links on the staff homepage are staying the same for now, and we’ll update further when changes are made.

Approval has also been given to start exploring options for a longer-term solution to improve the Helpdesk functionality.

In addition, a review of service standards in each Department is currently in progress.

Chief Operating Officer, Keith Zimmerman, who oversaw this strategic review said: “I would like to thank everyone in the new Campus Services and Campus Infrastructure Departments for their patience, support and involvement while this review has been conducted. It has taken many months to complete, which is only right given the importance of the review and the need to arrive at the best model possible. Looking ahead, I now believe we’re in really good shape to ensure all our campus and infrastructure services are positioned to meet the current and future requirements and expectations of students and staff.”

The website pages for the Departments formerly known as Estates and ahs are in the process of being updated to reflect their new names, and new structure.

If you have any queries about the new Departments please contact: Keith Zimmerman coo@bath.ac.uk or Jane Loveys adsjbl@bath.ac.uk