Facilities
The Newsletter of the Facilities Department
Issue 7 February 2011
Sir Bobby Charlton CBE
opens MMU Cheshire’s
centre for Exercise and
Sports Science
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Dear Colleagues,
I want to thank everyone for all their continued hard work and support since our
last newsletter in October 2010. Feedback from our customers continues to be
very complimentary of the services we deliver and is down to the dedication of
everyone in Facilities and the way you do your jobs. As you’ll be aware the public sector is having to prove its efficiency and save
money wherever possible. We are very much caught up in this process and need
to, not only, demonstrate that we are delivering well respected services across
the University but, also that we are delivering these as efficiently as we can. With
this in mind, we have been finding ways to deliver improvements, without using
University money, which enable us to save on our operating costs. For example, we have upgraded the fume cupboards in JD with more energy efficient systems using
external funding. These improvements will now generate a £1000 per week saving in running costs and
save 1,000,000 kwh of energy per year to help us reach our carbon reduction targets. We have begun to
attract more external conferences to the University and as a result we have generated 38% more income
than anticipated at this point in the year. A number of excellent staff ideas have also been implemented
which have enabled us to reduce our costs. For example, we have reduced the amount of money we
spend on external providers to transport goods, on behalf of the University, following a member of staff’s
idea to use our own more cost effective in house service. The positive approach everyone is taking to generating ideas on how we can save money, from their
day to day work, is becoming infectious and I would encourage you to keep identifying and requesting
approval to implement them. This way we will be able to prove our worth to the organisation and help it
overcome the loss of funding it will have to sustain as the country works towards reducing its deficit.
Heather Wilson
Director of Facilities
Cover story:
MMU Sports Centre
officially opened
Sir Bobby Charlton CBE opened MMU
Cheshire’s centre for Exercise and
Sports Science in November 2010.
Research, teaching and sports performance facilities
are now all under one roof at MMU’s Crewe campus,
providing a first class facility for sport in terms
of teaching, participation and higher levels of
performance.
The new sports centre has the following facilities:
8 courts sports hall
50 station fitness gym
Free weights area
3G artificial turf pitch
Sports Physiotherapy clinic
The sports centre is available for use by students,
staff and the local community.
For further details
Phone: 0161 247 5537
Email: [email protected]
Visit: www.mmu.ac.uk/sport
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Sonic Booooum
The Facilities team played a vital part in the
installation of a huge replica of the Super K Sonic
Booooum 2 - the subterranean test-site in Japan
which physicists use to discover insights into the
secrets of the Universe.
Visitors were taken down a 22 metre, water-filled
tunnel lined with thousands of gold balloons,
courtesy of French art-scientist, Nelly Ben Hayoun.
Passengers were exposed to the loud booms and
bright flashes to recreate the effects of a sonic
boom, normally faster than the speed of light.
Dean of Faculty Professor Pete Dunleavy said he
was grateful to everyone who contributed to the
success of the project, especially the technicians
and Facilities staff who worked behind the scenes.
Pictured below are some of the team - Joginder
Seth, Bill Haven, Dave McCarthy and Ken Fallows.
Environment Team
Update
MMU Donates PCs to
Local Charities
The Student Switch Off campaign taking place in
halls of residence is in full swing, with the aim to
encourage students to reduce energy consumption
through small changes such as turning lights off
where possible, wearing extra layers instead of
putting the heating on, or putting lids on pans
when cooking. The Environment Team have been
on hand to provide motivation to students and
even arranged an awareness raising event at
Broomhurst Hall which proved a great success.
The competition finishes in May and to date has
saved 120,000 kilo watts of energy - the equivalent
to powering a TV for 311 days, 24 hours a day.
As part of the continuing commitment to reducing
waste to landfill, the Environment Team is now
working in partnership with MMU’s contracted
electrical disposal company CDL (Computer
Disposals Limited) to donate refurbished PC
equipment to a number of local charities, donating
over 40 computer workstations in January alone.
If you know a charity which could benefit
from this scheme please get in touch with us.
[email protected]
Conference Office in
Crewe
New facilities on the Crewe campus are an excellent
opportunity for the Conference Office. The new
multi million pound Contemporary Arts Building
and Exercise Sports Science facilities are major
attractions in promoting what the campus has to
offer. They have already helped us attract back a
national summer school this year worth £15K and
in September we showed round 10 Italian summer
school agents interested in what we can provide in
the future for a major Italian government contract.
We continue to work with Visit Chester and Cheshire
to attract conference business and group visits into
the region and we follow up all enquiries for venue
hire in Crewe. Some of the clients who have held
great events already with us this year are the CO OP
(Christmas Concert for 300 people) and Focus DIY’s
new product launch as well as the ASTE Conference
(The Association for Science Teacher Education).
The Academic Venues show in May will be our next
national opportunity to tell potential clients why
Crewe is a great choice for their conference or event
Catering Update
Following on from the management workshops
held in September, the central catering
management team introduced audits and a weekly
income tracker. Many of the catering staff are now
much more aware of how much income their unit
takes on a daily basis and this has introduced
some friendly competition between units!
The Pennine has continued to produce high
quality dinner events receiving positive feedback
from the guests. These events include the
and we are refreshing our marketing materials with
the help of a highly successful MMU photography
graduate. In addition, we are working with MMU
student ambassadors to arrange visits to the Halls of
Residence so that new clients can take a look at the
accommodation when they have to make their key
decisions.
Since September the Conference office have set up a
weekly office in Crewe on Wednesdays to catch up
with colleagues and staff about future bookings and
enquiries. So if you have a conference or event in
mind and you need some advice or information why
not drop in for a brief chat? You can find us next to
the Accommodation Office or alternatively give us a
call on 0161 247 1565.
See more at www.mmu.ac.uk/venues
Topping Out awards ceremony for McAlpine,
a prestigious gala dinner for the Manchester
Literary festival and the VC’s Ambassador’s
dinner. The Pennine is hosting a dinner for the VC
and the Archbishop of Canterbury in March.
The Student Zone in Crewe has undergone a
make-over during the summer and the area looks
much more inviting for the staff and students in
Crewe. The bar is now included in the Catering
department and we are working hard with SU to
promote student events in Crewe bar.
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Training Successes
Congratulations to the following staff:
Foundation Food Hygiene
Arafat Adjami, Olayide Ajibola, Glynn Bourne,
Joyce Cattell, Kate Chantler, Auslyn Clarke,
Gerald Clegg, Angela Clews, Amanda Cliffe, Lyn
Corrigan, Georgina Cunningham, Eve Ditchfield,
Sonya Eccleston, Michelle Gligan, Maxine GordonPearson, Fikirte Haile, Elayne Harriott, Tina
Heslop, Catherine Hough, Brian Johnson, Elaine
Kelly, Frances Kelly, Denise Kerr, Heather Kinch,
Emma Logan, Cassandra Lovell, Margaret Moffatt,
Margaret Mahon, Lisa McAll, Janet O’Malley,
Margaret Owen, Margaret Parker, Patricia Pepper,
Julie Powell, Julie Perry, Peter Quinell, Elaine
Reilly, Rosemary Shepherd, Tasneem Southern,
Peter Stickney, Mary Ward, Mary D Ward, Beverley
Watt.
Intermediate Food Hygiene
Dean Bryan, Michelle Davey, Karen Edge (Merit),
Susan Khan, Carole Mansfield.
Back to the Shop Floor
- Gerry Kelleher
In the last edition
of the newsletter,
Mary Heaney
was featured on
the cover when
she went Back to
the Shop Floor in
Hollings. Pictured
is Deputy ViceChancellor Professor
Gerry Kelleher with
Security Officer Ian Davies patrolling the
All Saints campus as part of his Back to the Shop
Floor experience.
Gerry also spent time with the Security Team in the
Cambridge Control Room viewing CCTV footage
and coordinating incident reports. Following his
experience he said “It was fascinating to get an
insight into a job that takes a great deal of skill to do
well and I was very impressed by the high quality
and professionalism of the security staff who shared
their day with me. Although I realise walking around
for a few hours on a sunny day in Manchester is a
long way from the reality of the job, it was a great
opportunity to meet people and talk at length about
what they do and the challenges they face.”
NVQ Level 1 in Cleaning and Support Services
Mo Ahmed.
QCF Certificate in Cleaning and Support
Services Skills (formerly NVQ Level 1)
Oluwaseun Hassan.
Mobile Aluminium Tower Course
Peter Ashby, Paul Baker, Paul Bann, Philip
Beswick, Jeffrey Blackmore-Squires, Michael
Booth, Philip Chapman, John Crook, Paul Edwards,
George Evans, Kenneth Fallows, Paul Farmer,
Scott P Gregory, Scott J Gregory, Richard Hall,
Kirk Jones, Dean Jones, Rod Krol, Kevin Maguire,
Gerard Maxted, David McCarthy, Neville Moore,
Joginder Seth, Charles Thorne, Michael Young,
Ken Zielinski.
ILM Awards
Level 3 in First Line Management - Richard Lewis
Level 2 Team Leader Award - Paul Bartholomew
and Anthony Stephenson.
Conference dates
The Venues for Events team are pleased to
announce the Spring/Summer bookings schedule for
internal and external events across MMU.
For more information please contact the team on
0161 247 1565 or go to www.mmu.ac.uk/venues
Guardian Crossword Event
CAL (Computer Assisted Learning) Conference
SureStart Conference
British Education Studies Association Conference
KES AMSTA
Language Study Centres Course
Time and Space In the Band Desinee Conference
Year 10 Aim Higher Summer School
Summer Institute of Qualitative Research Conference
ARTiculation Weekend Summer School
Global Identities, Lifestyles and Sports Conference
IAVSD Conference ( 22nd International Symposium
on Dynamics of vehicles on Roads and Tracks)
PSS2011 Conference
Editor - Rachel Treece on 0161 247 2206, email [email protected]
Back issues available at www.mmu.ac.uk/facilities/news
Printed on paper made from 100% recycled fibre, FSC certified.
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This publication is available in alternative formats, telephone +44 (0)161 247 3358.