Maintenance

The University's buildings are regularly inspected and maintained.  However, if you wish to report an item which needs fixed or replaced please email [email protected]

Please include as much information as possible about the fault. 

• The user groups of estates are all those who use the Institute namely, students, staff, members of the public, contractors, etc.  The maintenance service can be accessed by any of the above user groups by telephoning, visiting or e-mailing [email protected].  User groups are encouraged not to contact maintenance teams directly.

  On receipt of your mail you will receive an email informing you that the maintenance request has been logged.  Requests are assigned different priorities (as detailed below) but we will endeavor to complete maintenance requests as soon as possible. 

• A building is an asset that needs to be maintained to ensure that its value is not eroded.  Building occupiers need to appreciate that buildings are a resource and that these assets need to be protected just as any other form of asset or resource does. 

  The challenge facing the Estates office is to assess current building condition and plan a programme of repairs and improvements which is consistent with the estates strategy and which will ensure the continual maintenance of the estate. Adequate provision will also have to be made in the financial forecasts of the Institute to meet these needs.

  Maintenance requests are priortised as follows:

  Priority 1 - Emergency - completion within 24 hours, for example Health & Safety issues, no heat on a cold day, lighting not working.  This request is usually passed to the Maintenance personnel either in person or by telephone.
  Priority 2 - Urgent - completion within 48 hours, for example air conditioning or immersion heater not working, doors not locking
  Priority 3 - Important - completion within 1 week for example request for a telephone
  Priority 4 - non urgent - completion within 1 month, for example fitting of shelves, hanging of pictures, renewing ceiling tiles

  In addition, estates will identify the team required to complete the request i.e. plumbing, mechanical, electrical, carpentry or Attendants.  The system has the ability during input to identify a repair that has previously been reported.  This sometimes occurs as different customers may report the same fault.

  When all the required information has been entered a repair request form or job ticket is printed.  All job tickets are given to the office based Estates Technician to determine if a pre-inspection of the request is required and assess whether the repair should be referred to a third party. The request is then allocated to the appropriate team member.

  Since introducing this system, there have been notable benefits namely:

  • One point of contact for the maintenance team.
  • Identifies any recurring maintenance issues, which can then feed into planned maintenance schedule.
  • Encouraged the Maintenance teams to become more efficient by grouping jobs together for completion.
  • As a recording facility it has identified certain items that could be subject to preventative maintenance.

  Maintenance & Budgets

  Budgetary control is essential to plan and control the use of resources in order to meet the Estates Office strategy. Traditionally budgets have been set using historical data, experience of the budget holder and some imagination.  A more considered approach to the maintenance budget is now in place by the completion of an ‘asset register’.
  When specific items are required a price is sourced from various suppliers, as outlined by the Finance Office.  However on occasion this is not possible due to limited stockists and/or time constraints but is considered an exception rather the norm.   

  Maintenance Plan

  Maintenance at the Institute can be divided into two main categories:

  1. Planned Maintenance

  Planned maintenance can be viewed as those activities, which are organised and carried out with forethought, control and the use of records to a predetermined plan.

  • Preventative maintenance, one-off or cyclical
  • Termed maintenance contracts/ servicing

  2. Reactive Maintenance

  Reactive Maintenance carried out after failure has occurred with the intention of restoration to an appropriate state of performance.  Within the Institute corrective maintenance can be of two types, expected, for example a blown light bulb or unexpected, for example complete power shut down.

  • Expected (e.g. broken window)
  • Unexpected (e.g. major fault)

  The key objectives for Planned Maintenance for the Estates Office are;

  • To reduce unexpected expenditure arising from lack of knowledge of the estate
  • To extend the life of major plant and building fabric
  • To plan and control with greater confidence the estates budget
  • To avoid unnecessary expenditure where a building is scheduled for refurbishment or disposal