On a personal note, it’s been great to listen to so many colleagues across Library Services during all of the workshops I’ve attended. I’d like to thank everyone who has been and asked questions, aired their views, and actively engaged with the process so far.
At this stage, I think it’s worth just reiterating several factors:
The refurbishment was driven by the need to undertake essential pipework maintenance on level 7. This is long overdue and there are significant risks if we don’t do this. This work will necessitate clearing level 7 for health and safety.
- As part of the work being done, we bid for extra money to refurbish level 7. As you know, the project group worked on the business case before it went to Estates – there were several factors including that the furniture, lighting and layout is 20 years old, some teams don’t have enough space and there is a lack of natural light. Knocking down the offices where managers sit, and making better use of the floor space will help with this, and consultation with staff to try and find out what they need will help the architect and designer to propose some alternatives.
- The proposals are supported by research done by other areas of the university – I’ll try and find some online talks from a year or two ago which was really interesting by an academic at SHU, and academic research about different ways of working is also being looked at by other colleagues and will be shared online.
- I’ve talked to Health and Safety and we’re aware of individual needs for equipment regarding staff health and wellbeing needs, so this will be factored in at a very early stage and won’t be forgotten.
- The sense of ‘team’ has come out strongly in the workshops, and again we’ll ensure this is addressed as something that staff feel is essential to working effectively.
- As you know, the questions we’re asking are the ones used by Estates when they were looking at moving buildings. While the questions aren’t perfect and don’t necessarily reflect how library services staff work, we hope it will draw out the information needed to meet staff needs. One of the questions as you’ve mentioned asks where staff perceive location free working to be (eg a learning centre, a café, at home etc). I think the question is more to draw out staff views on where they need to be to do the activities as part of their role, and suggest some possible examples to encourage thinking and discussion. Asking staff to work in cafes isn’t part of the proposals.
After the last session tomorrow, I’ll be tidying up and anonymising all feedback ready to share with the Project Group, and it will be published after that. Then there will be a process to appoint an architect and designer. All staff comments will be passed to them, so that they can draft some proposals for consideration based on what we do, how we work, and what we need.
I’ll publish another update as soon as possible next week, but if you haven’t had chance to attend a workshop, this is only the start of the process. You can always pop into 6719, arrange a chat, or send feedback online/ by email.
Thanks,
Claire