My very first memory of Hallam
I was appointed as House Services Manager and started on 1 June 1992 with responsibility for our facilities management (FM) and on-campus service operations. I’d come from Keele University, a single campus institution, to Sheffield City Polytechnic with seven different teaching and residential campuses. I remember on my first day, Alex Pettifer, who was Head of Business and Commercial Services, driving me around to visit all the sites and how everything was either silver or burgundy, the corporate colours. From floor tiles (not much carpet in those days!) to staff uniforms, it was all very drab and bland. The estate was in a very poor condition, particularly the residences which for many of the student rooms still had the old two-pin plugs. We did a roaring trade in selling plug adapters apparently.
On that first day, the JCB diggers moved in to start clearing the site for the Campus 21 project which created the City Campus atrium, Howard, Harmer and Sheaf buildings we know today. That’s what brought me back to Sheffield Polytechnic in the first place after I graduated here in 1981. At £27m, it was then the largest single capital investment in a higher education institution.
By October that year we had become Sheffield Hallam University and I remember the event we put on at the Don Valley Grass Bowl to celebrate the launch of the University. We sponsored a concert by Opera North with an orchestra and fireworks for the grand finale. We’d hired a marquee and walk-in fridges to support the champagne and canapé reception with a host of invited VIP guests. The secretary of state for education gave a speech in the main hall that month and we had mounted police in Hallam Square; unfortunately this didn’t stop him getting floured and egg bombed!
My stand out moments
There have been so many. I guess my daughter, who was six years old at the time, presenting the flowers to the Queen when she came to open the Campus 21 project in 1994 is one. As is the Facilities Directorate winning the Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards, amongst the many other external recognition awards the team have won over the years. It’s a great credit to the fabulous people in FD who rightly deserve the pat on the back these provide for a job well done.
The tenth birthday party when we had over 900 staff attend a great evening of food and entertainment in three different venues. We had fire eaters and trapeze artists in the atrium, a staff blues band in the main hall and a staff rock band in the student union. The excitement of the Tour De France events was another highlight as was receiving my master’s degree the first year that FD took on the responsibility of operating the graduation ceremonies. In June 2007 when 12 staff stayed behind to look after 500 stranded Sheffield folk due to the floods was another memorable event. We gave them all dinner and breakfast the next morning and by 10 am you wouldn’t have known anything like that had happened. We received a special commendation award from the City Council for all our efforts.
I guess my final one has to be being appointed as Director of Estates and Facilities back in 2010. I received fantastic support from my colleagues, which continues today, and I feel so lucky to lead such a great team and to have the opportunity to work with University Leadership Team and professional services colleagues to make Sheffield Hallam University an inspiring place to be for our students and staff.
The biggest change since I started at Hallam.
I guess it has to be the incredible changes we’ve made to our campus locations over the years. I have been involved in the disposal of our residential estate – remember Norfolk Park? Then there were the teaching campus closures that I have had to deliver from Totley and Psalter Lane to the more recent Hallamshire Business Park. We have transformed the physical footprint and our services have gained a national reputation for the quality of our FM, commercial and estates operations. This has delivered a very different student experience to the one that was on offer back in 1992 and I believe it is for the better. Keeping abreast of all the teaching and learning developments alongside increasing expectations from our customers has been the driver for all the changes we have made.
What has made me stay at Hallam?
It’s got to be the people and the opportunities to develop my skills as a leader. I have worked with some amazing people both across the Directorate and the University which has been an honour. There is something about being a member of the Hallam experience that you cannot put your finger on but it just gets to you. Everyone I meet has that “Hallam First” ethos that inspires me every day to do my best for this institution. It is contagious. I have had so many opportunities to grow my professional life at Hallam, contributing to the HE sector through the work I did with UUK on student accommodation to delivering the very last HEFCE Value for Money Study which covered cleaning and other facilities operations! At Hallam I have had the opportunity to implement Investors in People, EFQM, Customer First and a range of international standards which have all been great learning experiences. I have always felt supported to explore news ways of working. It is that personal challenge and growth and working with superb colleagues that gets you out of bed every morning.
And finally… the best thing about working at Hallam
It has to be our amazing students. I love working with the student union officers each year, they bring a fresh challenge and keep you on your toes. Just experiencing the sense of pride at the Varsity competitions or sense of achievement at graduation fills you with a level of satisfaction that you have in some small way contributed to enabling our students to succeed in transforming their lives.