FBL New Build stakeholder workshop feedback and responses – Concept Design Stage

The document captures all the feedback gathered from the 10 faculty stakeholder workshops undertaken as detailed below.

Stakeholder Group / Date
Organisation Studies / 6 May 2014
Human Resource Management / 6 May 2014
Marketing / 7 May 2014
Accounting and Finance / 7 May 2014
Economics / 8 May 2014
Law / 14 May 2014
Strategy and Operations Management / 15 May 2014
Faculty Executive Support Staff / 19 May 2014
Executive Education Support Staff (EDC) / 19 May 2014
IT, Learning Technologists, ASC / 20 May 2014

General Feedback

Question 1: What was the initial brief for the architects?

The vision/aim for the building set within the Design Brief which was issued to all tendering design teams is outlined below:

The Faculty of Business and Law (FBL) project will deliver a new academic building for the faculty of a standard comparable to those of its competitors. Located in the Heartzone of the Frenchay campus masterplan the building will enable the faculty to deliver its mission to be professionally engaged, vocationally oriented, internationally connected and academically strong.

Business benefits

The project will provide FBL with the capability to deliver the business benefits of increased student numbers, practice based & project lead learning and increased interaction with the business community. The FBL project will coordinate with other Heartzone projects and be a flagship building in the centre of the campus.

Business functions to be delivered

Academic space to deliver Accounting, Economics & Finance, Business & Management, Law, Bristol Institute of Legal Practice, staff space, external business facing spaces (eg for CPD),post graduate spaces, lecture theatres and professional law spaces.

Student Numbers

FBL currently provides courses for approximately 5,500 fte students. Current student projections indicate that the number of students will rise to 10,000 fte by 2020/2021. The total area of new accommodation required to meet the planned growth has been assessed at c 18,800m2.

Development Strategy

The proposal is to maximise the development of the site. An initial capacity study has indicated that a building of up to 15,000m2 can be accommodated (subject to planning) on the site. Thebuilding accommodation allowance for FBL on the site is c 13,000m2, with the balance of the building accommodation to be provided on a shell and core basis. The residual accommodation has currently no identified use and will be fitted out by the University at a later date. The building design will need to carefully integrate the accommodation being provided on a ‘shell and core’ basis to ensure that the functionality of the FBL is not compromised.

Currently it is envisaged that FBL will need to make use of existing university accommodation in addition to the new accommodation to meet the planned growth in student numbers. Specialist spaces and PC labs will be provided in full to meet the anticipated growth in student numbers; however additional staff offices, lecture theaters and general purpose teaching rooms (GPTR) that will be required to meet the planned growth in student numbers will be accommodated in existing university accommodation. It is also intended that some areas of initially unused specialist space and unused staff offices will be used as GPTR in the early years to accommodate growth; a flexible design will be required to meet this requirement.

Question 2: What was the thinking for such a diagonal design?

The form of the building responds to the shape of the site (as defined within the Frenchay campus masterplan proposals) the surrounding existing buildings and the proposed buildings and infrastructure which will be built over the coming years.

In plan the buildings west wing follows the line set by the proposed pedestrian route which will link the visitor car park to the north of the FBL site to the plaza to the south of the FBL site. The east wing is aligned with the proposed road that runs to the east of the FBL plot. These two geometries are not parallel and therefore creates a building form that I believe is being referred to as diagonal.

Question 3: Will the space be fully accessible to students?

Yes, the vision is to have a building that is accessible to staff and students.

Question 4: What will be the access and security policy on the building?

The access and security is currently being reviewed. It is envisioned that the building will be zoned so that different area can operate under different security strategies with different hours of operation.

Question 5: Does it comply to DDA requirements?

The building will be designed to comply fully with the ‘Building Regulations Approved Document Part M: Access to and Use of Buildings’ and the British Standards outlined within ‘BS 8300: Design of buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people - Code of practice’.

Consultation with the universities estates department and other stakeholders as part of the design process will be undertaken to ensure an accessible development is delivered that meets the needs of all building users.

Question 6: Will there be disabled toilets on each floor?

Yes. The current design has 2 no. separate accessible/disabled toilets on each floor. There will also be ambulant toilet cubicles within the male and female toilet facilities on each floor.

Question 7: How large will the women’s toilet cubicles be as in some of the current toilets in UWE the cubicles are very small and cramped and it’s difficult when having to use the sanitary facilities.

The female toilet cubicles will be based on the industry standard size of circa 800mm x 1500mm which is a suitable size to accommodate sanitary facilities. At the university a number of the existing female toilet cubicles are smaller than current standards. For example the cubicles within 3E029 are only circa 700mm in width.

Question 8: How big will the lifts be? Important when running events so trolleys etc need to be transported up and down

The current concept design has allowed space for 4 no. 18 person passenger lifts to be accommodated within the building. During the detailed design stage full analysis of the vertical circulation provision will be undertaken to ensure adequate provision is provided at all times.

Question 9: Will there be event space e.g. for the DEA?

Yes, the building is being designed to ensure there is enough space throughout the building to cater for events. For example there is a large break out space outside the 300 seat lecture theatre that could be used, the atrium space on the ground floor links to the café which could be used for larger events. There will also be space on the 4th floor which may be linked to a potential roof terrace.

IT

Question 10: What is the IT strategy in relation to the future of staff equipment? Tablets etc.

Academic staff

The university is moving away from desktop PC’s to allow academic staff to be more flexible (to allow working from home, travelling and to use as a PC), so by the time the new building is open the standard kit for academic staff will be:

  • Suitably weighted laptop
  • Docking station
  • 22” monitor

Other staff

  • Traditional PC
  • 22” monitor

There will be flexibility to look at dual screens and other equipment on an individual ‘needs’ basis.

Question 11: Will we be looking to use laptops more effectively as part of our teaching?

As we are moving towards providing laptops to Academic staff and we are installing Wi-Fi everywhere on campus this is facilitating the use of such equipment more flexibly in the teaching environment. We are working closely with IT Services to ensure we fit the building appropriately with IT infrastructure and kit.

Question 12: Secure data is increasing (in Economics) so the situation of those staff using secure data needs considering.

Where there’s a requirement for secure data we will ensure we manage it appropriately. This could be managed by ensuring staff who use secure data are located together within an office space. This would ensure confidentiality and data protection. We will be looking at this in more detail as we move forward.

Question 13: We are currently lacking laptop bars, particularly in the EDC area, but also around the university. Will this be considered?

Yes, we are looking at creating a variety of spaces, so laptop bars will be considered within the design of the space.

Staff space

Question 14: Clustering staff within their subject areas may create silos which is something we already have within current academic accommodation.

We are designing a building which accommodates both staff space and teaching space on each floor, and due to the size of the building and the amount of academic and teaching space that is required within the building, the way of space planning has led to staff space being clustered around break out spaces and a kitchenette. We have worked on designing the space to our 16/17 staff projections and have currently clustered staff on floors by department, however the way staff are accommodated is flexible and could potentially change. Due to the size of the building inevitably some clustering will happen however vision of the new building is to promote collaboration and the space will work to ensure staff do not stay solely within their clusters.

Question 15: By not having private staff office zones and by creating staff office spaces close to teaching spaces, the amount of students walking past staff offices or waiting for seminars outside of staff offices may take away the sense of staff having any private space.

We’ve been working with the architects on the design of the build and the plans have been changing on a daily basis. We are creating a building that has a combination of office space and teaching space on each floor but we are zoning the building as far as possible to keep the teaching more condensed in one wing and academic space in the other wing. As a result of feedback from a recent academic stakeholder group we have changed the plans to take into consideration offices that were originally planned directly opposite teaching space, and we are looking at the access routes into teaching spaces to try, as far as possible, to manage this away from office spaces.

Question 16: Within the staff space it is important to create enough break out spaces so they naturally promote different meeting spaces e.g. places to meet students informally and non-confidentially, space to meet students confidentially, place for staff to meet and have lunch etc

The plans for the new building are being designed with social learning, informal and formal breakout spaces as a key component. This is one of the main visions of the new building and we are working with the architects to ensure we have created enough of these spaces, varied enough to naturally create their own usage.

Question 17: How are office spaces allocated to staff, what is the criteria and how are the number of required offices calculated (does this take into account the number of research active staff?)? i.e. 1 person, 2 person, 4 person etc.

CRITERIA FOR OFFICE SIZE
Single Offices:
Head of Department
J Grade staff with director roles
Research Centre Directors
Profs (expectation for need is based on being in 3 days or more per week)
AHoD (subject group)
Double office:
AHOD (other)
Programme managers (110 wlb and above)
AProfs
4 per office:
SL and L with fte at .5 or greater
More open plan space:
L/SL with less than .5 fte
AL’s
Assistant Lecturers
Other visiting staff
Localised Open plan:
Exec Admin
Research Admin
Executive Education Admin
IT, Learning Technologists, Academic Success Centre staff
PhD students

Question 18: How do people comment on how the office space is allocated?

This was an Executive decision which was negotiated after a lot of discussion with the Board of Governors. Initially there was a push for more shared space, however the Faculty Executive felt larger shared spaces would be detrimental and would not support the way in which academic staff work, therefore it was agreed to work on a variety of smaller office sizes.

There will be a number of stakeholder sessions looking at the detail of how the offices will be configured. We are keen to ensure the views and opinions of staff are considered and there are effective mechanisms in place for staff to input into the detailed design stage of the project.

Question 19: 4 person offices won’t work well for staff particularly for those staff supervising a high level of students. How will this be managed in terms of meeting spaces and noise distractions for other colleagues?

We need to create an environment that responds to business need, supports the requirements of staff and is fit-for-purpose, whilst using our estate effectively. We are working with the design team to ensure quiet private spaces are created as well as ensuring staff are accessible and visible to students, colleagues and partners.

As we move through into stage 3 of the project (Developed Design stage) we will be working with the architects and with staff to look at the configuration of the office space including office layout and furniture solutions (i.e. potentially floor to ceiling solutions breaking the room into smaller pods). We will be working closely with staff when looking at the detailed design of the office space to ensure we create an environment which works in the best way possible and creates the least amount of distraction possible for other colleagues.

The building is being designed with an emphasis on formal and informal break out/meeting space and social learning space. This will allow staff to take students away from their office, if appropriate, and meet them in other spaces, either spaces created close to their offices, within their staff cluster space, or somewhere else within the building e.g. café, break out spaces located throughout the building. If a staff member needs to see a student and access their computer to make notes or access information there will be formal and informal break out/meeting spaces available for the staff member to take their laptop and dock it giving them access to all their files (as if it’s their desk PC).

Question 20: Shared offices of 4 wouldn’t work effectively as staff often need to see students in their offices as they require access to their computer, notes etc.

If there are times when a member of staff is seeing a student but requires access to their computer and they are unable to see a student in their office, some of the informal/formal breakout and meeting spaces will have the IT facilities to enable staff to dock their laptop. Once the laptop is docked staff can essentially use their laptop as their PC.

Question 21: Security may be difficult to manage in a 4 person office i.e. locking doors.

The responsibility for ensuring security is maintained for shared offices will remain with the staff as it currently does. The use of electronic access control and locking systems via proximity readers or security card systems for offices will be explored in the detailed design stages of the project.

Question 22: If there are other meeting spaces available for staff to take students (e.g. outside the office in break out space or individual meeting pods) this may be highly utilised in peak times, but under-utilised in quiet times. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to make offices 2 person offices and take away some of the meeting spaces. In the current design, at peak times staff will be struggling to find space to meet students, and in quiet times staff will be sharing office space (up to 4 - crammed) and look out onto empty breakout/meeting space so under-utilised space.

Within the department office clusters a significant allowance for staff breakout and meeting rooms has been allocated within the concept design. The design team and university fully understand the importance of ensuring this space is utilised in peak and off peak periods and is fit for purpose. Also see answer to question 19 in regard to the strategy for 4 Person offices.

Question 23: Will there be blinds for privacy? What will the policy be on this for offices?

As we move into the detailed design phase of the project we will look at this kind of detail. There are a number of different options to help with privacy and we will be looking at these options with staff as part of upcoming detailed stakeholder sessions. However, the offices and space is intended to facilitate an open environment and therefore there is likely to be some element of visibility.

Question 24: Will staff be able to move furniture around in their offices?

As we move forward with the project this will be developed further. We are not in the detailed design phase at this point in the project. But we will be working with staff to look at furniture solutions going forward.

Question 25: Sound transfer is really important. Will noise levels from the atrium be an issue?

The FBL New Build project team include a wide range of specialists. An organogram that outlines the design team can be viewed on the FBL blog (on the 'About the project' page under the 'Stride Treglown' section).