The Director’s Award gives special recognition to an individual or team who has consistently demonstrated the Professional Services values to enrich the lives of our students, staff and key stakeholders.
The nominees for the Director’s Award were:
Adele Kalsi (Security Services) and David Oram (Venues and Events)
Over the last year Adele and David have supported the delivery of the University’s lateral flow test centre which, of course, eventually turned into multiple test centres.
With little to no briefing, both individuals stepped up to form a team and, through great communication and excellent collaboration, delivered an excellent operation.
They deserve the highest recognition for being so agile, managing newly formed large teams who delivered 5 test sites over a 9-month period. Thank you to Adele and David.
Winterbourne House and Garden team
This entire team are continually enthused to make their area of work the best it can possibly be. The garden team work with students, volunteers and the Maples nursery to provide a rich and immersive environment. They also support learning placements for student gardeners to help further their studies.
The quality of the work makes the garden a rich and stimulating visit for visitors and regularly features on the best gardens in Birmingham lists.
The Visitor services team work to meet and greet the visitors each day, providing a friendly and informative welcome. They have coped brilliantly with the continuing challenges of covid to make sure that the site is accessible to all whilst providing reassurance to visitors.
The tearoom work tirelessly to meet the demands of the customers each day, many of whom are repeat visitors. It can be a stressful and busy job but they always greet the customers with a smile and show excellent customer service.
Amy Church
Amy has shown tremendous leadership, flexibility, and resilience in the past twelve months across a number of critical projects.
Amy was seconded in December 2020 to support the institution’s response to Covid-19 which, whilst was not directly in Campus Services, fell heavily on residences and other CS operations. Her close links to Campus Services meant she was a fantastic support for us.
Amy returned as Head of Village Operations in summer 2021 and led the preparations for our first ‘normal’ student return in September 2021, which was very successful. Due to a number of factors, during the busy term 1, the villages teams found themselves five managers short of a full complement. Amy had to ensure service was maintained, as well as that progress was made in various large projects.
The operational handover of Pritchatts Park happened during this period - exceptionally complex in a live site after 50 years of UoB operations there.
Preparations for the Athletes’ Village also progressed successfully, which is a huge undertaking alongside business as usual. These are all major achievements in themselves requiring much planning and time – Amy managed to deliver all of them simultaneously ensuring Student Accommodation went from strength to strength.
This year’s Director’s award winner was Amy Church.
