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North Entrance of USB Yard will be closed during the ADES work along Lower Mall
On Friday, March 24, the contractor along Lower Mall will be moving southward. The north entrance to USB will be closed. Access will be restricted to the south entrance. Reminder, with the south gate used both as entrance and exit, this will create a change in the flow of traffic in the yard. Slow down and use extreme caution when entering and exiting the lot over the next few weeks.
You’re invited to attend the raising of the Reconciliation Pole, Saturday, April 1st
To honour a time before, during and after Canada’s Indian Residential Schools, UBC invites you to join in the raising of Reconciliation Pole. The 55-foot tall Reconciliation Pole will be installed in the manner of a traditional Haida pole raising. All are welcome to attend. Rain or shine.
Saturday, April 1, 2017 at 1:00 pm
Main Mall, between Agronomy Road and Thunderbird Boulevard
A few hundred people will be pulling ropes to help raise the pole. There will be a ceremony director and then sub-directors at each rope (approximately five or six ropes in all) who will tell the raisers what to do, when to pull, etc. The process will take approximately 1 – 1.5 hours. There will be a free salmon BBQ at 4:30pm.
For more information about the event, the carving of the 55-foot pole, or the commissioning, visit: http://ceremonies.ubc.ca/reconciliation-pole/
Thank you to all the teams—and there are many—who are working to support or volunteer their time at the event.
Steps for scheduling medical/dental appointments during work hours
A reminder that if you have the need to arrange a routine medical or dental appointment, attempt to schedule your appointment outside of your regular hours of work. When scheduling an appointment, you must:
- ask for an appointment time that falls outside of your regular working hours (on your flex day)
- if it is not possible to schedule an appointment outside of working hours on a particular date, ask whether other dates are available (including weekends or flex days); or
- if no appointments are available outside of working hours on any date, ask for an appointment that falls near the beginning or the end of your regularly scheduled shift.
Zone employees: be sure to inform your FM and Head if you are leaving part way through the day for any reason.
Carpentry Shop Works with Award Winning Mechanical Engineering Students
The carpentry shop fabricated a table to assist in the mounting of various mechanical/electrical components used in designing a rudder actuation system for the award winning Sailbot Team.
Here’s what they had to say:
“In the past, we designed, built, and raced robotic sailboats in the International Robotic Sailing Regatta, for which we won three years in a row. The regatta is very competitive and features teams from universities and high schools across North America and Europe.
More recently, we took on a multi-year project to build an ocean-going sailboat named “Ada” to autonomously cross the Atlantic Ocean, which received extensive national and international media. You can see more about Ada in this CBC article.
We are currently working on a much more challenging and resource-demanding project: the Vic-Maui Yacht Race, in which we will be the first autonomous sailboat to complete the challenge from Vancouver Island, Canada, to Maui, USA.
At this stage, the team is well into the design of the robotic vessel. The new vessel is intended to integrate cutting-edge technology and custom-developed autonomous systems, while withstanding the dangers and overcoming the obstacles presented by the North Pacific.”
Thanks to Martin Varma and Dan Lappin for their participation and putting students first! Another example of why we’re all here!
Researchers tour ESB rooftop to see our systems and how their research activities impact the environment
On March 9th, a group of researchers toured the rooftop of Earth Science Building to learn more about how their research activities impact the environment. The group was met with staff from Building Operations, Energy and Water Services, and Risk Management Services to learn more about fume hood exhaust systems, including stacks and scrubbers. The first “a-ha” moment was when the group approached the roof mechanical room and saw the complexity of the systems at play.
We discussed how the fume hood exhaust system works and the challenges of operating and maintaining such a system effectively—maximizing uptime for research and tempering this with sustainability.
“Thanks to everyone who put together this tour. It was very informative and reassuring that a lot of precautions are put into place so that clean air will come out from the hood collecting a lot of nasty things,” said UBC researcher Agripina C. Suarez.
The tour was part of a Lunch and Learn series organized by Green Labs. Photo features a group of researches along with FM Jason Wright (BOps), Julie Pett (EWS) and Ligia Gheorghita (RMS). Thank you for working collaboratively and sharing your expertise to help the UBC community understand the complexities of our world class campus.
Building Operations’ Twitter Account: How Are We Doing?
UBC students and visitors have been looking for a way to easily report non-emergency service requests, and we have been looking for an easy way to collect feedback on the spaces we operate and maintain.
It’s been almost one month since we launched the @UBCFixMySpace Twitter account as a way for Twitter users—namely students—to report maintenance issues to Building Operations. The account was promoted to the campus community through newsletters, and with help from the Custodial team, with new posters in building washrooms.
In this short time, the account has been well received and is growing every day! Here’s what our journey into Twitter has looked like to date, by the numbers.
Twitter Lunch ‘n Learn coming soon
Also, since our launch of Twitter account, some Building Operations crew members have expressed interest in learning more about Twitter in general. In response to this, we will be hosting a Twitter Lunch n’ Learn clinic in the coming weeks.
Curious what it is and how to use it for your personal use? If you’re interested in attending the Lunch and Learn, please e-mail Building Operations Business Analyst Pearle Lundeen.