Top Stories
SHARING OUR STORY AS CAMPUS AND ASSET STEWARDS THROUGH THE APPA SELF-ASSESSMENT REPORT
For the past two years we have been talking about EAOS and what that means to enable us to move from reactive maintenance to planned proactive operations and maintenance (read more about EAOS here). We have achieved a great deal and probably more than any of us realize.
We have created new roles to build strategic and technical capabilities in the trades group.
We have created better handover processes.
We have built a new Continuous Improvement Team.
We have improved customer service.
We have collaborated with Sauder School of Operational Excellence to review our Custodial practices.
We have created a leadership development program.
Yes, this is an impressive list! Over the coming weeks, we’ll share more about these areas and celebrate our successes. And clearly, this list does not include all of the achievements and improvements made over the past few years. We manage 9,000,000 square feet of campus with an FCI of 0.30! We do remarkable work behind the scenes. We need to share our efforts and successes outward enough for the campus to appreciate. Unfortunately, for many campus users, their only experience with us is during equipment failure.
In order to build organizational awareness of our operational practices, validate excellent and innovative work where it is happening, and identify areas for improvement we are undertaking the APPA FMEP assessment http://www.appa.org/FMEP/index.cfm.
We’re now preparing this report. As with all of our major initiatives, Janice is heading this one. She or one of her team may seek you in the next little while to validate facts, provide examples or edit text. We thank you in advance for the time and attention you can provide to help make our submission a comprehensive and accurate celebration of what we do.
This report is first step toward applying for an award of excellence, and one we are well positioned to win in the near future—but we’re not just doing it for the award!
We have a new President, a new Board of Governors, a relatively new VP Finance and Operations, and I believe the APPA process will provide a very comprehensive review of our organization that we can learn a great deal from. It will also provide our senior leaders comfort and confidence in our new direction.
The campus is our story. We are helping to write a best-seller when campus spaces perform well to support excellence in teaching research and create a safe and inviting campus.
KUDOS TO THE GARDENER SHOP FOR INTENSE CLEAN-UP AFTER THE WINDSTORM, JUST IN TIME FOR GRADUATION CEREMONIES
Following the wind storm last week, the Soft Landscape Shop came together quickly in the early morning for an intense clean-up in order to minimize the impact to graduation ceremonies. With the entire campus as a photo back drop at this time of year for many visitors, there was a lot of work to do all around campus. Plus, many people were lined up at the Chan Centre before 7am so the crews really had to be quick and quiet with their clean-up. The whole shop was involved to make short work of the clean-up, which included:
- Cutting and chipping a downed Ash Tree on Crescent Road.
- Hand raking all nearby lawns to clean up the mess made by the windstorm, as they could not use their noisy leaf blowers.
- Clearing a large Cottonwood branch at Cecil Green, with minimal impact to the events that were taking place.
- Cleaning the North area before 10am and clearing downed trees and tree debris on all major corridors along Main Mall.
Kudos to the Soft Landscape Shop for their well-organized response to the windstorm.
PREPARING TO REPLACE PONDEROSA A-G CEDAR WALLS TO KEEP ENVELOPE IN GOOD SHAPE
The exterior cedar walls at Ponderosa A-G are soon to be replaced. This preventive maintenance includes replacing the entire south elevation of one building and other isolated repairs, including fascia boards. Some of the more deteriorated areas have been identified and mapped out. The new siding has arrived and is currently being painted (see below). The siding will be installed during the summer months and will keep Ponderosa in good shape and looking sharp.
PM WORK PLANNED DURING HIGH VOLTAGE SHUTDOWNS ONCE AGAIN PROVES BENEFICIAL FOR LESSONS LEARNED ON THE DISTRICT HEATING SYSTEM
During a recent planned high voltage feeder shutdown, our team proactively found a shortfall with the district energy actuators.
By having a controlled and planned shutdown, we were able to identify and resolve a potential failure that otherwise (if found during regular operations) would put our teams in a reactive state and affect building heat.
Not only did this planned shutdown allow us to manage the deficiencies found with the installation of DES actuators proactively, but now we can also check on these potential issues in other buildings too.
QMI BUILDING HANDOVER LAST WEEK ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF HOW WE ARE IMPROVING THIS PROCESS
The new Quantum Matter Institute building (QMI), which is an addition to the AMPEL Brimacombe building, is home to researchers who will use quantum mechanical concepts to develop new materials and devices.
This work will have very cool applications for electronics, the automotive industry, the health care sector, and sustainable energy—and is bound to make UBC famous!
The 4,820 m² addition was given full occupancy and turned over to Building Operations last Wednesday. All minimum requirements set out by the system owners were delivered and while there are number of design and construction issues, we are working hard with UBCPT to ensure they don’t make maintenance challenging for decades to come.
This is another example of how we have drastically improved our handover process but can still use our knowledge and experience to deliver better total cost of ownership outcomes for the University. With projects coming on line now through design phase we are more actively participating in design and construction support.
Thanks to all involved in this transition. Kudos to the Custodial team for reacting swiftly in getting the building prepared for occupancy with short notice. Thanks to John Sacre, Shane Whittaker, Andrew Porritt and Marcus Drozdzik for diagnosing and resolving deficiencies, and working collaboratively with FM Mark Donald-Jones to arrange the walk-throughs and demonstrations for the trades, custodial and utility workers.
IMPROVING OFFICE AND STUDY SPACES IN WOODWARD LIBRARY WITH CORRECTED LIGHTING
The lights in Woodward have been changed and altered over the years. The result was inconsistent and spotty lighting throughout the library and offices in the building.
Our Electrical Projects crew took on a job to correct the lighting issues and involved E&W in the lighting upgrade where they provided new LED tubes for the job. The electricians installed the LED tubes in all fixtures as they went through, rewiring, and replacing burnt out ballasts. The project also allowed certain office users to customize their own room lighting. The project was completed in two months. The building users have been extremely happy with the added functionality of the spaces.
Quick Updates
LEAVING UBC: GREG THRIFT AND CORKY CORTUSAN
NPS SCORE REMAINED AT 81% WITH 3 NEW PROMOTERS AND 1 NEW DETRACTOR.