Ali Kteich

Ten minutes with Ali Kteich

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Last updated on 16 April 2024

Meet Ali Kteich, Senior Fitness Instructor at the University of Leeds. Ali is an ambassador of the Facilities Directorate’s Staff Voice programme, a forum where volunteer representatives from the directorate discuss ideas, questions and concerns raised by their colleagues and work together to find solutions.

Can you describe your job in a few sentences?

I work at the Edge as a Senior Fitness Instructor. I supervise a team of fitness instructors and work daily to improve the service we provide in Sport and Physical Activity.

Can you explain what the FD Staff Voice is from your perspective?

The FD Staff Voice is about coming together as a group to raise issues and improvements into the right channels, and then feeding back the actions that have been taken to improve our working environment to the wider service.

It’s almost like a bridge between the managers and the rest of the service. It’s already helping to enable two-way communication between senior people and the rest of the service.

How did you become involved in the FD Staff Voice?

Joining the FD Staff Voice was recommended to me by a manager, and I felt like it was a way I could make a difference.

I’m part of the service’s Equality Diversity and Inclusion panel, so I felt that I could bring some of my experience from that to Staff Voice to ensure everyone is being treated equally and fairly.

I also wanted to make sure that more staff felt empowered within the FD, and that more attention was given to details that would help to improve the working environment.

What does your role in the FD Staff Voice involve?

We gather the concerns and suggestions that have been raised to us by colleagues and make sure that they’re passed on to the right people and channels.

We also make sure that the right people are available to provide support for colleagues if needed.

What do you find to be beneficial about being a part of the programme?

I believe being a part of the FD Staff Voice is helping to improve my own performance. It’s beneficial for me to be able to feed back concerns and improvements from colleagues in terms of improving my own communication skills.

I work reduced hours due to my disability, so this programme is really helping me to progress on a personal level. It’s helping to meet more people and know more about the campus and how the university operates, which is really important and beneficial for me.

Why is the FD Staff Voice important for colleagues?

It is helping to improve the communication channels we have within our department, and to help facilitate communication and feedback between colleagues and their managers.

It’s also helping to make decisions easier for decision-makers, because they now have that direct channel of feedback from colleagues.

I can feel the willing among senior colleagues to resolve the issues that have been raised. I can see the impact that is being made, which makes it easier for people to tell us what they need.

What is your ambition for FD Staff Voice?

I want to make the workplace better for everybody, by making sure that it’s an enjoyable and comfortable place for people to work.

I want to see this scheme improving year after year. It’s just the first year, so I’m really hopeful that we’ll continue to get that support from managers across the department to make more genuine changes to the service.

Read our 10 minutes with FD Staff Voice champion, Matthew Whiteley and FD Staff Voice ambassador, Carla Tucker.

Geothermal drilling site on campus

Work starts on new geothermal drilling sites

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Last updated on 16 April 2024

Drilling has started on new locations on campus as part of an Estates-led project to discover whether geothermal energy can be used to heat campus buildings.

The latest round of work is taking place at locations near Henry Price Residences, Leeds University Business School and Storm Jameson.

Work on the site is expected to continue until mid-April and follows the successful completion of a borehole at a first site at the Henry Price Residences in mid-February.

If successful, it could provide a clean, sustainable source of heat that reduces our reliance on both fossil fuels and electricity.

A thirty-foot drilling rig has been on campus since the start of February and has already drilled to depths of over 150 metres as part of the project.

The holes being drilled include water wells, which are looking for underground water at the right temperature to use for geothermal energy and monitoring wells, which are used to check the impact of extracting heat on the surrounding areas.

The project, which is part of the University’s Net Zero Delivery Plan, is bringing together experts from the Facilities Directorate and the academic community alongside specialists from ANTS Drilling and engineering firm Buro Happold.

David Oldroyd, Interim Director of Development at the University of Leeds, said: “This is an exciting collaborative project, with partners from both inside and outside of the University working closely together to make positive progress.

“This work has the potential to save money, provide a more sustainable way of heating campus in line with the University’s Net Zero goals and set an example for future energy innovation.”

Pip Hunsworth, Associate Director at Buro Happold said: “I never expected when doing my undergraduate and MSc at the University of Leeds that I would be involved in a project on campus like this.

“A key part of our work involves collaborating with the academic teams to ensure the data that is obtained can be used as part of the university’s future works associated with their net zero ambitions. It’s exciting.”

Tom Beeson, Senior Engineering Geologist at Buro Happold said: “I’m very happy to be given the opportunity to be working on a renewable energy scheme in my local area. With the challenge of climate change at the forefront of Civil Engineering, we must find innovative solutions to decarbonise.”

Find out more by visiting our project page and the Sustainability team’s website.

Image credit: Ben Craven

Carla Tucker from the Sustainability Service

Ten minutes with Carla Tucker

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Last updated on 16 April 2024

Meet Carla Tucker, Sustainability Project Co-ordinator. Carla is one of the Facilities Directorate’s Staff Voice Ambassadors.

The FD Staff Voice is a forum where volunteer representatives from the directorate discuss ideas, questions and concerns raised by their colleagues and work together to find solutions.

Read our interview with FD Staff Voice Champion, Matthew Whiteley.

Can you describe your role in a few sentences?

I’m the Sustainability Project Co-ordinator and a member of the Sustainability Service. My role is to manage our certified Environmental Management System (EMS), alongside the Environmental Compliance Officer. It’s a framework that the university uses to minimise risk and maximise opportunities with regards to the potential environmental impact of its activities.

My day-to-day includes building inspections, audits, reviewing EMS documents and providing EMS information to staff and students.

What is the FD Staff Voice?

The FD Staff Voice is almost like an experiment that looks to bring about positive culture change within the FD. It’s a group of people working together to make the working experience for everyone in the FD better.

Why is the FD Staff Voice important for colleagues?

It’s self-empowering. Yes, we can’t change everything, but here’s an opportunity where you can have actual input, which could potentially bring about lasting change. I know people can be sceptical when programmes like this start, but it’s something worth doing and having input in. It could make a difference.

I can appreciate that this is a long-term process, and it may take some time before you might see lasting results, but I don’t think people should be discouraged by that. Especially when you’re working in a large organisation with so many different work areas, getting everyone on the same page takes time. But we will get there.

How did you become involved in the FD Staff Voice?

I was already looking to do some volunteering work that would enable me to meet more members of staff from both inside and outside the Directorate, because a part of my role is to promote the EMS.

A manager approached me to ask if I’d be interested in representing the Sustainability Service for the FD Staff Voice programme. I read the description and thought that it sounded interesting. In a previous role, I helped with a social and sports club, so I could see the value of a programme like this and what it can create in the future.

What is beneficial about being involved in the programme?

As I said, a part of my role involves promoting the EMS, and I’ve been able to meet people from different areas to do that. It’s been useful to find out how other teams and departments function and why things are the way they are. I’ve even met someone who was able to give me advice on an issue I found in an inspection.
For me, just meeting and working with people, you really get to see their personality, which I think is really cool.

What would you like to achieve on the programme?

It’s still a new thing, so I haven’t been able to think too much about specific ambitions, but one thing I’d like to do is to work with the rest of the group to formalise processes to help the FD Staff Voice become a sustainable programme.

Even if it allows people to engage with people they don’t usually interact with, it definitely adds value.

Find out more about the FD Staff Voice.

Rosa Quintana with the Grounds & Gardens team.

New exhibition celebrating work of Grounds & Gardens team opens

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Last updated on 16 April 2024

A photography exhibition created by a Facilities Directorate colleague that celebrates the work of the University’s Grounds & Gardens team has opened.

‘Behind the greens’, which is the work of Cleaning Services team member Rosa Quintana, will be on display in the Refectory foyer until Thursday 14th March.

Rosa, who has a professional background in photography, shadowed the team throughout the year to capture 24 striking images of colleagues working through sun, rain and snow to keep campus in top condition.

Rosa’s latest exhibition

It is the second time that Rosa has exhibited her work at the University after her 2022 exhibition ‘Unobtrusive Impact’, which focused on the vital efforts of the University’s Cleaning Services team in keeping the University safe during the pandemic.

She said:

“Gardeners make our walks around the university more pleasant. Everyone likes green areas around us. We enjoy them, we take advantage of the peace and beauty that they generate.

“We rarely stop to think who is behind it all, making possible the colours of every season. Who plants, who feeds, who takes care of and looks after the plants and trees around us?

“These people who do everything from looking after the green areas, keeping the campus clean and even the bins empty. These almost hidden people enrich our experience so subtly.”

Recognising the hard work of the team

Rob Wadsworth, Director of Campus Innovation at the University of Leeds, said:

“Rosa’s exhibition celebrates the important and often tireless work of our Grounds and Gardens team, who make sure that our campus looks its best all-year round.

“This work is an example of what our teams within our Facilities Directorate can achieve when we collaborate and shines a light on the role our directorate plays in ensuring that students and staff are in an environment where they can flourish, succeed and make a difference.”

Find out more about Rosa’s work by visiting her portfolio website.

You can share your favourite photos of the exhibition by tagging @UoLCampusDevelopment on Instagram.