The contractor is due to start on site on Monday 30 October. We have arranged an all-staff meeting on Wednesday 18 October where we will aim to answer any questions you have, but in the meantime, we hope the information below is helpful.
The contractor will start on site on Monday 30 October. All work will be done out of hours (Monday-Thursday 6pm-midnght, and during the day at weekends). The first job will be to clear the offices on the east corridor so that the two storage rooms can be created. Some of these rooms will remain out of use as they will become the contractor’s site offices, however we hope at least two will be returned to us quickly as new bookable meeting rooms. The four new tea points will also be installed in the first couple of weeks. The contractor will then start on the installation of the ground floor lockers likely around the second week of November. Further down the line lockers will be installed on the first floor, the two-person offices will be worked on, and the northwest first floor open plan area will be reconfigured. We will send regular updates once the works start so that everyone is aware of where work is being carried out and when.
The north and south small offices have now been allocated by centres. There will be an additional four bookable offices on the north corridor for use by Blizard staff for work that requires private space.
Staff and students will book their desk on Space Connect which is the app used at Dept W. This will go live once the work is finished which is likely to be late December/early January. ITS are still working with the supplier to see what adaptations are possible including how far in advance bookings can be made, and how staff can make bookings for visitors and work experience students. More information will be circulated when it is available. Bookings for desks in the bookable offices will also be made via Space Connect, and meeting rooms will be booked either via Outlook or by using the new electronic booking panels that will be installed outside each room. The three existing meeting rooms (Large Cloud, Small Cloud and Spikey) will continue to be booked via Outlook or reception.
We are continuing to work with ITS to establish which staff do not have a NWOW-ready device. If you don’t have an appropriate laptop, please speak to your centre manager as soon as possible. Locks for laptops will not be provided as part of the NWOW project and staff will be expected to store their laptop in their locker when they are away from their desk.
All desks in the open-plan area will have two monitors except those being taken out of the booking system due to specific hardware needing to be kept. Desks in the allocated offices will keep the existing set-up and will not have additional monitors fitted.
ITS are currently conducting internal security and architecture checks to ensure viability and compliance. Instructions will be circulated as soon as it is ready to be launched.
Desk phones will not be removed as part of NWOW however you may want to consider moving to a soft phone if suitable for your needs. Further information can be found on the ITS website.
Two storage rooms will be created along the east corridor, each of which will house 15 tambours. Overhead cabinets are remaining but all other storage (extra tambours, filing cabinets, pedestals etc) will be cleared. The old lockers will be removed, and all staff and PGR students will be allocated a new locker (500mmx500mmx500mm).
Sensors (XY Sense) will be installed around the building which will provide anonymous data on how the workspaces are being used which will include:
The sensors will remain for a three-year period, and will continue to monitor actual usage, whereas Space Connect is a tool which provides users an automated way to book desks, find colleagues at a glance, view available desks on a floor plan and check you in to your desk. Whilst some analytics are available through Space Connect it only provides data on desks booked and does not provide the range of data available through the XY Sense system on actual utilisation. For more information on XY Sense, please see the FAQs:
XY Sense FAQs [PDF 117KB]
Success of the pilot will be assessed as part of the post occupancy evaluation which will be carried out during the first six months and continue to be monitored. Success will be measured against a number of criteria which will include:
If you have any initial questions, please feel free to contact Rachael rachael.parker@qmul.ac.uk. Alternatively anonymous comments and suggestions can be put in the small metal ‘suggestions’ box in the coffee machine area.