The Professional Services Hubs at University Park, Kings Meadow, Jubilee and Sutton Bonington campuses will be upgraded and expanded to accommodate growing numbers of colleagues who are now using them.

Since the removal of Covid-19 restrictions in late February 2022, use of the hubs has continued to increase as individuals and teams adapt to new ways of working and spend more time on campus whilst retaining the benefits of hybrid working patterns.

A number of improvements will be introduced over the coming months to support individual staff using the hubs and increase the amount of workspace available to different teams:

• a dedicated Workplace Manager has been recruited to oversee the development of the hubs and their day-to-day operation, providing support and maintaining supplies and services for each office location. The Workplace Manager will in in post from Monday 12 December;
• missing or faulty desktop equipment will be replaced, and staff who need them will be issued with essentials such as connectors to enable them to work at any location with ease;
• further shared spaces will be created at Kings Meadow Campus, and next year the Jubilee hub will be expanded to further floors of the Yang Fujia building;
• the size of team zones will then be increased for External Relations, Research & Innovation, Finance, Estates & Facilities and the Campaign and Alumni Relations Office; and spaces to support confidential, collaborative, and quiet working will also be significantly increased.

The long-term vision remains to co-locate all central professional service teams into a single location on University Park, which would also release Kings Meadow campus for sale or alternative use. However, there are no plans over the short to medium term to release Kings Meadow and professional service colleagues should continue to work at the hubs located at Kings Meadow, University Park and elsewhere as they do now.

A number of options for a single location for central professional services teams are being evaluated, including the refit of the Tower Building. The Tower is currently undergoing a full strip out of its existing services, internal walls and finishes to ensure the building is ready for refurbishment.

However, full refurbishment will be delayed by up to two years whilst the economic climate is leading to sharply rising costs in the construction sector and the need to prioritise projects across the university estate. Colleagues can be assured that it remains a strategically important project and we will restart works just as soon as the financial climate allows.

As the academic year progresses you may find that some of the hubs are busy on certain days, particularly Tuesday to Thursdays on University Park. Please respect bookings that have been made, but also release your booking where you no longer require it at the earliest opportunity. Peak attendance is also trending strongly in the middle of the week, so if you want to meet up and use the hubs as a large group you may find Mondays and Fridays are more convenient.

The hubs are shared spaces, so please treat them accordingly.

Should you spot anything that needs fixing in the hub you are using, please do raise it for resolution at the earliest possible opportunity by contacting PS Hubs mailbox, the Estates Help Desk or the DTS Service Desk as appropriate.

You can also raise issues and questions via your representative on the Hub Management Group.

There will be a quarterly update email summarising progress for colleagues who use the hubs. You will be able to find more regular updates on the Professional Service Hubs SharePoint.