The Campus Stars campaign has been launched to showcase the colleagues still working on campus during the lockdown and highlight the crucial work they do.

Simon Villano is a Maintenance Electrician in the Maintenance team and has been working at the University for two years. Simon works on University Park and Sutton Bonington campuses, occasionally covering Jubilee Campus too.

Simon’s role involves various technical tasks, including technical maintenance in student accommodation such as fixing existing light fittings or lighting circuits, attending power outages to perform fault-finding and replacing broken equipment such as socket-outlets.

During the pandemic, the Maintenance team has been split into two groups working alternative weeks to enable social distancing. During the week off campus, team members remain on call in case they are needed on campus. During his time on campus, Simon has continued his usual work whilst also carrying out planned preventative maintenance such as weekly fire alarm tests, generator checks and water flushing.

Recently, Simon has also been involved in preparing the main campus buildings for reopening by placing signs in accordance with health and safety instructions. Simon not only works to ensure that students that remain on campus can continue to have working building services, but also ensures that all buildings remain functional and ready to be reopened. During the past few months, the Estates Maintenance Manager and other colleagues have continued supporting each other either in person on campus or via email and phone communication.

Although Simon has found lockdown difficult, he has enjoyed relaxing at home, reading books and watching films. He recently read George Orwell’s 1984 and enjoyed watching The Joker. He has also spent this time studying for an HNC in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and the time at home has given him the opportunity to complete the course.

Simon enjoys the inclusive environment at the University of Nottingham and the good work-life balance. He has been happy contributing to the ongoing University maintenance over the past couple of months and supporting the students remaining in University accommodation.

Simon’s message to the University community is that although these have been difficult times, we will all emerge from this stronger. He would also like to thank the Estates Maintenance team including the electricians, plumbers, fitters, joiners and painters for continuing to work through the pandemic and doing a great job!