SUMMARY -A YEAR IN REVIEW
DTEF ANNUAL REPORT 2023-2024
Introduction
Welcome to the 2023/24 Annual Report for the Directorate of Technology, Estates and Facilities (DTEF) at the University of York! This report provides a comprehensive overview of our activities, achievements, and key statistics for the past academic year, October 2023 to September 2024.
DTEF plays a vital role in supporting the University's core functions of teaching, research, and student life. With over 700 staff, we manage a broad range of responsibilities, including:
- Information Technology Services (IT Services)
- Estates Operations and Maintenance
- Development and Refurbishment
- Campus Facilities Management
- Accommodation Services
- Commercial Services
- Sustainability
This report is divided into three main sections:
We are committed to providing a high quality of service to all members of the University community. This report demonstrates our dedication to innovation, sustainability, and creating a positive learning and working environment for everyone.
2.0 TECHNOLOGY
New Virtual Desktop Service (VDS)
This is the digital equivalent of a building demolition! On the 23rd October we launched the new Virtual Desktop Service, enabling us to turn off the old Parallels services on the 8th December. The new service is a “cloud” service which will enable us to switch off ~300 physical PCs that currently power the old service, this will save us at least 8.5 tonnes of CO2e and £11k in electricity costs.
In September 2023, around 80% of undergraduate and postgraduate students began their courses on the new and much improved, cloud-based Blackboard ULTRA VLE learning environment. A fantastic success story for the VLE Transformation project, the result of nearly two and half years of hard work and careful planning to first upgrade to the new platform and then re-engineer all the teaching and learning content into the new templates and formats. Not only is there a new and improved user experience for students, the project also achieved their aim of providing a much more holistic and standardised VLE experience for students across different courses and departments/schools. The VLE Transformation project was the first major University project where user research informed our approach from the start. The benefits include:
- A service available 24 hours a day, 7 days per week, all year round, with monthly feature updates and no scheduled downtime.
- Over 5,000 hours of academic staff time saved by more than 60 project funded posts across 17 departments reviewing and rebuilding site content on their behalf.
- Improved accessibility for users across the VLE, with significant improvements for those using mobile devices.
- The project also showcased great collaboration across multiple teams in the organisation, spanning DTEF, Faculties, and Student and Academic Services. On behalf of all those involved, we’d like to say thank you for making this project a great success.
- Also in September 2023, Student & Academic Services rolled out ‘Check-In’ to students, a new tool to support the University to identify students who may be struggling or experiencing difficulties engaging with their courses. Students are asked to register their attendance at their timetabled sessions and, if a low level of attendance is identified, support and guidance can be offered more immediately to help. In a short space of time (9 weeks) those involved in the Student Welfare and Wellbeing project tendered, procured and implemented the solution and conducted the engagement and roll-out activities with all academic departments and schools to make this a success. In Semester 1, 95% of possible events had a Check-In code generated and used after the initial 2 weeks. Indeed, in the first few weeks of usage, uptake and engagement by students far exceeded the expectations of everyone involved - the supplier commented they had never seen such an uptake at first launch, even exceeding current usage levels at other, larger HE institutions who had been using the tool for a number of years.
University awarded for sustainable IT collaboration project
The University has been awarded the Outstanding Collaborative project by a framework supplier by the UK Universities Purchasing Consortia (UKUPC). The award celebrates the partnership between IT Services and our IT provider Stone Group, and our sustainable approach to IT equipment.
Stone was appointed as the University’s supplier of IT hardware and associated peripherals following a rigorous competitive tender process undertaken by IT Services and the University’s Procurement Team. Through this partnership the University has now saved 44.1 metric tonnes of IT equipment from landfill by either recycling or refurbishing more than 4,500 unwanted devices.
MyUoY app
Since July, the MyUoY app team successfully released another version of York’s student app, adding value for current and newly arriving students ahead of semester start. Campus Explore - Favourites (v2.4.0) allows students and staff to build lists of favourite venues and locations making it easier to navigate around campus.
Smart Data Donation Service
A new data service which empowers individuals to understand their own online data and share it safely with researchers to help improve digital wellbeing has its technical architecture designed by IT (Tech & Cyber). The £7.6 million Smart Data Donation Service (SDDS), led by the University of York, is focused on addressing the significant gap in understanding digital lives.
Library network upgrade
The network in the Library buildings has been significantly improved over recent months. We now have almost three times as many wireless access points there than before.
IT Services have won the award for the Sustainable Digital Project or Initiative at the prestigious UCISA awards. Some of the things we are doing are:
Reducing how much we print
We’ve reduced the number of multi-function printers on campus by 40%. We’ve also been encouraging staff and students to print less and use alternatives to printing where possible, as well as educating them on how to avoid spoiled prints. This project is estimated to be saving 3.03 tonnes of CO2e per year and was delivered by a staff and student-led Green Impact Project Team, who went on to win a Green Impact Platinum Award.
Powering down equipment when it’s not being used
We’re currently rolling out a process to shut down equipment in our PC classrooms when they’re not being used. Already, this is estimated to have saved 18.8 tonnes of CO2 and over £25,000 in electricity costs. Similarly, we’ve set up sensors in approximately 300 teaching rooms to automatically turn off equipment in rooms which aren’t being used.
Recycling old IT equipment
Working with our IT hardware provider, we've recycled and refurbished over 4,500 devices and prevented 44 tonnes of IT waste from reaching landfills. When we use the providers app to book collections of unwanted laptops and PCs, we contribute to their tree planting programme and earn cash rebates, many of which are donated to charities.
Viking 2
We’ve moved our high-performance computing cluster, Viking, to EcoDataCenter in Sweden. Viking is used by lots of our researchers to develop and complete compute jobs. EcoDataCenter is the world’s first data centre to be made from wood and runs on 100% renewable energy. The centre also utilises excess heat created by the computer clusters to dry wood and create pellets which act as a renewable energy source.
Reducing power consumption across our data centres
We've reduced the amount of power used across our main campus data centres by 12.6%. This process includes removing old, inefficient switches, tracking down departmental owners of servers and decommissioning equipment no longer needed. Data centres are physical locations where we store all our computer systems and IT infrastructure.
3.0 ESTATES
|
Number of buildings |
436 |
|
GIA |
384,148 |
|
Total site area |
217.7 ha |
|
Total property costs per m^2 (AUDE report?) |
£108 |
|
Non-pay budget spend (cost of maintaining the estate) |
£13,091,435 |
|
Condition of the estate A/B/C |
Non-Residential: 95.5% B = 56.2%; C = 34.4%
B = 60.0%; C = 36.0% |
|
Dalham teams |
|
|
Number of people |
88 |
|
Grounds |
|
|
Trees planted |
3,130 trees planted by grounds staff, community volunteers organised through Treemendous and friends and family of Caitlin Cole in her memory. |
|
Property |
|
|
How much property do we own? |
Non-Residential: 76.2% |
During the period of 2023/24 the following is a taste of some of the work that the Dalham Maintenance and Grounds teams have been involved in.
Student Exhibition
Members of the Dalham Farm Team recently installed a canoe in Berrick Saul reception area for the "Centre for Indigenous and Settler Colonial Studies", helped with the History of Art student exhibition in Spring Lane opened by The VC and installed boards at Heslington East for the BAME mural.
Green Flag Campus
The Green Flag award is the benchmark national standard for publicly accessible parks and green spaces in the United Kingdom. We've maintained our Green Flag status for 12 consecutive years.
Hedgehog Friendly Campus
Platinum status (one of only two universities) award gained in January 2023 from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS), is the culmination of four years’ work which has seen staff and students create hedgehog friendly habitat, install feeding stations and assist with surveying and rescuing injured animals.
New Education And Community Centre Opens For Taster Sessions
A new education and community space, offering residents of Westfield fair access to new opportunities opened in autumn 2023 following significant work by the Estates Operations Team.
Following a renovation project over the summer, The Place opened to the local community on Monday, 30 October for a series of drop-in sessions, including art and craft workshops, physical fitness activities and to give residents the opportunity to look around the new space and ask any questions they might have from the team.
Halifax room upgrades
Estates completed refurbishment work in Halifax College over the summer updating 120+ rooms with new flooring, shower, and toilet spaces in the shared areas. The kitchens remain as they were and have been decorated throughout.
3.2 DEVELOPMENT
Psychology Study Space
A brand shiny new study space has been created for students in the Psychology department. The room features a number of desks as well as larger tables for collaborative study and a sofa area for students from all departments to use.
The new room is in Psychology Block B on the corridor between the Psychology reception and lecture theatre PS/B/020.
It is hoped the design will be used as a template for the development of future study spaces across campus offering standardisation of quality and space.
Music moves to Ron Cooke Hub
Work to move parts of the Music department to the Ron Cooke Hub have been completed allowing the department to move in. The building has been reconfigured creating new facilities including recording studios and practice rooms.
LED light replacement
Across Biology and Harry Fairhurst we have replaced over 2,000 fluorescent lights with LED alternatives achieving a 15-20% reduction in total energy usage. This has been combined with the installation of solar panels, including on the roof of the new nursery, and behavioural change programs across the university to further reduce energy demand.
Church Lane workshop development
The second of two projects to convert the annex in the Church Lane building to allow for the expansion of the School of Physics, Engineering and Technology. As well as a state-of-the-art mechanical workshop containing dozens of machines ranging from simple drills to highly sophisticated computer-controlled laser cutting and milling machines, we also created a number of smaller rooms to support teaching and research. The new workshop replaces the old facility located on the end of Physics F wing.
Derwent P
The refurbishment of the Grade II listed Derwent CLASP building. This residential accommodation project provides 57 en suite bedrooms with open plan living, improving sustainability and regulations compliance. The project was completed 4 weeks ahead of programme to a budget of £7.7m. The development has been awarded the York Design Awards John Shannon Conservation Award and has also featured in AUDE’s Legacy Building Guide.
Translation & Interpreting Lab - Spring Lane
Part of the Department of Language and Linguistics Science, the suite of rooms specifically designed for translation and interpretation are located on the second floor of the Spring Lane building.
The rooms have been designed, equipped and configured to enable fully flexible on-site, hybrid and remote interpreting, and to act as a hub from which interpreting can be provided to other remote venues.
The facility will be primarily dedicated to interpreter training at Master’s level and will house permanent interpreting booths and industry-standard interpreting and delegate equipment.
Nursery
The new £8.5m nursery on Campus East provides a modern nursery facility and opened in January 2024. It features spaces for up to 94 children with dedicated age rooms, sleep spaces, a sensory room, and outdoor play areas, creating a bright and welcoming environment for children. The nursery provides ample outdoor space for children of all ages, and seamlessly integrates with the natural surroundings, allowing children to immerse themselves in and learn from nature.
As part of a multi-cultural setting we have celebrated a variety of festivals across the year such as Children’s day, Easter, Diwali, Christmas, Hanukah and celebrated Nursery Rhyme week and other special events.
We also saw older children leave to go on to a variety of schools and celebrated with a graduation day party which parents attended.
We have also invited parents into the setting to a play and stay event with their children. Allowing parents to see what a nursery day looks like and enabled the children to show their nursery off to parents
Through fund raising events we also helped to support Children in Need and a Charity called Crackerjack who support children with additional needs
During the course of this year we have completed ELKLAN Speech and Language training for our staff which has recently been audited by York City Council and we have completed this to a very high standard. We are looking towards 2025 to be able to complete our “Communication Friendly setting” accreditation with the Council.
Due to the high quality of the Nursery for supporting children with speech and language our Deputy Manager, who is our lead SENCO, was asked to take part in a video entitled “Wellcomm, to support SEND and EAL learners” alongside other early years professionals. We were the only PVI sector nursery to be invited to take part.
We were also finalists in the York Mix Choice awards.
4.0 FACILITIES
Accommodation
We continued to welcome students to our on-campus residential accommodation. 96% of first year UGH students lived in University accommodation, with a total of 6,030 rooms let.
The teams supported all students that applied for accommodation to secure accommodation promptly post A level results day. This included securing accommodation for returning students that have additional requirements, care leavers and estranged students, attending University Open Days to provide advice to new students on the accommodation offer, and working with Estates on upgrading study bedrooms in Halifax in summer 2024 and to continue working with Estates on the development of the next 5 years programme for works to upgrade the remainder of Halifax and other Colleges as required.
Campus Services
Cleaning & Rapid Response
Our Cleaning and Rapid Response Teams have provided full Campus cover across 4 designated zones ensuring that our buildings are cleaned to a consistently high standard and in accordance with agreed service levels. The teams work in residential and non-residential buildings, with high levels of flexibility and commitment.
- At any time the cleaning team consisted of between 150-200 staff during 2024.
- Rapid Response, King’s Manor and weekend staffing also accounts for 30+ members of the team.
- Staffing cover includes Monday - Friday 6am to 8pm, Saturday & Sunday 6am to 3pm and out of hours emergency cover as required.
- The ‘Summer Dig-Out’ was an exceptional team effort, ensuring that summer conferences were accommodated and student accommodation cleans were carried out in time for the 2024 Academic Year.
- This was supported by 50+ fixed-term contract summer cleaners, many of whom were students, providing them with financial support during the cost of living crisis. 12 of these students have since remained in permanent part-time cleaning roles which has been a huge success.
- Our British Institute of Cleaning Science school has been operational throughout the year. This has ensured that all the Cleaning Services staff are fully trained to complete their tasks safely and competently.
- Cleaning and Rapid Response teams assisted in the opening and continued smooth operation of new buildings, including the Nursery and Derwent P Block.
Transport
Following Student Union feedback at monthly Bus Engagement meetings, the start of the 24/25 Academic Year saw some positive changes to the bus services at the University, including renumbered/renamed services with a ‘U’ prefix to help with the identification of University bus services around the City.
The U1 & U2 are the old 66 & 67, providing a ‘free zone’ to move between the campuses and are frequent services which travel into York City Centre.
The U3 (previously the C1 shuttle bus) now travels from the Campus East Interchange to the Barbican via Fulford, again having the ‘free zone’ within and between campuses.
The U4 is a new weekend service from the Campus East Interchange to the Designer Outlet via Fulford. Service UN1 is the old CB1/’Clubbers Bus’ which runs 7 nights a week and is now served by more buses than ever before.
To ensure continued compliance with the requirements of planning consent for expansion of the University, we continue to report on findings of our annual transport survey. The total number of University trips recorded has increased from 33,961 to 39,065 between 2023 and 2024 (an increase of 15%). Importantly, however, vehicular trips generated by the University have reduced by 11% since 2023. There has also been a significant increase in all forms of sustainable travel, which is particularly encouraging in the context of the University’s Travel Plan.
- On a typical day (0700 – 1900) 7,906 journeys are made by vehicles, 8,240 were made by bus and 4,145 and 18,774 were made by cyclists and pedestrians respectively.
- Total of 2,191 car parking spaces across 30 car parks on Campus East and West.
- The University extended their commitment towards the implementation and monitoring of residents’ parking schemes in the areas to the south of Hull Road.
- Continued to promote and encourage sustainable methods of travel with the provision of 5,555 bicycle hoops, 46 secure bicycle stores, 48 covered bicycle sheds, 4 accessible bicycle bays and 3 cargo bike bays.
Mailroom
The Mailroom teams, supported by our Reception staff, have continued to provide an essential discounted postal service for staff and students across both campuses. The team have achieved some very impressive statistics during 2024, including:
- Taken receipt of 131,000+ parcels (Royal Mail = 53,000+, Amazon = 47,000+, Other = 30,000+).
- 102,383 franked items sent out from the Mailrooms.
- 6,195 International letters sent.
- £33,437 income generated by parcel and letter sales from January to November 2024, from the Main mailroom, Piazza and the Print Shop.
- 1923 UK parcels sent.
- 822 overseas parcels sent.
- 1500 special delivery items posted from the mailrooms.
Administration & Customer Experience
It takes a substantial effort and great expertise to support DTEF in the background, with the Business Systems, Timetabling, General Administration, PA, Facilities Helpdesk, DTEF Services, Unicard/Parking and Reception Teams combining to provide an excellent customer experience to all sections of the Directorate and very importantly to staff and students across Campus, having a real impact on the student experience.
The PA Team and DTEF Administration Team provide PA support across the Directorate, supporting a high volume of key meetings and projects. The small Administration Team has also handled over 1,600 Salesforce cases throughout the year.
The Business Systems Team have been working across a number of different areas this year. Alongside colleagues in IT Services, timetabling and room bookings, they have introduced a number of changes to the room bookings system as part of efforts to reduce the number of separate systems in use across the University for room bookings. Further changes are planned in this area over the coming year. The team have worked closely with colleagues in Estates to implement further improvements to the new contractor management system (Verature).
The team have also been working closely with colleagues in Accommodation to implement various upgrades and improvements, with substantial additional change being planned for 2025. Alongside this the team have worked hard to introduce lots of smaller improvements for teams across the department and have a sizable list of improvements planned for the coming year.
Throughout 2024 these impressive support teams have contributed with the completion of a critical workload, some of their key statistics are shown below:
- The Facilities Helpdesk have processed 36,100 reactive maintenance work orders, 35,000 planned preventative maintenance orders and closed over 13,000 emails.
- The DTEF Services Team has supported 122 rounds of recruitment, processing 183 new starters, 63 Making The Difference awards and 295 people change requests, including leavers, contract changes, maternity /paternity leave etc.
- 10,070 Unicards have been produced this year by the Information Centre and Heslington Hall Reception Team, who have also responded to 9227 parking related emails and processed 4745 parking permit applications.
- The Timetabling & Room Bookings Team have produced 37,775 individual timetabled activities and delivered 23,464 individual student timetables. Across 3767 programmes totalling 6784 modules in 432 rooms in 42 buildings, with nearly 10,000 room bookings in the system. All of this work is completed with consideration given to 2500+ current Student Support Plans to consider and with 57,574 hours of staff unavailability during core teaching hours.
Reception Services
Ahead of the 24/25 Academic Year, reception services on Campus West were consolidated into the Information Centre, mirroring the successful model on Campus East where Colleges are served by the team located at the Ron Cooke Hub.
Halifax and the Information Centre remain open, with the latter being contactable and accessible 24/7 for queries and parcel/post collection. A mobile support system has been implemented as part of the Information Centre service on Campus West and there are a number of FAQ’s listed on the Reception Services webpages to assist customers.
The team worked brilliantly to implement these changes and maintained some very impressive service stats:
- In the last year we assisted 27,911 students locked out of their accommodation.
- They welcomed and provided the front of house service to 22,631 students and their guests at graduation ceremonies.
- Were the first point of contact for the thousands of resident students for all kinds of issues, including maintenance, welfare, first aid/mental health first aid & lock outs.
- Checked and serviced 177 teaching rooms (every evening!)
Campus Safety
The Campus Safety Team was welcomed to DTEF from 1st October 2024, providing a critical 24/7/365 support service to everyone who lives, studies or works at the University, on both Campuses and at external University sites.
The team’s presence and response is coordinated through the Campus Safety Hub on Market Square on Campus West and the team are relied upon to be the first response for any security or safety issues, with all members of the team being trained in first aid and mental health first aid response.
CATERING AND HOSPITALITY
Over the past year, we have successfully processed a total of 1,040,846 transactions across our catering outlets, and furthermore, Campus Kitchen has received an impressive 4,358 bookings this year!
Shop, Save and Sustain
Since launching the Shop, save and sustain meal offers across campus at selected Eat and Drink outlets, which includes discounted offers for customers and a donation incentive to food based charities in York, we have processed a total of 10,394 £2.50 meal transactions and 36,598 fifty percent discounts, including a total of £8,520 donated to selected charities.
Refurbished Outlets
In 2024, we made changes to York Sport Cafe at the York Sport Village, with a layout to help increase space including new flooring, new till and serving area, new bench style seating and new menu screens to display Costa coffee menu and York Sport Cafe offerings.
We also reopened the Ron Cooke Hub Cafe in late Summer 2024 with a brand new look!
This project included brand new seating, a new menu and a new serving area with new branding.
RETAIL
Nisa Kimberlow and Market Square Totals 2024:
|
Nisa Market Square |
|
|---|---|
|
Items Sold: |
1,086,433 |
|
Transactions: |
445,874 |
|
Nisa Kimberlow |
|
|
Items Sold: |
965,120 |
|
Transactions: |
328,621 |
|
Total Items Sold: |
2,051,553 |
|
Total Transactions: |
774,495 |
Nisa MADL Donations
We have donated a fantastic £4,500 in 2024 to local charities in and around the York area!
If anyone would like to nominate any charities for Nisa to support please contact joe.evans@york.ac.uk, as we are always looking for new charities to help!
Headline Achievements:
Both our Nisa Kimberlow and Nisa Market Square stores launched a new range of Eastern European foods this year through a new supplier Monolith. This has proved very popular with our customers and refreshed the range of choice we offer for vegan and international students on campus.
YORK SPORT
Refurb
In Summer 2024, we embarked on two big refurb projects within York Sport Centre and York Sport Village!
At York Sport Village, we have revamped the gym layout based on customer feedback, introducing cutting-edge Technogym equipment for cardio, strength, resistance, and functional training. We also installed 26 group cycle bikes, along with upgrading our online digital marketing with a 360 degree tour of the York Sport Village. Since doing the refurbishment, the NPS score for the gym has increased from 40 to 54, along with record numbers of members enjoying the facilities.
In the York Sport Centre, during this summer also we commenced a refurb of the changing rooms areas. This included four freshly painted and refurbished changing rooms, new lockers installed with padlock security, new cubicles and urinal toilets and showers installed in changing rooms and finally new electronic appliances installed following customer feedback.
Award Winners
York Sport were crowned the Best Large Gym in the York Mix Choice awards in October 2024! This award was voted for by members of the public, which makes our win even more special. Well done to York Sport and their team for their fantastic work! We are proud to report impressive membership numbers: 3,980 members at York Sport Village and 1,948 members at York Sport Centre (as of November 2024).
In January, York Sport were awarded Best Swimming Class (4+) by the Little Vikings Awards. This was the ninth consecutive year York Sport have been awarded this accolade and again, the winners are chosen by the public. The swim scheme continues to perform well with over 1700 children attending lessons each week.
Hosting major events
This year, York Sport proudly hosted a variety of major sporting events that drew numerous participants and spectators, highlighting our exceptional facilities. Over the past 12 months, we’ve featured events such as:
- Yorkshire Marathon - Supported with warm up
- Tadcaster York Sport Swim Squad - Back to School Blast Gala
- Celebrating Abilities - inclusive sports event featured on BBC Yorkshire News
- City of York Junior and Adult Triathlon
- Brownlee Foundation Triathlon
- England RL Wheelchair Squad & Future of England development session
- Chosen as a training venue for at least one international team competing in the Womens Rugby Union world cup 2025
YORK SCIENCE PARK
Office Space on Campus
This year, York Science Park’s Private Offices on Campus are currently at 76% occupancy and coworking space is sitting at 75%.
Park Central Cafe is also now undergoing renovations to become the Innovate Lounge, another business lounge space that will be available to YSP Tenants on campus in the New Year.
Office Space at The Guildhall
Coming up to nearly three years since its redevelopment was completed, workspaces at The Guildhall are still thriving, with occupancy at 100%.
The Guildhall welcomed new private office tenants this year such as We are HA, M2International and SoftwareOne, and with demand for private offices at The Guildhall being so high we turned one of our coworking floors into a full private office space.
Plus hot desk space went from just over 200 desks booked in 2023 to over 900 desks booked for the year in 2024.
York Unlocked 2024
In its third year, York Science Park participated in the annual York Unlocked event, where we opened up The Guildhall to the public. Boasting nearly 1000 visitors over the one day as well as once again, selling out the tours of the Council Chambers. We received fantastic feedback from the public, some of which attended both years running and intend on continuing to do so with every year that we partake.
Phase One Business Incubator Programme
This year, York Science Park’s Business Incubator Programme celebrated a significant milestone as it marked five years of empowering local start-up businesses. Since its inception in 2019, Phase One has been a driving force in nurturing entrepreneurial talents, particularly in digital, creative, tech, and science sectors.
With the support of 20 esteemed partners including Barclays Eagle Labs, Big Band Partnership, Northstar Ventures and Whitecap Consulting, Phase One has cultivated a thriving environment for innovation. This ecosystem has empowered a diverse range of companies on their path to sustainability and success. The programme offers practical support through advice workshops, and one-on-one mentoring, enabling members to develop their business acumen and turn their ideas into flourishing ventures.
New Website
York Science Park has a new website thanks to Jon at Design and Print, working with the marketing team, the website has a fresh new look.
YORK CONFERENCES AND EVENTS
Win Your Wedding Campaign
YCE ran a large-scale campaign, the ‘Win Your Wedding Competition’, which was featured in the York Press; the winning couple are due to marry next year (2025) at The Guildhall. With nearly 200 entries, Bethan and Chris, who were born and raised in York, were selected. Chris said: "York is home to us and it means a lot. It’s the place where we met and grew up."
Their prize is a dream wedding package valued at more than £7,000. It includes exclusive hire of the Main Hall in the Guildhall, a three-course wedding breakfast, a light evening buffet, evening DJ entertainment, fresh flower centrepieces, and much more.
Visit York - Business Event Venue of The Year 2023
The Guildhall and YCE won the award of Business Event Venue of The Year at The Visit York Tourism Awards 2023.
Events Roundup and Highlights
- YCE have held 147 events on campus, including at King’s Manor, with a value of £1,183,152 this year.
- We have held 416 events at The Guildhall with a value of £299,024.
u3a Festival 2024
YCE hosted the first ever u3a Festival this July, where hundreds of members took part in workshops, sports tournaments, talks, and music events – it was the largest meeting of u3a members in the movement’s history. The event took place across campus utilising a number of venues such as the Exhibition Centre and York Sports Centre. U3a are a UK-wide collection of 1000+ charities that provide the opportunity for those no longer in work to come together and learn for fun.
UNESCO City of Media Art Expo - Aesthetica Film Festival
In November, YCE hosted the inaugural UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO, the first such exhibition in the UK, as it celebrated the tenth anniversary of York’s global designation at The Guildhall. York is the only British UNESCO City of Media Arts, providing a global stage for film production, games development, VFX (visual effects), publishing and design. Set within the Aesthetica Film Festival, the three day event saw an array of media arts, demonstrating and collaborating on their work. Attendees were able to try out new projects, speak to creatives and see how York is generating future opportunities in retail, hospitality, transport and services.
Concerts
Hosting many ticketed concerts including a sold-out Valentines Candlelit Concert by Ignite Concerts at The Guildhall, as well as the 25th anniversary performance by Beyond the Barricade at Central Hall.
YCL HR
The York Commercial Services HR team successfully launched around 60 recruitment campaigns and processed 56 new starters! The small team also handled approximately 50 staff changes, encompassing semesterisation adjustments as well as onboarding new employees and processing leavers.
A new look York Campus Nursery!
2023 saw our new Nursery building come to fruition with the help of many of the University departments and their staff! After a successful Ofsted inspection in late December we were thrilled in January 2024 to be able to open our new building to our existing and new families that have joined us. Our extended premises allow us to accommodate up to 94 children across an age range of 3 months to 5 years and we have welcomed many new families during the year.
Across this year we’ve been busy and successful in recruiting and welcoming new staff with a very high level of qualifications and experience across the group. We have also had the introduction of early years funding for our two year old children and later this year early years funding for our under two’s has helped many families across the board with childcare costs.
Design and Print
Design:
- Booked in 579 jobs
- Designed and built 9 websites, including: York Sport, YSPL, White Rose, BALM and Measure
- 16 branding projects including MHARG, YPC, Valuing Voices, Sun Ray, Red Fox, Vanbrugh, Hub Café, Elemental, RSVP
- Customer feedback - we scored an average of 9.6 out of 10 from our customers
- Three record income months - August, September, October 2024
Print:
In the last 12 months we have dealt with almost 5500 orders across our online store & bespoke projects (Tharstern orders 3315 DPO orders 2116 plus OTC jobs), that’s 25 jobs per day of all sizes, producing around 1 million items.
Over this period of time our personnel headcount has reduced by 35% and we are looking lean & mean for 2025.
Significantly, during 2024 we’ve achieved a breakthrough in garment printing, fulfilling the requirements for branded Freshers Tshirts across 11 Colleges and saving the University around 40% in expenditure along the way. Our signage contribution continues to complement the Design & branding work, with installations around campus including the new Nursery, Phase 1 offices, and the Energy saving campaign. As well as our annual cycle of Open Day brochures, Graduation Programmes, Alumni mailings and other high profile publications, we are now producing the University Course Listings / Magazines (aka Prospectuses).
Sustainability
Prior to and including the 2023-24 academic year we have collectively achieved a number of positives in different areas of sustainability, each playing their role in edging us closer towards our net zero targets.
58% of main waste was suitably recycled in 2023-24, up by 6% year on year.
6,459 items of IT equipment have been saved from landfill since 2020
34,165 meals saved from landfill since 2021 thanks to our 'Shop, Save, Sustain' scheme
11,406 YORCUP scheme members since 2019, increasing by 706 in the last year
£153,815 raised to reinvest in sustainable projects through the Latte Levy since 2019
70,000 single-use plastic cup recycled via our single-use plastic cup waste bins since 2019
£8,520 worth of donations made to local food charities from our Shop, Save and Sustain scheme
100+ participants in Climate Fresk workshops, >20 facilitators trained
337,957 bottles worth of plastic recycled, 315 CO2e saved
110 staff and students undertaking carbon literacy training 2023-24
2,800 people reached through Green Impact at York actions in 2023-24 with 192 teams participating
Sustainability Week
Sustainability Week took place from 4 to 8 March 2024 and was an opportunity to raise awareness about environmental and social issues.
Over thirty free events were organised for staff, students and alumni including role play games, Bike Doctor sessions, Bee Hotel building, film screenings, biodiversity walks, nature journaling workshop and online events.
The first Sustainability Fair, at Anne Lister College, welcomed 300 visitors who interacted with student societies, local charities, information stalls and workshops.
The DTEF sustainability team also invited visitors to give feedback on current and future sustainability issues.
Waste & Recycling update
Autumn 2023 saw a significant change of the contractor for collecting and treating all on-campus general waste, food waste, glass and dry mixed recycling (paper, cardboard, plastic, cans/tins).
The new contract has been awarded to national company Biffa and kick started with the provision of over 850 brand new red external bins. These are now located in external bin stores and are clearly labelled.
The new contract has enabled us to explore collaborative working with Biffa, to help the university achieve our sustainability goals around managing waste including provision of student awareness initiatives.
This year, we donated 5,763 bags of items to the British Heart Foundation to help fund lifesaving research, equating to £86,445 of preloved items and 46,104 kgs of items diverted from waste streams.
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