About the University


Our University was founded in Edgbaston in 1900 and from the distinctive style of the earliest buildings, it became the original ‘Red Brick’ University. Over the years it has expanded considerably, so that it is now set in 250 hectares of beautiful parkland at its Edgbaston campus and a further 7 hectares at its nearby Selly Oak campus, the two being connected by the main A38, Bristol Road. There’s an interesting mix of old and new buildings and a wide range of on-campus facilities. With its diverse and dynamic community, it makes coming to work a pleasure.

The University is entering a new and exciting stage in its development and is committed to major investment in the campus and facilities. The current capital programme includes expansion of the Medical School, new cutting-edge research facilities, and the investment in teaching, residential and social facilities – all with the core aim of attracting and retaining the best staff, students and partners.

Why we in Estates are essential … In size and population, the Campus is the equivalent of a small town, and we’re responsible for the effective management of the land, buildings and holdings. The Estates Office comprises three kinds of activity:

Estates Projects - Dealing with the management and delivery of all major developments including new builds, refurbishments and conversion projects, through all stages of the construction process from inception to completion. Through our in-house project management team, we work with our customers and appoint external consultants (architects, engineers, surveyors and other specialists) to develop the brief. Through a process of joint ownership, we carry out option appraisals to ensure a match between design and end users’ expectations. We oversee the tendering arrangements and manage the construction process through to completion, ensuring that all projects are delivered within budget, on time, and to the highest quality. The learning circle is completed through post project reviews carried out 12 months after occupation, where lessons learnt are captured for briefing on future projects.

The office looks after a range of projects from several thousand pounds to many millions, all aimed at keeping the University’s Estate safe, legal, physically accessible and in good repair, whilst matching the ever-changing needs of the University’s academic activities.

Maintenance and Utilities - Here we’re accountable for all aspects of day-to-day building and services maintenance throughout the University, as well as long term planned preventive maintenance. A Helpdesk provides a central point of contact for all to request repairs and ask about progress on jobs. This ensures that the many thousands of requests are dealt with within a specific time scale and prioritised according to their urgency, ensuring customers receive the high quality service they expect. We deal, too, with the formulation and implementation of the University's Energy Policy, the purchase of utilities, the monitoring and targeting of utility consumption and costs and with identifying opportunities to increase energy efficiency.

ALTA Estate Services - A feature that we’re proud of is our ALTA power plant, continuously providing electricity and steam to the main Edgbaston campus 24 hours a day, throughout the year. A 6 MW gas turbine provides a proportion of the electricity load whilst its heat generation produces steam for heating the University’s buildings and running process applications.

Accommodation & Administration - The accommodation team carries out space allocation studies, analyses the space requirements of the Departments and Schools, appraises options and anticipates future requirements and space availability. The admin team is responsible for a issues affecting the operation of the whole Office, including the strategic and day-to-day management of estates administration, personnel matters, training and development, IT, finance, management information, purchasing and clerical functions, ensuring that effective systems are embedded as common standards across the Office.

What we want …

Our aim is to provide a quality service with a high level of customer care – ensuring that the University’s lands and buildings give the very best support to all the University activities, and to all our students, staff and visitors.