Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Warwick Profiles - Estates Office

First published in CommUnicate 322

The Estates Office recently relocated its offices to Argent Court on the Science Park. We are responsible for the effective management of the University's land, buildings and holdings.

The Estates Office’s targets are to manage the Building and Maintenance projects throughout the campus in an effective and cost-efficient way, minimising disruption to the University community as much as possible. We are supported by a finance and purchasing section that carry out EU tendering procedures, place purchase orders, and provide advice and support to officers.

Services provided by the Estates Office include:

  • The management of the University's capital building programme, implementing the Master plan and support in delivering the University Strategy,
  • The management of planned major maintenance items, and the day-to-day maintenance of buildings, property and land,
  • The implementation of small, minor and other works projects across the University,
  • The provision, maintenance and replacement of furniture and non-academic equipment,
  • The provision and maintenance of all services infrastructure to buildings, including high and low voltage electrical supplies, fire alarms, security and card access, hot and cold water and heating,
  • The improvement and maintenance of grounds and gardens,
  • The provision of cleaning services to all areas, except residences and post-experience centres,
  • To ensure the efficient use of utilities and encourage energy conservation across the campus,
  • To promote the environmental issues as they affect the campus.

The department employs some 300 staff, of all grades, backgrounds, disciplines and professions. We regard staff as one of our biggest assets and look to retain and enhance the potential of staff wherever possible, by making significant investments into staff training and development.

A key part of the service provided to all University staff and students is the Helpdesk. The Maintenance and Services sections of the Estates Office along with the Estates Commercial Group (ECG) are directly responsible for all aspects of maintenance on Warwick’s 300 hectare campus. This comprises more than 150 academic, administrative and social buildings, three Training and Conference centres, 6,000 residential rooms and numerous retail and sports outlets. In addition to the routine and statutory work, the sections also resolve in excess of 50,000 minor repair requests each year.

Technical staff are on site between 7am and 11pm seven days a week and support is available from on-call staff 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We deal with issues ranging from loss of power supplies to clearing snow and ice. For the full list of priorities and response times, visit Estates website.

The Department procures and manages many projects during any year ranging from additional sockets in an office, to purpose built scientific buildings for new initiatives. Examples of these can be seen on the Estates web site but the Tennis Centre is typical of these projects.

Indoor Tennis Centre – Westwood

The new indoor tennis centre at the Westwood campus opened on 25 March. This new facility includes four indoor tennis courts, changing facilities, disabled changing, spectator viewing gallery, reception and management office all designed to meet LTA standards.

The project was designed to the highest standards of sustainability and hopes to gain an excellent Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) accreditation.

For more details on the Estates Office, visit www.warwick.ac.uk/go/estates