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The Operation and Management of Buildings: General Principles
It shall be the duty of every person having control over premises to which this section applies to take all reasonable measures to guard against the outbreak of fire on such premises, and to ensure as far as is reasonably practicable the safety of persons on the premises in the event of an outbreak of fire.
No. 30/1981: FIRE SERVICES ACT, 1981
BackgroundBefore a new building comes into operation there are a number of major steps to be undertaken. These steps are set out briefly below in order to provide this context.
Finding a SiteThe location of new buildings is based on the Development Control Plan, Site Development Plans, College priorities and availability of funding. This is normally undertaken in consultation with a Site and Facilities Sub-Committee with representatives from relevant College "interests". The method of service delivery (i.e. direct or contract should be agreed at this stage.
Design and ConstructionDesign and construction of individual buildings is based on an approved schedule of accommodation (including that needed for the service providers), which will become the initial College Atlas data set for the building, approved site and approved capital and adequate recurrent budget. This is normally undertaken in consultation with a Site and Facilities Sub-Committee with a Departmental Projects Officer and representatives from the Departments who will be occupying the new building. During this period various specialists and service providers should be consulted and asked to sign off on the design of the building at all key stages. They should also be asked to sign off on the adequacy of the recurrent budget for the on-going operation of the building.
The Bursar normally chairs these Building Construction Committees, a Projects Officer from the Director of Buildings office is also appointed for each building and he/she convenes the meetings of the Committees and is responsible for the minutes.
Commissioning and TakeoverAt this stage, a Person in Control should be appointed for the Building (see below). Taking over and commissioning of new buildings follows practical completion and prior to completion of final snagging (these are inevitable for some months after a building is occupied but should be kept to an absolute minimum before actual occupation). The takeover is co-ordinated by the Projects Officer and the Person in Control in consultation with the service providers and technical staff from the Departments who will be moving in. The service providers effectively take initial possession of the building and then hand over fully commissioned areas to the eventual occupants. The final act here should be the accepting by the Person in Control of on-going responsibility for the completed building.
On-going Operation and Person in ControlThere should be the equivalent of a service level agreement in place between the Person in Control and the service providers that is agreed prior to the hand-over of the completed building (this can be subsequently reviewed by the Users' Committee, see below). This service level agreement should cover all the centrally provided services including: Insurance, Housekeeping, Attendant Services, Security Services, Health & Safety Advisory Services, Telephone & Data services, Special M&E Services, Hazardous material handling and storage, Stationery Supplies, Waste collection and disposal, Plant operation, Building Maintenance, Grounds & Gardens and Building/Fit-out projects.
The provision of these services will be dependant on the allocation of central funds to the service providers or the agreement that these can be charged against the users. In relation to all Buildings every attempt should be made to have adequate recurrent funding in place, preferably at the Design and Construction stage. Any future changes in the provision of these services will need to be agreed between the Person in Control/Users' Committee and the service providers and the Finance Committee and Board where additional centrally-provided resources are required.
The Person in Control should normally be the Head of Department (or the Head of the largest Department) occupying the building. In the case of large or multi-function buildings, used primarily for academic purposes, a senior member of academic staff will be appointed by the Board on the recommendation of the Bursar in consultation with the Director of Buildings. The Director of Sport will normally act as the Person in Control for sports-related student facilities and the Facilities Officer as the Person in Control for all non-sport, student facilities. The Director of Accommodation and the Catering Manager will appoint Persons in Control in their respective areas.
The duties of the Person in Control will include agreeing the following arrangements with service providers:
- Access control arrangements including issuing of keys, programming of card access units, opening and closing of doors and gates and operating and maintaining universal access arrangements. Service provider; Facilities Officer
- Opening and closing and supervising shared general teaching facilities. Service provider; Facilities Officer
- Provision, servicing and operation of projection facilities. Service providers; Facilities Officer & IS Services
- Delivery and collection of mail. Service provider; Facilities Officer
- Housekeeping services. Service provider; Manager of Housekeeping
- Operating hours of lighting, heating and ventilation plant. Service provider; Buildings Officer
- Stationery supplies. Service provider; Buildings Officer
- Processing and removal of non-hazardous waste. Service provider; Facilities Officer
- Processing and removal of hazardous waste. Service provider; Manager of hazardous material store
- Security arrangements including installation and operation of intruder alarms, night lights, CCTV, patrols and emergency plan. Service provider; Facilities Officer
- Fire safety arrangements including emergency lighting, signage, fire fighting equipment, detection and alarm systems and routine and random fire drills. Service providers; Buildings Officer, Facilities Officer & College Safety Officer
- Provision and location of shared photocopying facilities. Service provider; Facilities Officer
- Provision and location of public telephones. Service provider; Director of Buildings Office
- Provision and location of internal signage. Service provider; Buildings Officer
- Planned maintenance of building, services, fittings and furniture (excluding fume cupboards and special gas pipelines and containers). Service provider; Buildings Officer
- Response maintenance service. Service supplier; Buildings Officer
- Emergency assistance. Service suppliers; College Safety Officer, Director of Buildings, Office, Facilities Officer, Buildings Officer
Ideally all the above services will be agreed during the construction stage of all new buildings. This process will involve the preparation of a detailed proposal for providing these services together with a precise estimate of all the associated costs. The approval of these costs will form part of the initial financial appraisal of the project and its ongoing funding and will, therefore, be subject to Finance Committee and Board Approval. In the event of insufficient funds being provided at the outset or at any time in the future, the service provided will have to be reduced accordingly. The Person in Control, through the Users' Groups, will be required to agree these reductions in service with the service providers at the beginning of each Financial Period
Users' GroupsAs may be seen above, the Person in Control will have to deal primarily with three people, the Facilities Officer, the Safety Officer and the Buildings Officer. They will clearly facilitate his/her work in whatever way possible. To further facilitate the work of the Person in Control, it is recommended that each building have a Users' Group. The establishment of each Group is the responsibility of the Director of Buildings, acting through the Person in Control.
ChairsThe Users' Group should normally be chaired and administered by the Person in Control or else by a Senior Academic, with dedicated administrative assistance where appropriate. The Person in Control of each building will be required to manage the Users' Committee for the building, which will serve as a forum for the discussion of problems and issues affecting the building as a whole and to act as a local safety committee. The Person in Control will appoint someone from the administrative staff to act as secretary and convenor for the User Group, where appropriate. He/she will inform the Service Providers, the Bursar the Director of Buildings and/or the Chairperson of the College Safety Committee about matters raised in this forum as and when necessary.
Membership- Chair (if not Person in Control)
- Person in Control
- Representatives from groups and departments occupying/using the building
- Nominee from Director of Buildings Office or Accommodation Office
- Nominee from the Senior Lecturer's Office (where buildings contain centrally-timetables rooms)
- College Safety Officer or a nominee
- Designated Safety Officer(s) for building
- Any other person (s) the Group consider appropriate, provided the total size of the Group does not exceed 12/13 in number
- The Service Providers may attend as and when appropriate
The Committee shall meet when required but at least three times in a year (less perhaps in single department buildings), to:
- Discuss changes in occupancy and the allocation/use of space in consultation with the Bursar and the Director of Buildings
- Inform the Director of Buildings and the Bursar of any new space requests that cannot be accommodated within the Building
- Establish working groups, if necessary, to implement recommendations and carry out specific delegated functions of the Committee (e.g. safety/energy management)
- Ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, such items in the terms of reference of the Person in Control are carried out to a satisfactory level
- Ensure that Heads of Departments in the Building are informed about their responsibilities and roles in the running of the building, particularly those relating to fire safety. This will require the Persons in Control, and designated Safety Officers for each Department, to familiarise themselves with all relevant legislation, procedures and guidelines. With the above in mind, the Group might form a Web site through which occupants can be kept informed
- Establish and maintain, with the assistance of the Director of Buildings office a comprehensive record of all the occupants of non-shared facilities - initially on paper and ultimately in a shared database
- Ensure that every effort is made by all the occupants of the building to communicate directly with the Service Providers or their nominees in the first instance if any problems arise
- Add whatever other matters it considers appropriate to the terms of reference of the Group, in consultation with the Director of Buildings and Bursar
