University of the Arts London offers an extensive range of courses in art, design, fashion, communication and performing arts. Our graduates go on to work in, and shape, the creative industries worldwide. UAL is ranked second in the world for Art and Design in the 2021 QS World University Rankings®. The University has a world-class reputation and is made up of six equally renowned Colleges: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College of Arts, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Art. The university has an ambitious seven-year strategic plan to build on the University’s reputation as a world leader in arts, design, and communication education. This strategic area requires them to have a world-class physical environment and underlying infrastructure that supports their students and staff.
Download Project Report HereThe University had outsourced both their soft and hard facilities management services to one provider. There was a lack of resilience in the current delivery of the FM services, along with a need for constant scrutiny on costs and value. As a result, the University believed that a review of theirFM service delivery arrangements would be beneficial.
LitmusFM was appointed in late 2020 with the key objectives to initially benchmark some of the soft services as the standard of delivery was being questioned. The benchmarking results confirmed there was an issue in performance. Following the benchmarking exercise, the Head of Estates further appointed LitmusFM to review the full hard and soft FM service across the entire campus and report back on the findings. The annual budget exceeded £10.5m.
LitmusFM provided the University with a detailed report homing in on the efficiency and quality of both combined and individual facilities management services. The report proved to be critical to the realisation that a broader transformational change, ranging from cost management initiatives to re-engineering business processes was recommended.
The review provided a smarter and more efficient Target Operating Model(TOM) way of working that provided greater employee support from the FM services.
It was clear from our discussions that the University needed to provide a vibrant, flexible, and modern approach moving forwards to ensure it met the future needs.
The LitmusFM team embedded themselves within the site, working with key stakeholders to identify opportunities for improving FM service delivery, and then managed and drove the implementation of improvements. Following the review, the University then requested that LitmusFM manage a tender programme on behalf of the University.
The outcome of the tender is that they now engage with an integrated FM solution for the services, with a defined split between hard and soft services. This provided much-improved management control and reporting.The project also delivered an overall 15% reduction in cost from the previous TFM solution.
"I am delighted! Engaging with LitmusFM has been so beneficial to me and the University. The initial report referenced stakeholder and student opinion, FM sector experience, sustainability, operational and financial expectations. All bases were covered and, without a doubt, the Target Operating Model recommended was the right solution for us. The tender has been executed so professionally and the outcomes more than justify the cost of using a consultant." | Mathew Chandler, Associate Director at The University of the Arts.