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Sustainability highlights 21/22

November 29, 2021

Our Top Ten Sustainability Highlights for the 2020 – 2021 Academic Year

It’s been over two years since the University of Exeter and Falmouth University declared a climate and environment emergency. Even in amongst a global pandemic, both institutions have been actively transforming themselves to raise the climate agenda across the student curriculum and life on campus. At FX Plus, our operations are pivotal for this to happen, so here are our top ten sustainability highlights:

  1. Launched the FX Plus 2030 Sustainability Strategy & Policy. These two files outline our climate and environment targets, objectives and projects. The strategy ultimately outlines how we’re going embedding sustainability across FX Plus and how this supports the universities independent sustainability strategies.
  1. Last academic year we recorded a 47% drop in energy emissions per m2 for Penryn Campus based against our 2005 to 2006 AY baseline. This follows the integration of energy efficient infrastructure we are implementing across campus.
  1. Sustainability Week 2021 was another great success – we hosted 35 events open to all staff, students and the local community. Recordings for these sessions can be found here.
  1. We produced our first comprehensive carbon emission profile for the University of Exeter including Penryn Campus. The same profiling system was used in collaboration with Falmouth University, working together on shared climate reduction and sustainability targets.
  1. Following campus lockdown, we dedicated 4.5 acres of land on Penryn Campus for wildflowers. Last year, we maintained and improved the quality of these areas through volunteering events.
  1. As part of the grounds biodiversity agenda, we have also designed and installed four customised biodiversity signs as well as a series of signs illustrating areas for regeneration and wildflowers, which we hope to help educate our campus community about their local natural environment and inspire them to engage in conservation and sustainability.
  1. Our procurement team partnered with Net Positive Futures to initiate data collection and climate action plans amongst our supply chain. Our aim is for 100% of our supply chain to have completed this by the end of 2022. 
  1. We launched our flagship Sustainability Café with the new building extension to the Daphne du Maurier building. The café along with its outstanding views of the ocean, offers seasonal and locally sourced produce, organic where possible and a variety of vegan and vegetarian options.
  1. Our Penryn Campus was awarded the bronze award with the British Hedgehog Preservation Society Hedgehog Friendly Campus program. This follows a series of initiatives implemented by the grounds team to protect and raise awareness on hedgehog safety across campus.
  1. Penryn Campus was also awarded the Green Flag zone award for the fourth year running. This continues the campuses excellent approach to the protection and regeneration of ecology.

Any questions or if you would like to learn more, please email sustainability@fxplus.ac.uk.

About FX Plus

Falmouth Exeter Plus (FX Plus) delivers shared services for Falmouth University and the University of Exeter in Cornwall to ensure a top quality experience for students, staff and all users of Falmouth and Penryn campuses.

Our vision is to provide ‘Exceptional environments that enable talented and creative minds to thrive’.

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Management apprenticeship award

November 26, 2021

Congratulations to Emily Stanbury, winner of the Management category in this year’s Truro and Penwith College Apprenticeship Awards.

IT Project Manager Emily, who has been working for Falmouth Exeter Plus (FX Plus) for nearly seven years, said: “I was very surprised to win as the other candidates had clearly achieved a lot on their courses and I won it in 2019 so I didn’t expect it again. It was nice to be shortlisted and be able to go to an event after so long.”

Stuart Gaslonde, FX Plus Director of IT and Digital Services, said: “This award is well deserved – Emily has worked really hard over the years and we are delighted that we have been able to support her with the appropriate training to expand her skills. At FX Plus we are very keen on supporting apprenticeships and other training opportunities.”

Emily started with FX Plus as a Service Desk Support Technician and moved on to Print Services Manager, which is when she started the apprenticeship to support that role. During the apprenticeship she got a secondment to Project Management which was recently made into a permanent position.

She said: “The course I did was a combination of a diploma and apprenticeship and was called Level 3 Team Leader Supervisor. I had to spend one day a week working on the apprenticeship as part of my role. This could be a day in college, writing assignments or taking on extra responsibilities in my role. I also had to complete work in my own time due to the amount of work there was to complete as part of the diploma.

“I did the apprenticeship to support me in the promotion to Print Services Manager. I wanted to improve my skills and confidence in my abilities but also to look into other areas of management I would be interested in. This turned out to be project management!”

Emily, who was also a highly commended runner up for Apprentice of the Year, has more plans to progress. She said: “Next, I have been selected to take part in a programme called Aurora which encourages and develops female leaders in Higher Education. It begins in January so I am looking forward to starting that.”

Truro and Penwith College Apprenticeship Awards celebrates exceptional achievements. After a break because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s gala awards dinner (on Friday 19 November) was presented by Holly Day and Neil Caddy from Pirate FM.

About FX Plus

Falmouth Exeter Plus (FX Plus) delivers shared services for Falmouth University and the University of Exeter in Cornwall to ensure a top quality experience for students, staff and all users of Falmouth and Penryn campuses.

Our vision is to provide ‘Exceptional environments that enable talented and creative minds to thrive’.

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Excellence Awards

November 23, 2021

Falmouth Exeter Plus has scooped five of the ten in this year’s Falmouth University Staff Excellence Awards.

Paula Sanderson, Falmouth Exeter Plus Managing Director, said: “Congratulations to all Falmouth and Falmouth Exeter Plus winners. These awards are a testament to the continued hard work everyone is putting in to ensure students and other campus users receive a top quality service even during a global pandemic. It’s great that so many individuals and teams from Falmouth Exeter Plus have been recognised for their part in this.”

The Falmouth Exeter Plus winners are:

Collaborative Working:

ATS Cleaning Team

  • Lauren Bowers – Casual General Assistant: Cleaning
  • Melissa Hall – Cleaner
  • Liam Jarvis – Cleaner

When the Asymptomatic Testing Site centre was established at Penryn campus, Lauren, Melissa and Liam took on the challenge of ensuring an efficient and effective cleaning operation. This meant changing shifts, undertaking additional training and putting the health and wellbeing of others before their own. For six months, the team worked hard to ensure that students and staff could be tested safely.

Raising Service Standards:

IT Services Customer Service Excellence Team

  • Chris Accleton-Pennell – Software Development Engineer
  • Natasha Davey – Service Desk Technician
  • Gary Egan – Operations Manager (Launchpad)
  • Gemma Prisk – Service Excellence Manager
  • Mark Rosevear – Platform Engineer
  • Emily Stanbury – IT Project Manager
  • Lewis Williams – Network Engineer
  • Azhlee Wonnacott – Estates Helpdesk Assets & Data Co-ordinator

The IT Services Customer Service Excellence Team was established to embed service excellence across the department, and in May 2021, it was officially accredited as meeting the Cabinet Office backed ‘Customer Service Excellence’ standard. The team has raised the bar on service standards and taken a leap forward in the way it engages customers, helping to create a culture of continual service improvement.

Business Improvement:

Cornwall Plus Team

  • Marc Chadburn – Events Officer
  • Debbie Lilly – Sales & Marketing Manager
  • Roschen Pharo – Halls Officer (Reception)
  • Lorna Sullivan – Head of Operations (Events, Conferences & Summer Accommodation)
  • Sam Woods – Senior Operations Manager (Maternity Cover)

Following the implementation of a revised strategy, the Cornwall Plus Team had a record-breaking year in terms of sales – smashing targets to exceed £1m in income over the summer. Improved customer management helped the team to win gold in the Cornwall Tourism Awards’ ‘International’ category, and efficiency savings across the service resulted in a significant increase in the profit margin per room.

Supporting staff and student mental health & wellbeing:

Staff Wellbeing Drop-in Sessions Team (a mix of organisations including our own Becky Nesbitt).

  • Tom Ingate – Senior Lecturer: BA Press & Editorial Photography
  • Clare Manser – Partnership Wellbeing Programme Lead
  • Rebecca Nesbitt – Coordinating Chaplain

A collaboration with the mental health of staff at its heart, the staff wellbeing drop-in sessions were introduced to give staff a safe and friendly place to talk and be part of a community at a time when the pandemic had taken away the possibility of meeting in person. The team organising the sessions responded flexibly to meet the needs of those joining and made attendees feel heard and connected.

Going the Extra Mile:

Security & Night Services Team 

  • Misbah Abrahamjee – Security Team Supervisor
  • Cameron Brown – Night Services Officer
  • Nick Brown – Night Services Officer
  • Lois Craze – Customer Services Supervisor
  • Max Davidson – Night Services Officer
  • Richard Eddy – Post Room Officer
  • Liam Fairley – Casual Security Officer
  • Jess Goulding – Customer Services Manager
  • Ellie Grey – Night Services Manager
  • Daniel Hawkey – Security Operations Manager
  • Eddy Heffer – Campus Patrol Officer – Dedicated Days
  • Zoe Jenkins – Deputy Night Services Manager
  • Dean Jennison – Night Services Officer
  • Kyren Kennedy – Night Services Officer
  • Paddy Layland – Security Support Officer
  • Stewart Ledbury – Campus Patrol Officer
  • James Lowe – Deputy Night Services Manager
  • Lee Mitchell – Night Services Officer
  • Stephen Newton – Night Services Officer
  • Helen Olver – Night Services Officer
  • Tom Pascoe – Campus Patrol Officer
  • Claudio Pavan – Security Support Officer
  • Graham Phillips – Night Services Officer
  • Ryan Pill – Campus Patrol Officer
  • Nick Richards – Night Services Officer
  • Stephen Templeton – Campus Patrol Officer – Dedicated Days
  • Carl White – Night Services Officer​​​​​

The Security & Night Services Teams continued to support the campus operation during the pandemic and worked together under challenging circumstances to ensure the safety and security of campus users in line with Government guidelines. The teams also took on a range of additional duties to ensure that everything ran smoothly, including assisting the Estates team and delivering post and IT equipment to staff who were working from home.

About FX Plus

Falmouth Exeter Plus (FX Plus) delivers shared services for Falmouth University and the University of Exeter in Cornwall to ensure a top quality experience for students, staff and all users of Falmouth and Penryn campuses.

Our vision is to provide ‘Exceptional environments that enable talented and creative minds to thrive’.