LSE Residential Services Annual Report 2012/13

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INTRODUCTION FROM IAN SPENCER, DIRECTOR OF RESIDENTIAL SERVICES

Welcome to the second annual report from LSE Residential Services. In it we set out our progress against the six strategic priorities in the Residential Services strategic plan 2012/17. lse.ac.uk/residentialservices/strategicplan

LSE Residential Services had another successful year in 2012/13. At the start of the academic year we increased our bed space provision by 293 beds – opening two new halls on one year nomination agreements.

Our students enjoyed the fantastic locations of Urbanest’s Tower Bridge, housing 147 students and Unite’s

Wellington Lodge on Southwark Bridge Road, housing 146 students. During the year we secured a five year nomination agreement with Urbanest to house 300 students at a brand new residence in King’s Cross.

We changed our catering provision at Bankside, Carr-Saunders, and Rosebery to enhance the community atmosphere. An inclusive dinner service is now served five days a week at Carr-Saunders and Rosebery

and seven days a week at Bankside and Passfield (with a brunch replacing dinner services at the weekends on Saturday and Sunday).

We continued apace with our refurbishment plans: upgrading a floor in High Holborn, a student flat in Butler’s Wharf and “mocked up” rooms in Rosebery and Carr-Saunders to gain student feedback on designs for future refurbishment.

Income generated in the year was £29.4m, an increase of £2.5m (9 per cent) over the previous year. This was due principally to a growth in lets for commercial vacation guests, an increase in rental income, and an extension of food inclusive contracts at Bankside and Rosebery halls.

Our Sales and Marketing Team launched a new website: www.lsevacations.co.uk and re-vamped our booking engine. In the first two weeks of June 2013 the site was visited by over 14,000 unique visitors, rising to 45,357 visitors by the end of July.

We provided employment opportunities to over 100 LSE students over the course of the year from resident assistants, sales assistants, kitchen assistants, IT advisors and subwardens. With the assistance of elected Hall Committees we are able to build a truly inclusive and vibrant LSE community.

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On the environmental front our end of term re-use initiative (ReLove) collected 9.8 tonnes of material. 7.3 tonnes were re-used, 1.4 tonnes were recycled and only 1.1 tonnes of waste went to landfill. This beat last year’s total of 7.9 tonnes of material collected, 6.3 tonnes reused, 0.97 tonnes recycled. The bulk of material collected is donated to charities, such as TRAID, St Mungo’s and the Marylebone Project.

Our Student Switch Off energy saving initiative resulted in a 6 per cent electricity reduction. This totalled 143,567 kWh, equivalent to a saving of £11,485 on electricity expenditure, or a 78 tonne saving in CO2.

I hope you enjoy reading the report and that you find it informative. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly if you have any questions or indeed have any suggestions for improvements.

Ian Spencer Director, Residential Services

email: [email protected] phone: 020 7955 7083

The Residential Services Division forms part of the essential foundation upon which the strategic goals of the School are built. As a major provider of student accommodation in London, our position within the sector is as a leading and exemplary service provider, being a model of good practice and a significant contributor of both services and revenue generation to the School.

Second to course selection, choosing a place to live plays a central part in any student’s experience at LSE as it supports their intellectual life and their practical needs. Serving the LSE communities first remains the core commitment of Residential Services and this commitment underpins our strategic aim to professionally manage resources, in line with the School’s strategic aims. We aim to provide a broad range of services to meet student needs and provide a welcoming and supportive community in residential accommodation, enabling academic development in a safe, clean and enriching environment.

In this report, we seek to highlight our progress and achievements in turn against each of our six strategic priorities.

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RESIDENTIAL SERVICES STRATEGIC PRIORITY ONE:

• It is important to us that our halls of residence are accessible, affordable and provide a safe and welcoming environment for our students. Our annual student satisfaction survey reveals whether we are meeting the expectations of our residents regarding the cost and quality of our accommodation. The results of the survey allow us to determine trends and identify the areas in which we exceeded expectations, areas where we perform well and identify other areas where we may need to invest more resources; be that time, finance, process or people.

The 2012/13 Student Satisfaction Survey saw a sharp increase in responses, up from only 751 in 2012 to 1298 responses in 2013, exceeding 1,000 verified responses for the first time. A third of all our residents giving their voice to their experiences!

Overall satisfaction: 82 per cent of students would recommend their residence to other LSE students

Value for money: 73 per cent feel that their residence offers good value for money

What our students said about us ...

Our staff:“Since halls are our home, it’s always pleasant to come back “home” and be greeted with a smile”.

Hall catering:“Absolutely amazing! Very satisfied with food at Bankside! Impressive. Carry on”.

“Great! Warm food every evening without having to think about it, and opportunities to meet more people”.

Green spaces:“The garden at Passfield is the main reason why I chose the hall. I’m looking forward to it being enhanced”.

• There is some further success to report in customer service perceptions as evidenced by the triennial 2013 International Student Barometer (ISB) Survey. The survey cited the Accommodation Office business process as having the highest significant service improvement of any unit at LSE.

Develop a residential life programme to provide a visible, responsive and supportive residential environment and assist the personal development of students.

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Elements Autmun 2009 Autumn 2012 Autumn 2009 vs Autumn 2012

Accomodation Office 69% 80% 11%

Careers Service 84% 88% 4%

Fees Office 81% 85% 3%

Clubs/Societies 91% 93% 2%

Stud Recruitment and Admissions 92% 93% 1%

Student Servs Ctr 95% 96% 1%

IT Services 92% 91% -1%

Disability and Well-being Services 93% 92% -1%

Faith Provision 93% 92% -1%

Counselling 88% 86% -3%

Medical Centre 89% 84% -4%

Students’ Union (incl Welfare and Advice) 90% 86% -5%

Halls Welfare 89% 84% -5%

Catering 80% 71% -9%

2012/13 Student Satisfaction Survey

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We acknowledge the 5 per cent drop in satisfaction to 84 per cent, measured in Autumn 2012. Steps to improve students awareness and interaction with the Warden teams have been implemented. This includes better coordination of orientation events with each Hall Committee and School services in order to raise visibility of these roles. Consistent events aimed at student support organised throughout the year. A variety of events aimed at student support were organised throughout the year and social spaces were equipped with a variety of different activities.

• The 2012/13 financial year saw the successful implementation of a plan to bring inclusive catered services to Bankside, Carr-Saunders, Passfield and Rosebery. An inclusive dinner service is now served five days a week at Carr-Saunders and Rosebery and seven days a week at Bankside and Passfield (a brunch replacing dinner services at the weekends on Saturday and Sunday). By the end of the 2012/13 academic year, our catering teams in halls had served a quarter of a million meals to very appreciative students!

• Passfield, Rosebery, Bankside and Carr-Saunders hosted a series of “Chow Down” events, entertaining some 25 guests over an enjoyable dinner. “Chow Down” is a new Residential Life initiative designed to get School Governors and senior LSE personnel out and about meeting LSE students in halls.

• Our Residential Life Team welcomed professionals from universities across the world as they paid visits to LSE Residential Services. We were delighted to welcome guests from Sweden and Australia, and to host a delegation of visitors from universities across the US after successfully bidding to host part of the NASPA/AMOSSHE exchange in May 2013: a great success!

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RESIDENTIAL SERVICES STRATEGIC PRIORITY TWO:

• Nomination agreements were signed for one year at two new properties, increasing the number of bed spaces we were able to offer our first year students. An additional 147 spaces at Urbanest Tower Bridge and a further 146 spaces at Unite Wellington Lodge were added to our portfolio.

• Residential Services also secured a new five year nomination agreement with urbanest for an extra 300 bed spaces at the King’s Cross development.

Increase provision to allow guaranteed accommodation to be offered to each new full-time student in their first year at the School.

Continuing to work in partnership with:

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RESIDENTIAL SERVICES STRATEGIC PRIORITY THREE:

• We continued to benchmark our student rents against our local competitors and are satisfied that we are still providing good value for money to our residents.

• Residential Services successfully rolled out implementation of StudentCom WiFi across all eight of our directly owned or managed halls. This provided students with an additional service to access WiFi from their rooms free of charge.

• In 2012/13 Residential Services invested £3.6m in long term maintenance.

• In collaboration with our colleagues in the Estates Division, we successfully delivered the following refurbishments: Boiler replacements at Butler’s Wharf, Carr-Saunders and Passfield Replaced Myddelton wing showers at Rosebery Refurbished mock-up rooms at Carr-Saunders and Rosebery Refurbished the 11th floor rooms at High Holborn Refurbished a flat at Butler’s Wharf Refurbished a number of Northumberland House kitchens

We are proud to have achieved 3* Visit London Campus re-accreditations at:Bankside HouseCarr-Saunders HallGrosvenor HouseHigh Holborn ResidenceNorthumberland HousePassfield HallRosebery Hall

Deliver a highly effective service to the School, offering excellent value for money to students and the School.

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RESIDENTIAL SERVICES STRATEGIC PRIORITY FOUR:

• A net surplus for the year of £2m was produced which was £1m higher than budget and £0.2m better than 2011/12.

• Income generated in the year was £29.4m, an increase of £2.5m (9 per cent) over the previous year. This was due principally to a growth in lettings for commercial vacation guests, an increase in rental income, and an extension of food inclusive contracts at Bankside and Rosebery halls. Overall, this is almost 10 per cent more income than previous year. Due to changes in summer vacation dates, the financial year 2012/13 had eight fewer Summer School days than the previous year, which led to a net fall in income for this income stream of 5 per cent.

• Income in July topped £4.1m, our best month ever!

An analysis of income by the various types is illustrated below:

Ensure financial sustainability and look for ways in which to continue to expand the revenue base and to deliver a surplus over expenditure.

Term students 59%

Summer School 11%

Commercial guests 14%

Staff accommodation 2%

Educational groups 2%

Vacation students 2%

Other income 2%

Food 8%

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On the expenditure side:

• Total expenditure for the year was £15.4m, which was £0.4m lower than budget and £1.8m greater than in 2011/12.

• £3.6m was invested in long term maintenance and refurbishment, an increase of £1.4m (62 per cent) on the previous year. This figure included significant spend at High Holborn, Butler’s Wharf, Grosvenor House, Rosebery and Carr-Saunders Halls.

Financial sustainability:In the six financial years since 2006/7, Residential Services has delivered on a target to become sustainably self-financing. Overall income has grown by a total increase of 60 per cent since 2006/7. Student term rents have grown in line with inflation and the additional growth relates to increased occupancy and rates during vacation commercial trading periods.

Income change v last year: Total increase £2.5m

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A capital charge is paid to the School by the Division for those halls which are owned by the School and for which no commercial rent is paid. The Division has produced a financial surplus whilst providing a good mix of affordable accommodation some with low rents. Notional interest (£6.3m) together with the surplus for the year (£2m) led the Division to generate a total of £8.3m cash for the School in the financial year under review.

Growth in financial surplus:The trend to achieve an annual surplus has been one of substantial continuous growth. This has been achieved alongside major growth in refurbishments costs at the halls – an excellent result overall!

After a deficit of £760k in 2006/7, a surplus has been achieved for each of the past six years. The trend has been one of continuous growth. This has been achieved alongside major growth in refurbishment costs at the halls – another excellent result.

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Vacation trading

• The Residential Services Sales and Marketing Team were proud to launch a new vacations website on 10 June 2013 which introduced a brand new look and feel, together with a re-vamped booking engine. The template was overhauled and vastly modernised allowing us to make better use of video, images and social media. In the first two weeks to the end of June the site was visited by over 14,000 unique visitors, rising to 45,357 visitors by the end of July. Take a peek at www.lsevacations.co.uk

• Social media channels continue to grow. Our Twitter account has doubled the number of followers in the past year and we continue to have a presence on Facebook, Google Plus, YouTube and Trip Advisor.

• Robust trading figures for September 2012 compared with September 2011, achieving around 78 per cent occupancy.

• A lucrative contract with an Olympic sponsor at Passfield Hall and generally more focussed sales and marketing activity helped generate an additional £954k of commercial guest income.

• WI Fi was implemented in all Halls and is proving very popular with guests.

• Customer satisfaction remained high for vacation business in 2012 with 86 per cent of our visitors saying they would recommend us to others and a significant 90 per cent rating our accommodation good value for money.

• Average summer occupancy across all halls was 85.5 per cent, up 5 per cent compared to the same period in 2012.

• Top selling channels (other than ours): Booking.com – Agoda – Laterooms – Travelstay

What our vacation visitors said about us:

“Reception staff were very helpful and polite throughout or visit making it a safe and relaxed environment.”

‘Leaving luggage helpful and staff helpful too, personal service.”

“It was a great stay and the staff were lovely. We both agree that the net time we’re visiting London again, we’re coming back.”

“I cannot fault my stay, everyone was friendly and helpful, it was very clean, we couldn’t have wanted more for the price.”

“A great service you offer... professional, good security, clean... really enjoy this spot in particular.”

“Great location and excellent value for money. Would definitely book again as would my two companions. Also very secure.”

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RESIDENTIAL SERVICES STRATEGIC PRIORITY FIVE:

Create and maintain a positive, flexible, high-performing workforce that is capable of change and acts on customer feedback to improve services and their own performance.

Staff Survey:

• 111 Residential Services staff completed the survey, which was a 53 per cent response rate and a significant increase from 2009 and the highest we have ever achieved as a Division.

• 81 per cent of staff report that they have a clear understanding of the purpose and objectives of the Division; they know where to get information from and are clear about what is expected of them in their roles. Staff are proud to work for the School and for the Division!

• The understanding of Divisional objectives is our most improved score, along with a sense of loyalty to the Division and the Head of Department being a good role model.

• Work has already begun to address some of the issues highlighted in the survey, especially in relation to things we need to improve.

• All members of staff were invited to attend Customer Service Excellence training and an Equality, Diversity and Conflict Resolution course.

Moving forward, next steps:

• The Division is piloting the new Career/Performance Development Review System.

• 360 degree appraisals will be rolled out later in the year for every manager across the Division. Anonymous input from direct reports and other colleagues will help managers to reflect upon their performance in the workplace and assess their management style.

• Working towards implementation of Division-wide training and development plan.

• We will also be focusing upon communication across the Division, making sure that everyone is well informed about what is going on and that everyone in the Division has an opportunity to have their say.

Achieved reaccreditation of the Customer First standard: Residential Services passed the test with flying colours. The assessor noticed in particular how enthusiastic staff were to work here and that they feel valued: both essential elements to providing responsive customer service.

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RESIDENTIAL SERVICES STRATEGIC PRIORITY SIX:

Support the School’s environmental aims, especially a commitment to the School’s carbon management plan.

The Division monitored and developed KPIs in relation to:Recycling, tonnage to landfill, utility statistics and Student Switch Off .

End of term ReLove (ReUse) initiative is the annual inter-hall battle to reuse as much material as possible as students move out at the end of the year for the summer break. This produced a total of 9,803kgs (9.8 tonnes) of collected material, 7,368kgs (7.3 tonnes) were re-used, 1,361kgs (1.4 tonnes) were recycled and 1,074kgs (1.1 tonnes) waste to energy/landfill. This beat last year’s total amount of 7898kgs (7.9 tonnes) of material collected, 6,345kgs (6.3 tonnes) reused, 969.6kgs (0.97 tonnes) recycled.

Items that are in demand from students are “sold” back (for a donation to the Sustainability Project Fund) to students at the start of term Relove programme. The bulk of the material that is collected is donated to a diverse range of charities, such as TRAID, St Mungo’s and the Marylebone Project.

Student Switch Off energy saving initiative resulted in a 6 per cent electricity reduction in consumption. This totalled 143,567 kWh, equivalent to a saving of £11,485 on electricity expenditure, or a 78 tonne saving in CO2.

• 235 students (8 per cent of residents) signed up to become Eco-Power Rangers

• 19 students were trained as Student Switch Off Ambassadors

• 546 students took part in the climate change quiz to win Ben & Jerry’s ice cream

• The Facebook fan page drew 252 new members since the start of Fresher’s Week

Sustainability Projects Fund: The sustainability team at Passfield Hall won £6,000 from the LSE Sustainable Futures Fund to create a better environment for the Passfield bee colony and attract additional wildlife to the Passfield garden. Beyond the obvious environmental benefits, the project will also help to create a strong sense of community within the residence.

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Green Impact: plays a key part in delivering the School’s Environmental Policy.

Gold Award Residences Central Office Rosebery HallSilver Plus Award Passfield HallSilver Award Carr-SaundersBronze Award Bankside House Butler’s Wharf

Silver Green Tourism Award at Northumberland House

Some key stats:

• We achieved 99 per cent term time student occupancy. The average occupancy for the year including vacation periods was 92 per cent.

• In the financial year 2012/13, over £18.8m was collected in term time student rent payments against recorded student debts of only £21,478 (0.11 per cent of the budgeted income).

Residences Governance:

The last Residences Committee took place on 30 May. We would like to thank the outgoing Committee for their help and support the past year.

Pro Director, Teaching and Learning (Chair): Ex Officio

Professor Paul Kelly

A Lay Member of Council Ms Angela Camber

Head of Residential Life: Ex Officio Ms Rachael Elliott

Chair of the Residences User Group: Ex Officio

Professor Chandran Kukathas

Dean of Undergraduate Studies: Ex Officio

Dr Peter Howlett

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2 Members of the Academic Board (not being Wardens)

Dr George Lawson

Second Academic Board Member Dr Matthew Hall

Student Union Welfare and Community Officer: Ex Officio

Mr Jack Tindale

Student elected from amongst the Hall Presidents (undergraduate)

Mr Shyram Thakrar

Student elected from amongst the Hall Presidents (postgraduate)

Ms Cynthia Birikundavyi

Residential Services will report into the Student Academic Affairs Committee from Michaelmas Term 2013.