Goodricke JCRC has condemned a number of serious incidents that took place within the college due to a lack of diligence from the maintenance and cleaning services.
When external contractors Derwent Living replaced the on-site facilities team, the number of work hours was cut from 170 to just 70 per month, leaving the whole of Goodricke College with an average of just two cleaners per day. A number of complaints have been reported to college chair Nacho Hernando to say that the drop in standards has led to a significant increase in threats to student health and safety.
As well as general maintenance and cleaning issues, several serious incidents have also occurred since the start of term that Hernando believes may be connected. A disabled student recently slipped and fell in their bath, he told Vision, after it went without cleaning over several weeks.
Another student reported being told by a Derwent Living cleaning supervisor that their cleaners were “unaware” they were expected to clean ovens, an issue which Hernando told Vision has coincided with the first oven fire in Goodricke accommodation since it opened in October 2009.
In addition, students have complained that some Derwent Living staff have attempted to enter standard study rooms which, without a shower pod, are not within the cleaning team’s remit. Hernando explained that some students are concerned about this security issue, especially as the complaints have coincided with the reported theft of an iPod from one of the rooms.
Moreover, the phone number of the Derwent Living supervisor office in Goodricke Nucleus (for students to report maintenance issues) charges a premium rate. This is despite the office being within a minute’s walk from the accommodation blocks.
Goodricke College accommodation is the most expensive non-catered accommodation offered by the University and, as such, the JCRC has taken the reports made against Derwent Living very seriously. Until the end of last term, the cleaning and maintenance contract was held by Facilities Manager Mandy McKechnie and her team, supervised by Head of Campus Services Sue Johnston.
Hernando asserted that this old team “have been fantastic when it has come to providing the required levels of cleaning and maintenance.” He continued: “Some University Estates high-profile staff might have felt that cutting the number of hours would be a good way to save money – they didn’t realise that Mandy’s team were already stretching their resources to the bare minimum and still providing a fantastic quality of cleaning and maintenance provision, and that any further cuts in the amount of hours put into cleaning and maintenance would result in nothing but… an unclean and poorly maintained college, which, ironically, is also the most expensive accommodation at this University.”
Johnston has informed Goodricke JCRC that quality checks have been made, but because Goodricke College is owned by external company Evans (a result of the way the building construction was financed), the results went to this company, and not to the students. Hernando informed Vision that he has placed Goodricke Committee Officer, Jonny Gilchrist in charge of collecting further reports of similar incidents.
Hernando asserts that these reports will continue to be relayed to the University with the aim of removing maintenance and cleaning responsibilities from the external company.
“Due to the obvious breaches in the quality contracts with the University and the dangerous environment that they are placing our students in, this external company model has proven to have failed, and we request nothing else than reinstating Mandy and Sue’s fantastic staff in Goodricke College accommodation.”
YUSU Welfare Officer Bob Hughes commented: “Although I understand the University has to bear in mind financial implications of services like cleaning, I think students’ well-being needs to take priority in any student-facing institution, and we will be working to ensure students get the best deal out of the already high prices they are paying for accommodation.”