On 9 January I was the whole day a guest of the Estates & Facilities Department of the Royal University Hospital (RUH) Bath. An alumnus of IFM, Marjolein Vries, is working right now there to implement the advices she gave on Service Level Agreements in her graduation report of June 2011!
Together with Marjolein and two managers of the Estates and Facilities Department, Brian Gubb and John Moore (see picture), I had a very intensive day in which I saw, spoke and learned a lot about the values RUH strives for. It is their big challenge to transform an old fashioned Hospital into a modern one. For several years students of our School of Facility Management do their internships, graduation projects and other activities within RUH. I was overwhelmed by the hospitality I experienced. It was an unforgettable experience.
fltr: John Moore, Ab Reitsma, Marjolein Vries and Brian Gubb
On 10 January, I took the train from Bath to London Paddington. From there I walked, unfortunately not straight away, to WECH (Walterton & Elgin Community Homes). For more than 15 years we have a very close relationship with WECH, especially with Anthony Gold, Operations Manager. Students of our School of Facility Management form a crucial part of the WECH team. They add a lot of value to the processes and services WECH provides to their tenants. Anthony Gold is one of the speakers at our International Seminar, in which he will also elaborate on our warm relationship. In the evening we had a dinner (see picture) with an alumnus of our FM programme, Hoi Yee Chow, together with her boy-friend, alumnus Markus Knauss of the Fachhochschule Kufstein (she met him during the Summer school (IFMP) of 2008). Both did their master in Real Estate, Hoi Yee at Kingston University in London and Markus at the University of Reading. Both are living and working right now in the Real Estate branch in London.
fltr: Ab Reitsma, Markus Knauss, Hoi Yee Chow and Anthony Gold
Though it were very busy days, I look back on a very successful business trip.
N.B. During my stay I discovered that there might be an interesting opportunity to work together with the University of Bath for e.g. students exchange. The University of Bath is the leading University within the UK. The first steps to explore this possible cooperation have been taken.
Ab Reitsma