NRP cabling work begins in residences 

Work to install fibre optic and copper cabling around the campus to support our brand-new internet network has now begun. Work is underway in Northfield and will start in Lewes Court, Brighthelm, Stanmer Court, Swanborough and Norwich House in the first part of 2025. Shawcross, Freeman, Richmond and Pevensey will also see cabling works begin at various times in March and April 2025. 

Elsewhere, light touch surveys are continuing and the last duct and trench works to get us ready for our new cabling are taking place in the Northfield area throughout December. 

Find out more on the Staff Hub.

Improving the resilience, stability and flexibility of the computer systems we use 

The Cloud Enablement project has now finished migrating our University back-up system to our cloud-based service, Cohesity. This makes our data more secure and easily recoverable.     

The Cloud Transformation project has begun planning with our external partner, Softcat, to migrate a first tranche of servers onto a new on-premise virtual infrastructure. This will create capacity and speed to meet new IT requests in a flexible way, while also reducing our carbon footprint. The first phase of migration will take place early in 2025, and users will receive communications in advance if there’s the possibility of any disruption.

Alerter Systems – providing radio access to Security during emergencies 

As the Telephony Modernisation project draws to a close, final adjustments are being made to the new Alerter System, which includes emergency (external blue) and refuge (internal green) boxes attached to the walls across campus. The internal units can be found in stairwells and corridors, while information on the external units can be found on the Security webpage.  

This means there will be one type of device covering East Slope, main campus buildings, and the future West Slope. These units provide instant radio access to Security during fire emergencies and other critical situations, replacing the older grey external call points and red emergency telephones. 

Check out this quick video on the new system. 

Cyber Security Awareness Month – Escape Rooms, cybercrime insights and more 

Thank you to colleagues who took part in our Cyber Security Awareness Month events, which included an Escape Room challenge, a lecture about cybercrime and the law with Dr Jessica Shurson, a cyber security ‘lunch and learn’ with the ITS team, and a cyber security health check for staff and students. 

View the full update on the Staff Hub and check out our gallery for photos from the Escape Room challenge. 

Back to the top

Travel Survey to provide valuable data on staff and student travel habits 

A travel survey has been launched for staff and students, to find out their travel habits to and from campus, and their thoughts on sustainable travel initiatives. The data will be used to create a Travel Plan, which will encourage sustainable travel, ahead of West Slope buildings opening. The Travel Plan is a condition of planning permission and will be reviewed by Brighton & Hove City Council. It also provides valuable data to the University, supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 11 – sustainable cities and communities.  

Read more about the Travel Survey or take part here.  

Student Spaces Survey 2024 

The second Student Spaces Survey is underway to find out what students love about campus, and what could be even better. Covering a range of topics such as social spaces and study spaces, the survey also asks students for their views of the campus supermarket and will be used to inform the planning of the West Slope supermarket space. 

Read more about the Student Spaces Survey on the Student Hub.  

Giving back to the local community 

The Estates team donated a huge number of items to schools and charities this term in an effort to give back to the local community. They worked with several groups on campus to collect and deliver the donations, including the Library, the School of Life Sciences, and the Students’ Union. Visit our photo gallery to find out more about the items donated.  

The team hope to soon be able to report on the results of their annual donation scheme, where student residents who move out at the end of summer donate unwanted goods to the Brighton & Hove outlets of the British Heart Foundation. 

Introducing the Facilities Management team 

The Estates Facilities Management team is divided across four campus zones in alignment with the new University faculty structure. The team provide information and updates around all Estates services, including maintenance, cleaning and logistics.  

Find out more about the team in your area and how to report a facilities request. 

Food and drink outlets: festive period opening times 

Find out about the opening times and closures of our catering outlets during the winter break and get into the festive mood with Sussex Uni Food’s festive activities.

Upgrades to Building Management Systems  

The Estates team has been working to upgrade the Building Management Systems (BMS) across 22 buildings on campus. Building Management Systems control lighting, heating and other essential services, like fire and security systems, through a single platform. Upgrading our current systems will enable more efficient management of these services.    

The upgrades are part of work to become more sustainable and reach our Net Zero target. Enhanced monitoring and control of buildings based on specific needs means we can reduce our energy consumption and lower utility wastage.   

Upgrades have been completed in 11 buildings including the Sports Centre, Bramber House, Silverstone, Meeting House, Arts A and several student residences.   

Paperless Parking: Pay As You Go payment window extended

Listening to your feedback, parking has been made even simpler. Pay As You Go permit holders can now pay for daily parking at any time up until 23.59 on the day they arrived on campus. 

The Transport Office will still be able to help drivers who forget to pay on the day, taking payment at the Transport Office up to 48 hours after entering campus. 

Additionally, paying via the PayByPhone mobile app has been made even more user-friendly.

Read the full update on the Staff Hub.

New accessibility ramp installed at Silverstone 

A brand-new accessibility ramp has been installed at the front of the Silverstone building, following an extensive project to plan and build an effective entranceway. The new ramp provides direct access into the building and its facilities, removing the need to use an alternative route via nearby Arts B and C. 

Thank Your Cleaner Day

Last month, a ‘Thank You’ day was hosted for our cleaners and janitors in the Estates team to recognise the amazing work they do every day to keep our campus clean and tidy. The cleaning team was invited to join Estates leadership for tea, coffee and cakes to acknowledge and thank them for their hard work cleaning and maintaining the University for staff and students.

The team works around the clock in all academic buildings, with:

• 281,784m2 of total building space cleaned and maintained

• 80 cleaners and janitors working on campus

• cleaning shifts 24/7 across campus. 

New doctoral training room in Pevensey III 

The Estates team completed a new quantum doctoral training room in Pevensey III for the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, refreshing the space and adding a new conference room. This includes improved ventilation and new furniture, providing the doctoral programme with new facilities.

Fire Wardens test skills in emergency evacuation 

Every year, emergency evacuation tests are conducted across campus, as part of our annual fire safety checks. Find out more about the lessons learnt this year. 

Back to the top

The Research Management System (RMS) project moves into Ethics system implementation 

The RMS project team and partner Infonetica are configuring the Ethics Review Manager (Ethics RM) system, and have recruited a subject matter expert to assist with delivery. Currently, they are in the process of implementing the questions that staff and students will need to answer as part of their ethics applications.  

The new system will replace the current ethics application process on Sussex Direct, allowing for a more standardised and trackable process. As well as speeding up this process, it will reduce the administrative burden of extensively amending applications before submission. 

Implementation will run through into 2025. 

Back to the top

Student Information System (SIS) project team launch second autumn release

Known as ‘Autumn release 2’, the latest launch focuses on PGT admissions including deposit payments, automatic scholarships and related curriculum functionality, and further integrations for marketing and finance. The new functionality is particularly important to support student recruitment objectives, and more than a dozen applications were received on the first day of use alone.

Find out more about the project’s latest success and what’s coming next on the Staff Hub. 

Curriculum Reimagined project makes progress 

The Curriculum Reimagined project had their final Business Case approved on 8 October by the University Executive Board (UEB). Progression continues, with the Assessments Working Group collaborating with Academic Developers on an assessment roadmap; this will be taken to the University Education Committee (UEC) for approval in February 2025.  

Colleagues in the Sussex Prospectus working group, who have been looking at how to improve the applicant experience, have been granted access to the Banner test environment and are testing the course level requirements in the online database. 

Back to the top

It’s been a fantastic project to work on, and to know the new system is already making a difference is rewarding to see. I will now be moving on to project manage a number of workstreams for the Student Information System (SIS) project.

Tell us about a change that’s impacted your life. It may not seem big, but getting into rock climbing a few years ago has been a positive change in my life. Besides the occasional run I was not exercising very much, but with climbing you work out without even realising! I feel a lot healthier as a result. 

Climbing has developed into one of my passions, and has introduced me to new friends and experiences that I wouldn’t have enjoyed otherwise. It’s also a great way of getting out into nature and explore parts of the countryside you wouldn’t normally find yourself in. 

Back to the top

View our photo gallery

See a few of the things we've been up to!

Back to the top

Connect with us for quick updates

Did you know we have a social network to share quick updates and information and discuss matters with colleagues? There are a number of communities that you can join and follow so you can find out what is happening around our University.

Click the icons below to join one of our Viva Engage communities:

This information is correct at the time of publishing, but please note that all project work is fast-moving, and plans are subject to change.

Back to the top