Teaching Spaces Manager

A rare opportunity has arisen to impact the future of our teaching, study, and associated student spaces at the University of Reading.  Join our growing Space & Asset Management Team and transform our approach to provisioning teaching spaces to innovatively meet the future growth plans of the University.

About the role

The Teaching Spaces Manager will be responsible for ensuring the availability of fit for purpose teaching and student facing spaces across the full range of degree types, subject areas, and associated support services. In the short term this involves working with key stakeholders in Estates to develop a planned improvement programme which the role holder will be responsible for co-ordinating and managing against a pre-determined budget.

Reporting to the Head of Space & Asset Management and working with colleagues from multiple Schools and Directorates, the role holder will ensure there are sufficient teaching spaces to meet the growth targets. They will also lead the development of new design standards for teaching spaces and be the subject matter expert feeding into all projects that update or improve them.

A critical part of the role will be to model demand scenarios against the existing and forecast supply of teaching spaces, making use of timetabling and utilisation data to develop innovative solutions that deliver efficient and effective use of space. The role holder will liaise with key academic stakeholders to ensure these solutions meet pedagogic and support requirements.

A significant proportion of the role will involve gathering, analysing and interpreting data to create regular as well as ad-hoc reports. This need drives an associated need to develop processes and a reporting framework that allows us to quickly and easily bring forward data driven recommendations for approval.

About you

You will have substantial experience managing student learning and study spaces in an educational or training environment. You will understand the basic components of an effective learning space and have the creativity to build on this to innovate and transform sub-optimal spaces in the pursuit of more effective and efficient space use.

You will have an evidence based approach to solving problems and have a passion for gathering, analysing and interpreting data. The results of your analytical activities will be presented in a way that is clear and compelling, particularly when the intended audience is our senior stakeholders.

You will have significant skill in managing processes and influencing people. You will be a team player with the ability to work with stakeholders at all levels and from all parts of the University organisation.

Educated to degree level, you will have additional qualifications in leadership and robust experience using tools such as PowerBi, Tableau or Crystal Reports.

You will be able to demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement and will have experience of developing and embedding policies and standards. Your communication and interpersonal skills will support you in responding with flexibility and understanding across a variety of stakeholder groups. You are used to engaging with senior stakeholders and comfortable representing the team and deputising for the Head of Space & Asset Management.

Interviews will be held: w/c 08.07.2024

Informal contact details
Contact role: Head of Space & Asset Management
Contact name: Michele Facer
Contact phone: 07702 592 558
Contact email: m.j.facer@reading.ac.uk 

Alternative informal contact details
Contact role: Campus Planning Director
Contact name: David Wallace#
Contact phone: na
Contact email: d.j.wallace@reading.ac.uk 

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