Bursar’s Update

Deborah Griffin OBE

One of the most hard-working members of staff over the past year has been our Isolation Support Co-ordinator who also doubles up as our Quarantine Coordinator. Bobbie Semple, our Conference Sales Manager, continues to perform these roles diligently and commendably. Many of you may remember Bobbie as the HUS administrator for many years. We hope Bobbie can return to her day job very soon as we need to build our Events business back up as a critical pillar of College finances, although her team is working hard in the meantime. We are really looking forward to welcoming both old and new clients to the new guest bedrooms and auditorium in North Wing which were completed last summer.

As the Dining Hall and Buttery near completion – expected in February 2022 – we are refurbishing the Ibberson rooms to provide high standard meeting rooms to capture new business. In particular we are looking at the audio-visual (AV) provision to be able to host hybrid meetings with both physical and virtual attendees. This is a complicated refurbishment, not only because it is a listed building, but because we are also improving fire and safety provisions so that capacities can be reinstated, and increasing the environmental sustainability of the building as well. Local interior designer Eve Waldron is providing the design element.

We have commissioned a study of the whole campus so that we can develop a plan to reduce our use of gas across the estate and improve sustainability. Who knew we had 32 gas boilers! As you may group study spaces. Alison Brooks was the successful practice and we are working with them on the design to submit planning permission by the end of the year. We will also take the opportunity to improve the frontage and install covered cycle storage.

With the loss of some student residential and catering income this year and a whole year of Event income, the College is forecasting a loss to 30 June 2021 of c. £1.6 million (FY20 – £933k). We normally budget to break even or make a small surplus.

Our investment portfolio has performed well in the past year and we are looking at a total return for FY21 of nearly 30%. This has allowed us to re-pay the £10m Rolling Credit Facility (RCF) with Lloyds early and fund normal operations and the improvements to the College.

As I write this, we are hoping for a little return to normality in College life. In truth, it does not feel much different to last summer when we hoped to be returning to a normal academic year. We await government announcements and developments to understand how we might operate for the rest of the summer and as students return in September… and redo all the risk assessments covering every aspect of College life.

recall, the electricity and heating and cooling capacity of the new Dining Hall and Buttery will be provided by Ground Source Heat pumps (GSHP).

The students were able to use our new sports facilities off Long Road during the year whilst the new pavilion and changing rooms are being built. These are due to be completed by the end of August 2021, just in time for the new academic year. I am looking forward to welcoming our Alumni for “Old” matches against our current students.

During the past year we have been running an architectural competition to choose an architect to design a new building at the Hills Road entrance to house a new Porters’ Lodge, Children’s Literature Resource Centre and additional

Filippo Bolognese Images

Design for the new Porters’ Lodge by Alison Brooks’ Architects