• Section 1 - Summary
• Section 2 - Accountability
• Section 3 - Scope
• Section 4 - Definitions
• Section 5 - Policy/Regulation
• Section 6 - Procedures
• Part A - Summary of Roles and Responsibilities
• Part B - Space Allocation Procedures
• Space Allocation Requests and Approvals
• Space Management
• Teaching Space
• Specialist Space
• Research Space
• Office Space Layout
• Office and Workspace Area Space Allocation
• New Appointments
• Open Plan General Principles
• Office Entitlements
• University Staff (Research, Academic, VET Senior Educators, VET Teachers, and Professional Staff)
• Meeting and Consultation Rooms
• Storage
• Future Requirements
• Staff Relocations
• Furniture Relocation and Porterage
• Reallocation of vacant space
• Space Allocation Appeal Process

Section 1 - Summary

(1) This Procedure outlines the processes for the allocation and management of University space.

Section 2 - Accountability

Section 3 - Scope

(2) This Procedure applies to all University owned and leased space.

Section 4 - Definitions

(3) Porterage – Relocation of furniture.

(4) Usable Floor Area – The total occupied internal floor area including circulation and ancillary areas and excluding only service areas such as lift wells, stairs, toilets and plant rooms.

Section 5 - Policy/Regulation

(5) See Space Allocation and Management Policy.

Section 6 - Procedures

Part A - Summary of Roles and Responsibilities

Part B - Space Allocation Procedures

Space Allocation Requests and Approvals

(6) All requests for an allocation of space must be submitted using the Space Allocation Request.

(7) Allocation requests may be made at any time, however organisational units are encouraged to align space allocation requests with the University’s annual planning and budget cycle in order to maximise alignment with strategic planning.

(8) All space allocation requests will be received by the Facilities Department and a recommendation made to the appropriate officer for a decision as outlined in the Summary of Roles and Responsibilities table.

(9) For general requests of space over 100m² and/or a cost exceeding $150,000 or more, the Executive Director, Facilities will make recommendations to the Vice-President, Resources and Risk for a decision.

(10) For specialist spaces and research spaces, the Executive Director, Facilities will consult with relevant stakeholders before making a recommendation to the Vice-President, Resources and Risk for a decision.

Space Management

(11) Heads of organisational units are responsible for the optimal use of all space that has been allocated to them.

(12) Organisational units must advise the Manager, Space Planning if spare capacity develops within their existing allocation of space.

(13) Allocated space must be used for its stated purpose. Changes of use or occupancy within an organisational unit’s space allocation must be approved by the Executive Director, Facilities on recommendation of the Manager, Space Planning.

(14) Organisational units may not re-allocate space nor physically alter space. Requests for building alterations (see Capital and Minor Works Submission Help Guide) must be made to the Facilities Department and all approved alterations will be project managed by the Facilities Department (see Minor Works).

(15) The Facilities Department will maintain plans and database records of all space allocations. Space audits and reporting will be undertaken regularly by the Facilities Department in order to monitor and benchmark utilisation rates. The Facilities Department will use the outcomes of these audits to improve the utilisation of space.  Poorly utilised space will be reviewed and may be re-allocated.

Teaching Space

(16) All teaching space is centrally owned and is managed by the Central Timetabling Unit within the Facilities Department. Teaching space usage will be recorded on the University’s Timetable System for analysis and reporting purposes.

(17) There are two categories of teaching space at the University:

1. General Teaching Space - Space where there is no characteristic of the room or the facilities provided therein which would preclude other organisational areas from using the room.
2. Specialist Teaching Space - Rooms containing specialist equipment or features that preclude other organisational areas from using the room.

(18) All teaching space will be regularly assessed by Facilities Department in regards to its location, quality, capacity, accessibility and utilisation.

(19) Scheduling of activities within Teaching Space will be governed by the Timetabling Policy.

Specialist Space

(20) Specialist space requirements will be determined in consultation with relevant stakeholders, giving consideration to all OHS and other legislative or regulatory compliance requirements.

Research Space

(21) Research space requirements will be determined in consultation with relevant stakeholders, giving consideration to all OHS and other legislative or regulatory compliance requirements.

Office Space Layout

(22) Office space layouts will be as generic as possible and designed to maximise flexibility and reduce the occupancy costs associated with relocations.

(23) All office space layouts will be compliant with WorkSafe standards on workplace amenities and work environment, including:

1. workspace;
2. temperature and air quality;
3. lighting;
4. flooring;
5. disability access.

Office and Workspace Area Space Allocation

(24) The University's space allocation in the below table is based on the Tertiary Education Facilities Management Association (TEFMA) Space Planning Guidelines.

(25) The work areas of the organisational units are required to total between 10m² and 15m² per Full Time Equivalent staff member including breakout spaces, meeting rooms, tea rooms, resource spaces and circulation spaces.

(26) Staff are not permitted to have more than one dedicated office or work station, however, access to a hot desk at the relevant secondary campus/ site will be available if such access is determined necessary by the relevant head of the organisational unit.

(27) For staff whose primary role is not office based, a hot desk may be provided rather than a dedicated work station.

(28) All lighting will be compliant with WorkSafe standards on workplace amenities and work environment. Lighting from natural and/or artificial sources needs to be provided for employees to ensure working conditions that are appropriate to the nature of the work. Natural lighting is not a requisite provision.

(29) The Facilities Department will monitor organisational unit work area occupancy against the above benchmarks. Any excess space may be reviewed and re-allocated in accordance with these Procedures.

(30) Where shared meeting rooms, tea rooms and kitchens are used by an organisational unit a percentage of this space may be included in the calculation of total space for this purpose.

New Appointments

(31) Heads of organisational units are responsible for

1. ensuring that accommodation arrangements for new staff have been finalised prior to the commencement of the recruitment process.
2. confirming space availability prior to allocating space for adjunct appointments, consultancies, research bids, etc.

Open Plan General Principles

(32) Office layouts shall generally be designed as ‘open plan’. Designs for new and refurbished spaces are to be as generic as possible in order to maximise flexibility and reduce occupancy costs.

Office Entitlements

(33) The following are entitled to fully enclosed offices where suitable space is available:

1. Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor & Senior Executive – As required / to be agreed on an individual basis.
2. Deans of Colleges, Professional Academic Level E and VET Leadership – 12 m². 

(34)  Requests by staff members (other than those listed above) for fully enclosed office entitlements will be considered using the following criteria:

1. Seniority.
2. Specific work related need for full time access to an enclosed office including a percentage of work time spent on student counselling and/or sensitive and confidential matters.
3. Having regard to the availability and location of suitable meeting spaces.
4. Course accreditation requirements that specify the need for a fully enclosed office.

(35) Enclosed offices must be contained within the overall Office Space allocation for the organisational unit.

University Staff (Research, Academic, VET Senior Educators, VET Teachers, and Professional Staff)

(36) The new standards will be implemented to accommodate all staff into open plan space as new buildings and major refurbishment of space is progressed across the Portfolio. Open plan accommodation will be designed to create engaging staff environments which support collaboration, staff experience and different modes of working. These spaces will be designed with consideration of noise control, security and privacy requirements and include breakout spaces,meeting rooms, tea points, resource spaces, interview/thinking/confidential and circulation spaces. The work areas will be between 10m² and 15m² per full time equivalent.

(37) The staff accommodation spaces detailed above will be supported by the provision of a mixture of centralised general  spaces to provide further staff amenity which may include public realm, campus retail and informal lounge / hub facilities.

Meeting and Consultation Rooms

(38) These will be provided to meet the needs of organisational units; however all meeting rooms are to be available for use by other organisational units.

(39) Depending on requirements, flexible plan office areas will include a mixture of quiet spaces and consultation spaces in addition to meeting rooms.

Storage

(40) The use of on-campus storage space is to be minimised and teaching and accommodation requirements shall take precedence. However, spare or non-habitable space may be allocated by the Facilities Department for temporary storage.

(41) Organisational units are to develop processes in accordance with the University’s Records Management Policy to identify records that are required to be stored and to systematically dispose of surplus material. Off campus storage facilities should be used to store records and other resources or material that are required to be kept (see the Records and Archives Services – Destruction of Records webpage).  Each organisational unit is responsible for offsite storage costs.

Future Requirements

(42) The Facilities Department will prepare campus masterplans to align with forecast teaching and research requirements.  In order to assist in the planning of future space requirements, Heads of organisational units will be required to provide indicative forecasts of known future space requirements, including forecast student load, staffing and research by the beginning of September of each year.

Staff Relocations

(43) All staff relocations are managed by Facilities in order to ensure effective use of space and ensure space management records are accurately maintained, as well as to coordinate the provision of services required for the relocation including security, signage, building access, cleaning, maintenance and IT connections.

(44) For office relocations within the organisational unit's existing space allocation, a Move Manager Spreadsheet must be submitted.

(45) A Space Allocation Request must be made and a Move Manager Spreadsheet must be completed if additional space is required by an organisational unit, or the proposed relocation is outside of the organisational unit's existing space allocation.

(46) Where the decision to relocate has been made by the organisational unit, including as part of a formal change plan, the cost of office relocations including reconfiguration/refurbishment of space will be paid by the organisational unit.

(47) Where the decision for relocation of staff has been made by the Facilities Department to facilitate capital or minor works projects, or to meet the strategic needs of the University, the cost of relocation will be met by the Facilities Department.

(48) The Facilities Department will determine the schedule for the relocation, which may be dependent on a number of factors such as:

1. Relocating existing staff from the space.
2. Reconfiguring or refurbishing space prior to the relocation.
3. Minimising any impact on service delivery to students.
4. Priorities of the client.

(49) Where a staff member is on extended leave at the time of a planned relocation (e.g. maternity leave, special studies program leave, etc.) the staff member's work area will still be relocated.  The head of the organisational unit will liaise with People and Culture, as well as Facilities, to manage the relocation and ensure that any personal items that may be in the space are managed appropriately.

(50) To minimise University costs, standard office furniture, i.e. desk, pedestal drawers, bookcases, filing cabinets will not be relocated and will remain in the existing space, unless approval for relocation of furniture is made by the Manager, Space Planning.

Furniture Relocation and Porterage

(51) Facilities organise furniture removals and porterage as part of staff relocations, as well as on an ad hoc basis.

(52) Facilities manages excess furniture in storage for future use, and arranges removal of excess furniture, as well as providing organisational units with furniture from storage as an alternative to purchasing new furniture where applicable.

(53) Porterage costs are met by the organisational unit.

(54) New furniture can only be purchased through Procurement or via Facilities should recommendations or assistance be required. Procurement have a contract with a company to supply all office and meeting room furniture (see the Procurement and Business Operations – Office Furniture webpage).

Reallocation of vacant space

(55) The reallocation of space deemed vacant will be subject to the following process:

1. Physical audit
   1. The space will be inspected and information will be collected from adjoining occupants to ascertain the current status.
2. Notice
   1. A notice will be placed on the door advising that the space will be declared vacant and reallocated.
   2. The notice will be for a period of one month.
   3. Any personal items remaining are to be removed by the previous occupant within the notice period. If there is no response by the due date, Facilities will engage Records and Archives Services, ITS and a Removals Company to clear the space as required.
3. Access
   1. Once space is confirmed vacant, access will be restricted to prevent unauthorised occupancy, and will be reallocated for University use.

Space Allocation Appeal Process

(56) In the event that an applicant disagrees with a space allocation decision of the Executive Director, Facilities, an appeal may be lodged in writing to the Vice-President, Resources and Risk detailing the grievance and rationale for the decision to be reconsidered.

(57) The appeal will include the detailed rationale and reasons outlining the requirements and how this links in with the University Strategic Plan, key risks, benefits, and disadvantages for the decision to be reconsidered. If applicable the following elements must be addressed:    

1. Academic course delivery
2. Student experience
3. Structural impact within organisational units and/or across units
4. Campus impact
5. Community Engagement
6. External relationships
7. Research requirements
8. Improved efficiencies (e.g. space utilisation, costs, processes, etc.)
9. OHS issues
10. Risk mitigation

(58) The decision by Vice-President, Resources and Risk will be final.