PA 11/15
The University of Nottingham has officially thanked Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service for its hard work in keeping the community safe during the recent fire at its Jubilee campus.
The Chancellor of the University, Sir Andrew Witty, presented the Chancellor’s Award to the Deputy Chief Fire Officer Wayne Bowcock at a ceremony last Thursday (22 January).
The award was presented in recognition of the outstanding work done by the service in preventing the spread of the recent fire at the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Sustainable Chemistry Laboratory at the University in September.
An exceptional contribution
This is the first time that this award has been given, and it has been created to recognise exceptional contributions made by individuals and external organisations to the success of the University. As well as the award and certificate of recognition, a donation of £20,000 has been made to The Fire Fighters Charity.
Mr Bowcock said: “It’s a great honour to receive this on behalf of the Service. It’s an absolute tragedy to lose the building and the crews were aghast when they got there and we realised there was little we could do to save it.
“The priority then was people’s safety and there were some significant challenges for us to protect the surroundings and keep people safe. It was a big team effort and it’s great that the University has recognised that with this award.
“We’re really keen to work with the University to see that building built and achieve what it was meant to, and realise that vision.”
Appreciation
Dr Paul Greatrix, Registrar at The University of Nottingham said: “We would like to show our appreciation to the Fire Service and its employees for their exceptional response to the fire and for helping to prevent the loss of any other buildings and ensuring no loss of life. We are also extremely grateful for their thorough investigation and subsequent report which will allow us to proceed with re-building and to continue with our ambition to complete this landmark development.
“The GSK Sustainable Chemistry Laboratory is an extremely significant development for the University and it is part of our on-going strategic capital development plans and investments in our campuses. This unique building is also a reflection of our commitment to sustainability and will set new standards for the development of ‘green’ laboratories in the future. It is with this in mind that we are delighted to thank the Service for all their efforts in helping our ambition to move forward once again.”
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Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham has 43,000 students and is ‘the nearest Britain has to a truly global university, with campuses in China and Malaysia modelled on a headquarters that is among the most attractive in Britain’ (Times Good University Guide 2014). It is also one of the most popular universities in the UK among graduate employers, in the top 10 for student experience according to the Times Higher Education and winner of ‘Research Project of the Year’ at the THE Awards 2014. It is ranked in the world’s top one per cent of universities by the QS World University Rankings, and 8th in the UK by research power according to REF 2014.
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