College estates and facilities

The request

1. Does your university, and/or any wholly owned subsidiary, own any agricultural land in the UK?

2. What is the approximate total area, in hectares, of the agricultural land holdings owned by your university, and/or wholly owned subsidiary, in the UK?

3. If the agricultural land that your university, and/or any wholly owned subsidiary, owns is split over multiple holdings under separate management, please could you tell us the number of separately managed agricultural holdings?

4. How many hectares of the agricultural land owned by your university, and/or any wholly owned subsidiary, are managed by staff employed directly by your university and/or the subsidiary?

5. How many hectares of the agricultural land owned by your university, and/or any wholly owned subsidiary, are leased to one or more tenant farmers?

6. Please tell us the type of leases in place on that tenanted land: (a) farm business tenancy (subject to the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995), (b) annual grazing/cropping license, (c) full agricultural tenancy (subject to the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1986), (d) other (please specify)

Imperial College response, IMPFOI-23-331, 5 July 2023

The College owns the following which may fall within the definition of agricultural land:
Warren Farm is designated as Metropolitan Open Land and has grazing land licensed for horses. The Property extends to 22.19 acres comprising circa 20.27 acres of grazing pastureland and circa 1.92 acres of hardstanding. Warren farm is subject to a Licence to Occupy.

There are several meadows at Silwood Park which may satisfy the criteria outlined in the Agricultural Act 1947. Silwood currently encompasses approximately 22 hectares of meadow land. Silwood Park is managed by staff directly employed by Imperial College.

Request and response, IMPFOI-23-510, 26 September 2023

FOI response, IMPFOI-23-510, Asbestos in College buildings (pdf)

FOI request, IMPFOI-24-286, 27 June 2024

Regarding the Imperial College London Early Years Centre:

What proportion of the places are currently filled by the children of students, compared to the children of institution staff, members of the public (if relevant) or are unfilled?
Current attendance is 77% staff , 19% students and 4% external. 

Are ‘drop-in’ sessions on an ad-hoc basis (akin to a crèche) permitted, or do all children attending the childcare facilities follow a prior agreed attendance pattern each week?
All children follow a prior agreed schedule, there are no ad hoc bookings unless it is a child known to us on a part time schedule requesting extra session.

Is there any prioritisation of places for the children of students over those of staff and/or members of the public?
Staff and students get equal priority, external places are only offered where no current Imperial staff or students require the place the maximum will be 6 external FTE at any one time.

Are the children of students able to attend for a shorter fixed number of weeks than a full year (reflecting an undergraduate / postgraduate term length)?
No but if they wish to reduce the hours the child attends they can do so if they give 2 months notice. they can then return to the waiting list.

Is there a waiting list for the childcare facilities? If so, how long is it currently?
Yes 6 – 12 months depending on age of child. 

The request

Please provide the following information about the College's vehicle fleet:

• Number of vehicles in the fleet
• Number of electric vehicles
• Number of hybrid vehicles
• Number of diesel vehicles
• Number of petrol vehicles

Imperial College response, IMPFOI-23-333, 4 July 2023

Number of vehicles in the fleet: 54
Number of electric vehicles: 5
Number of hybrid vehicles: 0
Number of diesel vehicles: 46
Number of petrol vehicles: 3

The request

The College's Sustainable Food & Drink Policy says that the College will 'Examine this Sustainable Food Policy on at least an annual basis and assess whether the targets have been reached and whether, therefore, they can be raised.' Can you please send me any assessments that have taken place.

If the following is not covered in the above assessments, I'd appreciate you additionally sending me:

The policy also indicates you will 'Monitor and reduce the amount of meat (particularly processed meats), replacing this where necessary with pulses, beans, and other sources of proteins'. Please could you send any data you have gathered as part of this monitoring, and more details of any steps the College has taken on this.

Further, please can you send me any data you have on:

1. The amount of different foods or food groups purchased for Taste Imperial or by external catering providers, with data per annum if possible; 2. The emissions (all scopes you track) due to food the College purchases, with data per annum if possible; 3. Overall College emissions by source per annum (such as: electricity, gas, food, transport, other) and details of which scopes are being measured for each category or other details of how the data is collected.

Imperial College response, IMPFOI-23-618, 5 December 2023

Foods or food groups purchased for Taste Imperial or by external catering providers

We do not hold the information requested for external catering providers. Please see FOI response, IMPFOI-23-618, Catering procurement data 1 Aug 2022 - 31 July 2023 (xlsx) for details of products purchased by Imperial College London's catering department in the last financial year.

Emissions due to food purchases

Overall Emissions

Please refer to the Sustainable imperial pages which include the Carbon Management and Sustainability Activities Report 2020-22, for information about overall emissions.

The request

1. The estimated total number of acres of land that you own.
2. The estimated total number of acres that you own which are not in operational use.
3. The annual spending on managing and maintaining your property estate in the financial year 2022/23. Please provide a breakdown.
4. The number of empty homes you currently own.
5. The number of empty buildings you currently own that are not homes.
 
Please provide a copy of your asset register.

Imperial's response, IMPFOI-24-139, 26 March 2024

The estimated total number of acres of land owned by Imperial College London is 140 hectares (the figure covers the area of  Imperial's  estate, includes Grounds area and Playing fields area, and all building footprints).

The estimated total number of acres owned by Imperial College London which are not in  operational use is 21 hectares.

The annual spending on managing and maintaining your property estate in the financial year 2022/23 was as follows:

Imperial College London's property assets: FOI response, IMPFOI-24-139, property asset register (PDF)

The request

The total capacity of seats available to students in each Imperial College London library and/or study space as well as the total enrolment of students at Imperial College London for this academic year (2022/23)

Student enrolment figures for each of the previous four years (i.e. 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22). If the total capacity of the university's libraries and/or study spaces has changed in these years, please can you also provide this information.

If the university records student card data entry at the barriers of the library, how many entries were recorded entering the Central Library on Wednesday 3rd May. If possible, please can you break down the number of entries by each hour of the library's operation.

Imperial College response, IMPFOI-23-244, 24 May 2023

For enrolment figures, please refer to the College Statistics guide on the Transparency information pages. The College's response to the other aspects of the request: FOI response, library capacity and usage (pfdf)

The request

I am writing to request information regarding personal injury compensation payments made to staff and students at your university in the last five years (2018-2023). Please provide the total amount of compensation paid following injuries or accidents at the university or on university grounds.

Imperial College response, IMFOI-23-426, 15 September 2023

The request

1. The number of times the university has employed a pest control service in the past five years (since academic year beginning 2017/18)

 2. The cost for each time a pest control service was used and the overall total cost for the past five years 

Imperial College response (IMPFOI-23-01, 2 February 2023)

The College is not able to provide a cost per visit because the contract with the pest control service includes a certain number of visits. The table below shows the number of additional vists required and the total cost of the pest control service per year.

The request

Please could you tell me, for each Hall of Residence, the split of UK vs International students living in them? For the last 3 years. 

Please could you also let me know what percentage of UK students receive their first choice of Halls. 

Imperial response, IMPFOI-24-173, 22 April.2024

Regarding the percentage of students who received their first preference, as the preferences are equally ranked we cannot provide this data. Below are the percentage of students who received one of their five preferences each academic year. 

2023-24: 90.8%
2022-23: 86.6%
2021-22: 85%

The request

Has RAAC been found in any of your university buildings or student accommodation?

Imperial College response, IMPFOI-23-505, 508 & 509

The College has conducted a series of investigations into whether RAAC is present in any College owned or operated buildings. Results of our initial inspection suggest there is no presence of RAAC. We will continue to conduct surveys and will take expert advice if potential RAAC is identified.

The request

1. Between 14 June 2017 and 14 November 2022, how many complaints has the university received from student tenants relating to mould and/or damp in university-owned accommodation (halls of residence)?

2. What action was taken in response to the complaints?

Imperial College response, IMPFOI-23-064, 1 March 2023

The spreadsheet below provides details of reports of mould or damp and action taken. These are reports raised with the College, not formal complaints, and may have been raised by students, staff or operatives.  The records held date from July 2017. 

Reports of mould and/or damp in student accommodation (pdf)

The request

Defibrillators access Please detail the number of defibrillators the university has on each of its campuses, and where each is located (i.e. building name and location in the building). For each, please specify whether it is accessible 24/7 or not, and whether an access code is required. Please also include details of defibrillators fitted/included in university vehicles, or any other defibrillators the university owns/manages.

First aid training Please detail the level of first aid training security staff (in the context of those who respond to calls) receive to provide emergency first aid response (including emergency Mental Health First Aid). Where appropriate please expand on this with what qualifications or training sessions all staff receive for both emergency first aid and emergency Mental Health First Aid. Please include how frequently re-training takes place.

Security response triage Where available, please detail:
(i) The triage (or equivalent) system university security uses to prioritise calls (i.e. what method is used to determine how severe one call is when compared to another).
(ii) In respect to the above, the target response time for each of the ‘categories’ or ‘levels’.

Response times Where available, please detail:
(i) The number of emergency, life threatening - for cardiac arrest and heart attack - calls the security team received in the 2021/22, 2020/21 and 2019/20 academic years, and the current 2022/23 academic year if available. If specific data is not available for cardiac arrest and heart attack related calls, please instead provide data for life threatening calls instead.
(ii) The average response time (i.e. in minutes) for the above, in the 2021/22, 2020/21 and 2019/20 academic years, and the current 2022/23 academic year if available.
(iii) The average response time (i.e. in minutes) for each of the ‘categories’ or ‘levels’ defined within paragraph 3 above, ‘Security response triage’.

Imperial College response, IMPFOI-23-219, 22 May 2023

Defibrillator access: AED Locations

First aid training

The People and Organisational Centre offer blended First Aid at Work (FAW) and AED; Emergency at Work (EFAW) and AED and First Aid Refresher specified under the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 (amended). Both FAW and EFAW have a 3 year life, delegates are reminded to repeat their qualification before expiry.

A First Aid Refresher course is also available every year and includes AED.

The College has embedded AED within all first aid courses.

The content for these courses is based on HSE Guidance L74 on First Aid Regulations Appendix 5,6,7 respectively.

The College licence is from First Aid Industry Body (FAIB) and our supplier Marlin Training belongs to the HSE Working Group - First Aid Quality Partnership (FAQP).

Security staff are prioritised and all undertake FAW+AED.

Further info about first aid training for staff: First aid

Security response triage

The four security teams each have dedicated security controllers in the control room who triage calls and incidents. There is no specific time for response. The security team operate 24/7 and an emergency response team respond to calls immediately.

Response times

There was one incident of a heart attack, which was recorded in the 2020/21 academic year. The College does not hold a record of ‘response times’.

The request

Since 2022, during the summer holiday period, how many nights are student accommodation rooms made available to non-students? Please specify the number of rooms made available to non-students and the total number of bookable nights made available during this period.

Imperial response, IMPFOI-24-389, 20 August 2024

In all cases the number of nights the rooms are available to rent by non-students is 84. The number of rooms available is:

2022 - 986

2023 - 2042

2024 - 721

The request

Does your institution provide single-sex toilets, changing rooms or accommodation (including halls of residence and on residential field trips) for staff and/or students?

Please provide details of the number of single-sex male toilets and changing rooms, single-sex female toilets and changing rooms, gender-neutral toilets and changing rooms and accessible toilets and changing rooms on the institution’s estate.

Imperial College response, IMPFOI-23-245, 5 June 2023

The College provides single-sex, unisex and disabled toilet facilities as follows:

The College does not have changing rooms as such, but we have provided details of shower facilities: FOI response IMPFOI-23-245, shower facilities (xlsx)

Information on accommodation options for College students is available on the College website: Accommodation. All twin rooms are allocated to students of the same gender.