Source: University of Otago
From old home to new home … Property Services Division Project Manager Mark Hanson and his wife Deb with a London landmark and Mark at his former football ground in Nottingham.
The COO’s Award will turn five next year so in this occasional series we are looking back at some early winners. The award recognises and celebrates Operations Group staff who serve our University in an exceptional manner and exemplify our University values.
When Mark Hanson received the first ever COO’s Award, he did not even know it existed.
As acting plumbing foreperson, he was having lunch with his team in the workshop as usual when Chief Operating Officer Stephen Willis walked in, shook his hand, and congratulated him.
Mark still thinks his face looks shocked and confused in the photo of that event – he cannot forget it because at the Marsh Study Centre days later the same photo was staring back at him from the Big Ben pie sign and from photos circling the napkin holder on his usual table.
Then, his coffee arrived with a photo of him on the mug, all courtesy of study centre Manager Kristy Millar.
“They were loving it. It was all in fun,” Mark says.
Why?
He got the award for dealing efficiently with an emergency at the Plaza Unipol Recreation Centre – a blocked drain was sending all sorts flooding out of first-floor washrooms through the ceiling into the reception area.
It was about 4pm on the Friday before parents and students were arriving for the start of the first semester – and the night before the Plaza café was staying open for fans going to singer Robbie William’s concert.
After working with fellow University plumber Ewan Burnett and Foley Plumbers to find the blockage, Mark had to break through a wall, saw a hole in a pipe, then divert the contents into a sucker hose.
An amused tradie audience was standing well back to watch as he and Total Carpets Services’ David Pile wore the brunt of dealing with contents under pressure.
Then, a jetter hose shot water into the pipe to clear the blockage and the clean-up operation began, finally finishing after midnight.
Recognition
Mark knew he could not have done the job without Ewan – who had stayed late despite having young kids and a sick wife – so COO’s award movie voucher went to Ewan’s kids.
While Mark does not seek the limelight, he believes in recognising staff for their efforts.
He is also a firm believer that at work, “90 per cent of it’s not just the job, it’s the people you work with, and I’ve been lucky at the University”.
Where it began
After Mark and his wife Deb emigrated from the Nottingham in the United Kingdom in 2008 to give their two young children a better life, he had to study for three years at the age of 38 to be recognised as a gasfitter here and to become a registered plumber.
Initially, a Property Services Division’s emergency plumber, “I know just about every building and the majority of people who make it tick”.
Mark also helped initiate the support structure for managing one of New Zealand’s most complex buildings – the Eccles Building – which included appointing two engineers to work with the project team during construction, practical completion, and handover. A team is now fully established to support the complex array of electrical, mechanical, and plumbing services integrated throughout the building.
Now
Just as Mark started thinking his knees were ‘telling’ him to get off the tools he had been on since the age of 15, a property services’ project manager job came up and he got it, so he upskilled and now the relationships created as an emergency plumber are standing him in good stead all around campus.
Mark also discovered one thing never changes, everything goes so much better with good communication. He has always thought the staff who request work are his customers and treats them that way, so he gives people his contact details, tells them information as soon as he knows it, and lets them know whenever work will be noisy.
““We need to get people on board because we’re working around them. The majority of people just want to be told what’s going on”.
No regrets
Mark and Deb have never regretted moving to New Zealand. Their children loved the change and have done well – son Tom is aircrew on NH90 helicopters in the Royal New Zealand Airforce and daughter Holly is an English lecturer at a university in China.
For Mark, it took only 18 months before it felt like he was coming home when he flew into Dunedin International Airport. And our University has turned out to be his work home.
– Kōrero by Operations Group Communications Adviser Gail Goodger
The Property Services Division is part of the Operations Group, which has three top priorities:
Enable – the University to achieve its visions and mission
Engage – with our students, each other, our customers and externally
Experience – of our students, our customers, and externally to be outstanding
