Facilities Hire Policy

1. Purpose

1.1 The Facilities Hire Policy (the policy) establishes a framework to manage the non-timetabled hiring of UTS facilities.

1.2 The policy establishes:

the terms and conditions governing the hire of UTS facilities
responsibilities and accountabilities for determining hire rates for community and commercial organisations
protocols and procedures for accepting and assessing applications to hire UTS facilities for non-timetabled, community and commercial use
quality assurance methods and audit practices for the hire and use of UTS facilities.

2. Scope

2.1 This policy applies to all staff, students, affiliates and visitors and the hiring of UTS facilities and making non-timetabled bookings for external use.

2.2 This policy does not apply to:

informal bookings of rooms for internal use
timetabled bookings that relate directly to teaching (refer Timetabling Policy), and
UTS property that is managed by the UTS Union Ltd (trading as ActivateUTS), UTS student housing and the UTS Gallery.

3. Principles

3.1 UTS facilities can be hired by community and commercial organisations and UTS staff to run workshops, seminars, private functions and events, subject to these activities not impacting on the key teaching, research and student life activities of the university.

3.2 UTS facilities cannot be hired to conduct any activities judged to be illegal, inappropriate for a university venue, or that conflict with the UTS 2027 strategy and values, or likely to bring the university’s name into disrepute.

4. Policy statements

Priority of allocation

4.1 UTS’s requirements for rooms and facilities take precedence over external organisations. Individuals and organisations affiliated with UTS take precedence over non-university applicants.

4.2 Adjustments may be made to the academic timetable to accommodate an external use only with the mutual agreement of the relevant faculty or unit and Manager, Facilities Hire or, in exceptional circumstances, by the Provost.

Long-term hire of UTS facilities

4.3 Long-term bookings through Facilities Hire that have been approved by a member of the senior executive can be confirmed before the finalisation of the session timetable.

Commercial leases

4.4 The Director, Property or nominee can enter into preliminary negotiations on the terms and conditions of a commercial lease for the use of UTS facilities in accordance with the authorities outlined in the Commercial Activities Policy. Commercial leases must be approved, signed and executed in accordance with the UTS Delegations and the Commercial Activities Policy.

Facilities hire application management

4.5 Applications to hire a UTS facility for a non-timetabled, community or commercial use must be submitted to Facilities Hire on the venues and facilities booking request form (refer Buildings: Request hire).

4.6 Bookings cannot be confirmed until a signed and completed form (with appropriate terms and conditions) has been received by Facilities Hire. Commercial leases are exempt (refer Commercial Activities Policy).

4.7 Faculties and units must not make non-timetabled, community or commercial organisation bookings directly into the university’s timetabling system. All bookings must be made on the booking request form (refer Buildings: Request hire).

4.8 Booking requests, fee waivers and fee reductions must be approved in line with the Delegations and this policy.

4.9 UTS reserves the right to refuse any application to hire a UTS facility if the proposed event is judged to be inappropriate for a university venue or conflicts with the university’s strategy, vision or values. UTS is not required to explain its reasons for refusal of an application.

4.10 Community, commercial and non-timetabled bookings that fall within the session’s Monday to Friday teaching times must not be confirmed until the relevant session’s draft timetable has been completed.

4.11 Security and Emergency Management must be notified seven days before all events requiring a risk assessment by Facilities Hire (refer Campus Policy). This applies to university and UTS Union Ltd events held on campus including but not limited to events with a large number of attendees or events serving alcohol.

Cancellation of bookings without notice

4.12 UTS may cancel a confirmed booking, or relocate a confirmed booking to an alternative facility, without notice if extraordinary or unusual circumstances warrant such action. The relevant hire fees will be reimbursed in such instances.

Setting of hire rates

4.13 The Manager, Facilities Hire must develop a rental rate schedule for UTS facilities based on market rates for similar facilities. The rate schedule must be approved by the Manager, Retail and Commercial Property.

Sponsorship of events

4.14 Any variation to the room rates applicable to an external event or industry partner by way of discounts, concessions or sponsorships must be negotiated on a case-by-case basis with the relevant faculty or unit sponsoring the event. Final approval for a rate variation must be approved by a member of the senior executive.

Conditions of use

4.15 Individuals and organisations hiring UTS facilities must comply with the terms and conditions that are developed and implemented by Facilities Hire from time to time. All individuals attending an activity on UTS premises must abide by the Equity, Inclusion and Respect Policy, the Campus Policy and relevant UTS Rules.

Audit and quality assurance

4.16 The Director, Property or nominee must develop and implement appropriate financial management, audit and quality assurance procedures to monitor compliance with this policy.

Policy breaches

4.17 Facilities Hire must refer any booking that does not comply with this policy to the Manager, Facilities Hire for investigation.

4.18 Other suspected breaches of this policy should, in the first instance, be reported to the relevant supervisor, dean or director. Suspected breaches of a serious nature should be reported directly to the Director, Property.

4.19 Breaches of this policy will be managed in accordance with the Code of Conduct, relevant Enterprise agreement, contract of employment and Student Rules as appropriate.

4.20 Breaches by visitors to campus may be managed in line with the Campus Policy.

4.21 The Director, Property is responsible for managing and reporting all breaches of this policy on behalf of the Chief Operating Officer.

5. Policy owner and contact

5.1 Policy owner:The Director, Property is responsible for managing policy compliance, ensuring that its principles and statements are observed.

5.2 Policy contact: The Manager, Facilities Hire is responsible for the day to day implementation of this policy and acts as the primary point of contact for advice on fulfilling its provisions.

5.3 Others: The Manager, Retail and Commercial Property is responsible for approving the rate schedule in line with this policy.

6. Definitions

The following definitions apply for this policy and all associated procedures. Definitions in the singular also include the plural meaning of the word.

Campus is defined in the Campus Policy.

Commercial organisation (also commercial use), for the purpose of this policy, means:

a for-profit organisation
a UTS faculty and/or unit hiring UTS facilities jointly with a for-profit organisation
UTS staff running a private for-profit event.

Commercial lease means a lease UTS has entered into with an external organisation to use a UTS facility to conduct an agreed activity, for a fixed period of time, for an agreed price.

Community organisation (also community use), for the purpose of this policy, means:

a non-UTS, not-for-profit organisation
a UTS faculty and/or unit where participation fees are charged to attendees (for example short forms of learning)
an event unrelated to teaching or research run by a UTS faculty and/or unit, with external attendees with no participation fee
an ABN registered not-for-profit privately run by UTS staff, not directly related to the teaching, research and student life activities of the university.

Non-timetabled booking means a booking made by UTS faculties/units that is an extension of a faculty's teaching or research program and/or a staff or student focused activity directly related to the teaching, research and student life activities of the university, for which no fee is charged and all attendees are internal to UTS. These bookings are processed through Room Bookings (Staff Connect) and any applicable ancillary charges are billed directly to the hirer.

Timetabled booking means a booking directly related to a session's academic activity, which is made via the university's timetabling system in accordance with the Timetabling Policy.

UTS facility means any university owned or controlled classrooms, laboratories, public spaces or grounds that are made available for hire on a fee for service basis through Facilities Hire. They exclude UTS Union Ltd operated areas.

Approval information

Policy contact	Manager, Facilities Hire
Approval authority	Vice-Chancellor
Review date	2022
File number	UR20/1675
Superseded documents	Facilities Hire Vice-Chancellor’s Directive (UR05/357)

Version history

Version	Approved by	Approval date	Effective date	Sections modified
1.0	Director, Governance Support Unit	26/10/2020	12/11/2020	Application of new template. Amendments to the old Facilities Hire Directive content to reflect changes to the Commercial Activities Policy.
1.1	Vice-Chancellor	28/04/2022	28/04/2022	Changes and updates to reflect portfolio realignment under Fit for 2027 project.