College of Medicine Wins Two TOBY Awards that Recognize Outstanding Buildings

Campus Management and Operations at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix have received two prestigious awards in recognition of their exceptional work in building management.

Sponsored by the Building Owners and Managers Association, The Outstanding Building of the Year (TOBY) Awards honor the best commercial buildings. The Health Sciences Education Building and the historic buildings won in the categories of Public Assembly and Historical Building.

“The awards have a degree of notoriety, and it’s great exposure for our campus,” said Marshall MacFarlane, executive director of Campus Management and Operations. “We are already well known for our academics, our research and our community outreach, so this is another flavor of excellence that we can be noted for as a campus.”

During the competition, all facets of a building’s operations were evaluated, from community involvement to site management. Judges reviewed the buildings Oct. 4-5 on aesthetics, functionality, security, risk management, training and education.

“Winning a TOBY Award was important to me to have our team recognized professionally for the hard work that goes into running our campus,” said Amy Nugent, assistant director of Campus Management and Operations. “Our team prides itself on collaboration, efficiency and good customer service, and staying up with technology and market trends. It’s nice to be recognized by our professional peers.”

Campus Management and Operations is involved with nearly all the services on campus. The team oversees facilities management, campus security, emergency planning, sustainability projects and more. Their job is to keep the buildings running smoothly. With only nine employees and the college’s vendor partners, they maintain more than one million square feet that includes nine buildings and the Cancer Center.

Nugent oversees the daily operation of the campus services, custodial, landscape and general maintenance teams. She said the award is a prestigious honor, especially to win in two categories.

“As our campus grows, we are very proud of our buildings,” Nugent said. “Hopefully, when you walk into each building, you feel the sense of pride and responsibility we take to manage them.”

The team started preparing for the TOBY judges in August 2017. With only a few months and a limited budget, they began tweaking areas of the campus. A TOBY Award is presented to the highest scoring recipient in each of the categories with a minimum score of 80 percent.

“Not having entered this competition before, I did not know what to expect,” said Jorge Frank, custodial services supervisor. “These awards are presented for excellence in building management and operations; that says a lot about the status of our campus.”

Frank said that because Campus Management already maintains the buildings to high standards, they were fortunate that they did not have to do too much work to impress the judges. The team continued to inspect the buildings up until the judging — not only to assure nothing was missed, but also to assure that assigned work was completed.   

The college was able to enter the competition thanks to a vendor partner, Paramount Roofing, which sponsored the membership. This was the first time the College of Medicine – Phoenix entered.

“Everyone involved with the TOBY Awards helped us achieve a higher standard for our department and for this campus moving forward,” MacFarlane said. “I’m extremely proud of my team, our partner vendors and our campus community for their involvement and support with the TOBYs.”

The campus uses the services of a number of vendor partners. The major contracted services include custodial (Edge Building Services), building systems and maintenance (Kitchell FM services), security (Transcend Security Solutions) and landscaping (Desert Care Landscaping). All of these companies are expected to perform to the same high standards as the rest of the team, and they all provided a great deal of support throughout the TOBY process, MacFarlane said.

The College’s Campus Management team won the TOBY Awards at the Building Owners and Managers Association local level. They will next compete at a regional level.

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Teresa Joseph
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