| Description | Signed minutes of a committee appointed to be responsible to University Council for the 'domestic arrangements and the upkeep of the buildings and grounds' at Southfield [16 Norfolk Road, Edgbaston], where the Institute of Engineering Production offered residential courses. The Institute of Engineering Production committee dealt with staffing, non-routine expenditure, and the domestic financial budget and accounts. The committee usually met three times a year. Evidence in the minutes indicates that the University leased the property and land from the Calthorpe Estate. The Department of Engineering Production Advisory Committee
The Department of Engineering Production was established with the aid of a grant from the Joseph Lucas Company to promote teaching and research into the planning, organising, and control of the manufacturing industry. It offered short postgraduate courses in engineering production and management, dealing with the application of scientific method to industrial production, and opened in 1953
Minutes of the first meeting of the committee, held on 11 July 1956, set out the duties of the Warden and Housekeeper, and list items of capital expenditure and costs for repairs and maintenance. The minutes suggest that there were a number of domestic staff employed, and that there were common room and social facilities, as well as catering. There are references in the minutes to the use of Southfield for the Senior Common Room Garden Party in the late 1950s. The minutes contain information about staff appointments and resignations and include lists of the names of staff and their duties and wages; income and expenditure accounts giving information about income received from fees and courses and expenditure on the operation of the Institute; details about repairs and references to the use of rooms. Minutes of meetings include copies of the report of the Warden to the Director of the Institute. Minutes of the committee continue to discuss the same kinds of administrative and domestic issues when the Institute moved to a new building on Edgbaston Park Road in 1973
Inserted in the minutes are include fragmentary records of the Institute of Engineering Production Advisory Committee 1957-1958. These consist of a report prepared for a meeting of the Advisory Committee 7 May 1958 which gives an overview of the work of the Institute for Engineering Production, and minutes of the meeting held on 10 May 1957
Minutes of the meeting held on 1 April 1958 include an inventory of effects in Southfield dated November 1957, including bedrooms and reception rooms. Minutes of the meeting held on 11 February 1960 refer to plans for the future accommodation of the Institute within the University's development plan, and minutes of the meeting held on 19 May 1961 mention the possible conversion of the building for use as a hall of residence. Minutes of the meeting held on 11 November 1965 refer to the construction of a new building for the Department of Engineering Production. Minutes of the meeting held on 7 November 1966 refer to the surrender of part of the garden at Southfield to the Calthorpe Estate Company for preservation as an open space
Minutes of the meeting held on 8 November 1968 discuss the expiration of the lease of Southfield, and proposals for a new building, and a planned submission to the University Planning and Priorities committee to consider the allocation of a new site. Minutes of the meeting held on 19 February 1969 mention the possibility of a suitable site on Edgbaston Park Road, and minutes of the next meeting, held on 19 May 1969, indicate that a new building could be constructed at Priorsfield on Edgbaston Park Road. Minutes of the meeting held on 25 June 1969 include a copy of a site report by the architects Casson, Conder and Partners for a new building for the Institute of Engineering Production at Priorsfield, which was then let to the United Birmingham Hospitals. The approval of the University for the new building, and the formation of a Working Party are referred to in minutes of the meeting held on 3 November 1969.
Brief details of discussions by Working Party are included with minutes of meetings held in 1970, and there are references to progress reports of the Working Party in minutes of meetings held in 1971. Minutes of the meeting held on 1 November 1971 discuss the disposal of the lease of Southfield. Minutes of meetings held in 1972 contain information about the future use of Southfield, a proposed extension to the new Institute building for use for Health Services Management courses, and include discussion about the name of the new building, the Joseph Lucas Institute for Engineering Production. Minutes of meetings held in early 1973 contain references to the move to the new building.
The last meeting for which minutes survive in the University Archives was held on 12 January 1976. These minutes give the date of the next meeting which was to be held on 26 April 1976, so it is assumed that the committee continued to exist after this date |