The role and value of the HE estate
A well-managed estate can help a university to improve student and staff satisfaction, generate an income and reduce overheads. In the first of our blogposts focusing on estate management, Dr Ghazwa Alwani-Starr explains how universities are maximising the value from their portfolios.
Making campus safety more efficient
A government code regulating CCTV stimulated Aston University to take a fresh look at their surveillance technology. Mark Sutton explains how complying with the surveillance commissioner's code has resulted in efficiencies and savings.
A fresh approach to financing campus redevelopment
The University of Hertfordshire’s 2020 Estates Vision signals the university’s development objectives for the future, including enhancing the student experience. The university’s director of estates Andrew May explains the project and how it was financed through a combination of pioneering off balance sheet unwrapped bonds.
Six ways that universities are getting more value from their estates
A report by AUDE shows how universities are making efficiency gains, while working to deliver increased value from their estates for the benefit of student and staff plus the wider community. Rosie Niven sums up some of the strategies universities are using to deliver these efficiencies.
Building the campus of the future at Northampton
Terry Neville came out of retirement to do an interim job at the University of Northampton - that was five years ago. Rosie Niven speaks to Northampton’s chief operating officer about the leading role he is playing in a campus relocation project that will transform the university.
Sue Holmes: ‘student experience remains our priority’
Oxford Brookes, like most universities, is facing pressure on its estate from increasing student numbers and higher expectations. We talk to the university’s director of estates, Sue Holmes, about how she is dealing with these pressures.
Could the common room be coming back?
The common room has been phased out of some Higher Education institutions in the name of efficiency. But writing in Wonkhe, Paul Greatrix observes that the need to encourage more collaboration may see its return.
The higher education estate – delivering increased value for money
In the second blogpost on estate management, Sian Kilner describes the findings of her research into value for money trends including how universities are offsetting higher operating and maintenance costs by diversifying their property income base.
Efficient estate management: five lessons from local authorities in the west Midlands
Since early 2010 local authorities in the West Midlands have taken steps to save more than £170 million using their property portfolio more efficiently. Here are five measures that these councils are taking to make sure that their estates are being used efficiently.
How one university is tackling under-utilised teaching spaces
Single discipline teaching labs can often be under used: typically for just 24 weeks per year. Ian Tidmarsh explains how new larger teaching labs at the University of Birmingham aim to provide more flexibility, higher utilisation and thus deliver better value for money.
