Are you ready to adapt to the next university estate challenge?

Photo credits: by Jonas Ferlin

The UK government’s (autumn) spending review 2021 pledges to plough £1.1 billion more per year into leading universities and research institutes by 2024/25, cementing its levelling up status through research and innovation.

This is most encouraging for universities, which may see an uptick in the number of university places across the country, owing to UK demographics and participant levels. In a recent Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) report, a significant 350,000 more student places are needed in England by 2035. This is according to Rachel Hewitt, the author of Demand for Higher Education to 2035.

Over the next 14 years, university estates must be agile in their ability to flex to the growing demands from a research and innovation perspective, while accommodating the unpredictable trends towards undergraduate preferences. Can university spaces adapt to changes as the estate grows in line with online learning and remote learning preferences?

As a leading information management specialist on the built environment, COGNICA recognises the important role digitalisation plays in the sustainable growth of these estate demands. We work with leading universities, providing  building digitisation consultancy to maximise compliance, productivity and traceability alongside our complete operation and maintenance (O&M) manual service. There are also exciting possibilities in the use of reality capture technology – Insite360 – in COGNICA’s latest technology.

London and the South East regions have been particularly singled out as hot spots for a rise in the demand for university places over the coming years. In recognition of this, COGNICA is proud to support the University Property Development Conference that is being held in London on 2 December 2021. Already, billions of pounds of spending on university estates across the UK is expected. The conference is set to discuss these campus modernisation challenges and future development plans with collaborative members.

As a proud supporter and new partner, we are joined by university estate managers, facility members, investment supporters, sustainability leads and property development teams to discuss how to navigate through these estate challenges. Feel free to register for this University Property Development Conference event. Join us next month for this #builtenvironment conversation and visit us at stand 13.