O&Ms for Education

O&Ms for Education

Here at COGNICA, we have been supporting our clients in the education sector for many years with their property portfolios and estates management. We attend regular events to discuss the current challenges faced within this sector and the ever-changing obstacles and solutions available. Last month we attended the Education Estates event alongside other experts within the RSK Group and it was great to look at the fantastic projects that were short listed for awards and how technology is being used for efficient and sustainable property management.

One of the biggest challenges universities are currently facing is how to digitise all of their existing operation and maintenance and legacy building information into a standardised electronic structure. Much of their existing estates information is held in multiple formats and structures, in a mixture of electronic and paper manuals. This makes it extremely difficult to access and update important information for building safety and maintenance. This is where COGNICA can help.

COGNICA provide consultancy to our university clients, supporting them in the design, structure and delivery of their buildings Health & Safety, O&M and Regulation38 information onto their own Document Management System (DMS) such as SharePoint. This will be standardised and centralised, to allow information to be easily searched, accessed, and updated. This helps ensure the buildings are compliant and can be efficiently maintained and managed by facilities managers.

The further education sustainable estates guidance released in September 2022 explains – “The sustainable estate of the future is likely to be a combination of refurbished, upgraded, repurposed and/or replacement accommodation. Some projects on the roadmap may be small and others may require significant capital investment and resources. Regardless, every individual project must be an investment in the college’s vision and long-term objectives”.

With space management and changes to existing buildings being a key focus to support immediate growth in numbers, whilst reducing energy and carbon emissions, now is the time to bring all your building information into an updateable, maintainable solution.

The Benefits

• A modern working approach against the backdrop of an increasingly digitised industry
• Efficiency gains from centralised and standardised documentation
• Best practice, supporting Golden Thread compliance and the lifecycle management journey
• Trackable and traceable, maximising levels of compliance and productivity

If you would like any more information about the services COGNICA offer, please Contact Us.