It has been a real privilege to Chair our Association over the last year. Whilst the year has been very demanding it has also been very enjoyable.
The context of the political turmoil, and in particular Brexit, has led to a very real and challenging environment for higher education to operate within.
The pending Augar report will change the funding landscape of higher education and no doubt have an enormous impact on the sector. This report has been widely reported directing a reduction in funding which will clearly be challenging for all parts of our sector and will no doubt create challenges for estates and facilities management.
It is in the context of that political change that the Association must respond and that has helped focus much of the AUDE Executive thinking over the last year.
My aim as Chair has been to continue to focus on our members and reinvest our resources back into membership including the introduction of our first Summer School held at the University of Nottingham last year. The Association has also moved to strengthen its financial sustainability and properly reflect on our expenditures to ensure that these are directed towards our members and member benefits. During the next year I am confident that a number of additional reports will be funded by AUDE in order to support and augment the excellent work that estates directors undertake within the sector. In addition to those new reports it may be necessary for AUDE to take a lead on delivering the collation EMR. This seminal report which is widely respected both within the sector and outside has been dropped from the OfS reporting and is now currently subject to a consultation process with HESA. It is hard to imagine how Universities can be effective without understanding the condition of their estate. In a competitive world and one where we all regularly look to league tables to track our progress EMR is as important now as it has ever been. As we potentially enter a period of even tighter financial controls the need to focus on statutory compliance and condition will be even greater and EMR as a tool to underpin that work will be essential. Finally it has been a real pleasure to work with our partner organisations in North America, APPA, Southern Africa, HEFMA, and Australasia, TEFMA. These organisation have strong and long lasting links with AUDE. The opportunity for us however is to further improve out links by sharing best practice and some of that work starts in earnest at the Summer School 2019. The APPA President Don Guckert has agreed to come and present to the attendees. I hope this is the start of many more formal work projects and links with our partner organisations.
It was also extremely pleasing to note the increase in individual memberships and that these now extend to Southern Ireland where we hope to bring forward a separate branch network to strengthen our reach within Europe.
I would like to thank all of the members and in particular the Executive and the AUDE team for their support during the year and I look forward to the Association building on the success of 2018/19 in the forthcoming years and decades.
Published in January 2018 'AUDE: The First 25 Years' marked the association's anniversary. A unique publication celebrating 25 years of AUDE which featured contributions from 100 UK higher education institutions, ten guest essays from senior estates professionals and a foreword from the association's founding chairs. Copies are available to buy.
The second Big Conversation event from AUDE took place on 25 January 2018 Liverpool Hope University. 100 delegates attended, a mix of directors of estates and commercial organisations. As part of AUDE’s 25th anniversary the day looked at ‘25 years of HE Estates – Lessons from the past to build our future’. Read more >
AUDE’s annual conference was held at the University of Kent with over 130 delegates and 50 exhibitors attending. The flagship event for HE estates and facilities management professionals, find out more about what took place >
Keith Lilley, Director of Estates, Facilities Management & I.T. at University of Sheffield became AUDE chair for 2018/19. One of his key priorities is succession management for directors of estates and nurturing talent through AUDE’s inaugural Summer School residential for aspiring directors of estates and FM.
De Montfort University and the University of Bristol were among the winners at the 2018 AUDE Awards which took place on 10th April 2018 at the annual AUDE conference, held at the University of Kent. Each year the awards celebrate and highlight the achievements of universities and best practice in the industry, including those who lead the way in estate and facilities management. See the full list of winners.
AUDE announces the development of the Green Scorecard to cover sustainability issues beyond the estates function. Additional aspects included student engagement, learning and teaching, community engagement, business interface and leadership and governance. The wider tool became known as the Sustainability Leadership Scorecard. Developed in conjunction with EAUC, the collective aim was to provide a useful management and developmental tool for our members which is now seeing significant take up in the HE sector.
Our inaugural residential programme to nurture emerging talent in higher education estates and facilities management took place at the University of Nottingham in June 2018. Delegates heard from current estates directors and sector experts on key topical areas of estates and facilities management over three days, followed by a year long project with smaller groups of Summer School delegate. Watch the highlights video.
AUDE (The Association of University Directors of Estates) published its annual Estates Management Report (EMR), developed in collaboration with global real estate advisor CBRE in October 2018. After gathering and analysing data reflecting the key activities and targets of estates management teams in more than 160-member universities across the UK, the report showed that the overall performance level of university estates is better than ever. Read more.
The Association of University Directors of Estates (AUDE) is the representative body for higher education (HE) estates and facilities staff. Its members are the directors of estates and facilities from 171 institutions in the UK, five oversees institutions and alternative providers and three carefully selected business partners. In total, we have over 1200 individual members from across these sectors.
AUDE works closely with other sector representatives, charitable, and regulatory organisations for the benefit of its members. It is run under the umbrella organisation Professional HE Services Ltd (PHES). PHES is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and is owned entirely by its member HE institutions.
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AUDE's statement of accounts for the year ending 31 July 2018.
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AUDE would like to acknowledge and thank all those who have given their time and expertise to participate in and support the activities of the association. Special thanks goes to the chair, Keith Lilley and members of the executive committee for their hard work and dedication in bringing the AUDE aims and activities to life. We also owe a huge debt of gratitude to our business partners, event sponsors and exhibitors for supporting our work.
