The Association of University Directors of Estates announces the appointment of Craig Nowell as its 2019/20 Chair.

Craig Nowell is the Director of Campus Infrastructure & Operational Support Services at the University of Exeter, a role he took up in March 2018, and immediate past Chair of AUDE in Wales having served for 5 years between 2012 - 2017. Craig is a member of the Vice Chancellor’s Executive Group and is the intuitional lead on Estates Services, Campus Services and Exeter IT at the Exeter Campuses and Chair of FXPlus Board (the University’s wholly owned FM operation) at the Penryn Campus in Cornwall.  Craig’s areas of accountability include Sustainability, Sport, Residential, Retail, Catering, Events, Grounds, Facilities Management, Capital Development, IT and Digital.

Craig plays a pivotal role in developing the University’s physical and digital Estate, leading on investments including new student residences at East Park. He is responsible for the award-winning Grounds team and leads the University’s Built, IT & Digital environment and investment portfolio to deliver new and enhanced physical and technology-based services in support of the University’s Sovereign Strategies.

Craig is an experienced leader having joined Exeter from Swansea University, where as Director of Estates and Facilities Management he led the development, implementation and operationalisation of a new £450m, 65-acre Science and Innovation Campus. Craig has previously held roles at the University of Reading and within the nuclear power, nuclear defence, as well as the steel manufacturing and process sectors.

Craig Nowell said: “AUDE’s role is to ensure the facilities and services we are responsible for continue to be world class. Our mandate, to attract and retain the finest students and staff from across the UK and internationally, is more important now than ever before in increasingly changeable political times. I am keen to continue to build upon the organisation’s many strengths, cultivated over 25+ years. We have been planning some changes to the AUDE constitution with the specific aim of increasing membership and the relevance of AUDE to its members.  I am also looking forward to strengthening our engagement with members and solidifying our role as ‘the voice’ of estate and facilities management professionals in higher education within the UK and elsewhere. We are indebted to Keith Lilley, for all he’s achieved as Chair, and on behalf of all members thank him for his leadership of the association.”

Keith Lilley (Director of Infrastructure, Estates, Facilities Management and IT at the University of Sheffield) and outgoing Chair of AUDE said: “Craig brings with him an enormous amount of sector experience and I am confident that he will continue to guide and support AUDE in best practice across the sector. I wish him the very best of luck.”