The AUDE Awards are an annual highlight for the association, giving us a chance to focus on some of the fantastic estates and facilities teams, and their projects, that contribute so significantly to the success of our universities, year-round. The awards highlight and celebrate the exceptional achievements of estates and facilities professionals in the higher education sector.
The winners of the AUDE Awards 2026 were announced on 22 April at the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, as part of the AUDE 2026 Conference, which was hosted by the team at the University of Leeds. We are very pleased to be able to share information on all of our winners, shortlisted and nominated individuals, teams, projects and organisations below. Thankyou to everyone that has been involved in this year’s AUDE Awards, including the nominees, judges and award supporters Gardiner & Theobald.
John Belfield (Edge Hill University), David Gray (University of Glasgow), Laura Parry (University of Plymouth), Laura Pickles (Institute of Cancer Research), Jason Stanley (Birmingham City University) and Jonathan Thompson (Queen’s University Belfast)
The winners of the Summer School Award were all delegates at the 2025 Summer School residential programme, which was held at the University of Plymouth. This year’s winning group project, ‘Best practice approaches for energy saving across Higher Education within the UK and internationally’, looked at energy conservation. The team looked at ways to cut out-of-hours energy use through operational building consolidation, better use of existing technologies such as LED sensors for space allocation, occupancy sensors and a wide range of other options. This theme aimed straight at perhaps the most significant challenge to have faced our university estates teams in the last 5 years – a period in which energy costs have more than doubled.
The Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF), developed by UCL, is revolutionising sustainability in laboratory-based research. Laboratories are among the most resource-intensive spaces, consuming up to 10 times more energy than offices and generating significant plastic waste. LEAF provides a practical, scalable solution through a certification framework, impact calculators and tailored resources. At UCL, 251 labs achieved LEAF certification last year, reducing carbon emissions and operational costs while embedding sustainability into research culture. Now adopted by over 150 institutions across 17 countries globally, LEAF is driving sector-wide change and meeting growing funder requirements for environmental responsibility in how research is conducted. By combining technical guidance, measurable impact, and global accessibility, LEAF sets a new standard for sustainable science.
Madalina’s work embodies how people-centred sustainability leadership can transform climate ambition into meaningful, everyday action. At Cardiff Metropolitan University, Madalina has led a step-change in sustainability engagement, building strong connections between strategy, governance, and the lived experience of staff and students. Through the creation and growth of the University’s sustainability communication channels, inclusive campus-wide initiatives, and practical engagement programmes, she has helped embed a culture of environmental stewardship across the institution. Her work has increased participation, supported behaviour change, and strengthened confidence in sustainability governance, contributing to continued top-tier performance in external benchmarks and successful ISO 14001 accreditation with no non-conformities. The key learning from this work is that climate action is most effective when it is visible, inclusive, and rooted in trust. By focusing on communication, participation, and shared ownership, Madalina has demonstrated how engagement can accelerate delivery of carbon targets while strengthening organisational culture and resilience.
We have joint winners in this category, this year.
The University of Sussex has been on a journey of continuous improvement over the last few years, and the last academic year saw a significant shift in take up and engagement by students in PEEPs. A key element has been the introduction of an ‘interim PEEP,’ providing a plan for students that reflects their needs before their first day at Sussex. The initiative was led by Graham Gray, Fire Safety Manager, whose fire safety expertise shaped the approach. This demonstrates an early commitment to their safety and wellbeing on campus, and reflects our values of Inclusion, integrity, and kindness. The process is more efficient and includes an offer to meet members of the Health and Safety Team to ensure the PEEP meets individual needs, thus giving the student a voice, autonomy, and confidence in the arrangements in place to support them. The University continues to seek improvements in this area, recognising the significant impact this has on students’ lived experience during their time at Sussex.
Over 18 months, Pavan Nagra, E&F EDI Manager, has accelerated the EDI journey within Estates & Facilities at King’s by embedding inclusion into governance, projects and everyday practice. She refreshed the EDI Steering Group to move from awareness to action, delivering workshops that measurably increased confidence across operational teams and senior leaders. Pavan moved E&F to be more proactive with the creation of the Accessibility Design Principles, now embedded into processes and informing major developments. She also introduced the Accessible Room Levels (Gold/Silver/Bronze), shaped through staff and student consultation and supported by AccessAble audit data, giving E&F robust evidence to prioritise improvements. Sector engagement through the HEI Inclusive Environments Network and continued investment in Stellar HE reinforce a diversified leadership pipeline and shared learning. Together, Pavan’s work demonstrates how estates teams can lead inclusive design and culture change, moving beyond compliance to proactively create accessible, equitable environments.
Natalie Chivers-Cross, Head of Botanic Garden and Biodiversity at Bangor University, makes an outstanding contribution to the wider community through her voluntary leadership, charity work and public engagement. Alongside her professional role, she plays a central part in delivering Draig Beats, a family-friendly festival held at Treborth Botanic Garden that brings together around 1,000 people each year to celebrate Welsh culture and raise funds for the Dr Sophie Williams Trust. Natalie leads on site planning, safety and environmental protection, ensuring the event is delivered sensitively within a living botanic garden. She also serves voluntarily as a Director of Red Squirrel Trust Wales and a Trustee of PlantNetwork, supporting conservation, education and community engagement across Wales and the UK. Through inclusive volunteering, wellbeing-through-nature programmes and accessible public events, Natalie strengthens community connection, wellbeing and civic pride, demonstrating how university green spaces can deliver lasting social and cultural value beyond campus.
This project in the Library provides modern, informal space beyond the traditional classroom. The co-created design and implementation was led by Estates but shaped by the design team and stakeholders. A team grew organically and coalesced around a developing design that took the conversations that were had and converted them to reality. The results have created a space that inspires community building and friendship and learning. A space that elevates a small corner of our campus into a destination spot for our students to thrive. The project brings to life AUDE’s “Social Learning @ University” thesis and validates the decision made by Abertay University in development of the new student space. The project responds to the modern demands of Higher Education and Abertay’s Estates team are to be commended for their prescience and collaboration. The project was shortlisted for the Scottish Design Awards and Times Higher Education Awards in 2025.
The Director of Estates’ Meet the Customer initiative, which has been running for 16 years, where customer experience is gauged first hand and the performance of different sections within Estates are graded, has produced both validation and compliments but also indicated areas for improvement. The dual focus on the physical estate and the service ethos of estates staff has produced impressive and measurable results which can be replicated across the sector. The focus on obtaining direct student feedback on the quality of the estate and estates services helps justify investment decisions and keeps facilities and services up to date, relevant and delivering for all. Learning from each other and sharing both successes and areas where we could have done better is one of the best things about the AUDE network. The LSE experience is one that can be replicated across the sector and improve the effectiveness of what we do.
We have not one but two winners to celebrate this year.
Our winners are Richard Jordan, most recently of Bath Spa University but now retired from the sector. And Andy Nolan, most recently of the University of Nottingham but now working for Sheffield City Council as Assistant Director for Sustainability. These colleagues are well known amongst the AUDE community and we know you will celebrate this joint winning of this ward with them.
Richard said: “I was very privileged to receive this award having been at Bath Spa University for 15 years and being a Director of Estates for 12 years during this time. AUDE has been a big information companion during that time. I will miss meeting all of my colleagues at the main AUDE Conference and the Big Conversation, but I am also looking forward to enjoying my retirement over the forthcoming years.”
Andy said: “ I am genuinely honoured to receive the AUDE Chair’s Award for Long Term Contribution – thankyou. I am particularly grateful to those that supported our vision and backed our plans – including the members of the Sustainability Advisory Group and the AUDE Executive Group”.
The relationships with key suppliers that every university estates team develops are among our most crucial. The best suppliers to the sector see us through long and complex projects, help us with our learning as we undertake new tasks, and give us fresh ways to do things as new and improved products and services come to market. Thankyou to all of the companies and organisations that nominated themselves for the AUDE Supplier of the Year Award.
Many congratulations to the winner of this award in 2026, Curtins. Curtins have worked at 74 UK universities, on projects large and small and building on their expertise in areas including civil and structural engineering, transport planning, conservation and heritage and more. Curtins were able to highlight in their awards submission numerous successful and award-winning projects including at the AUDE26 host university, the University of Leeds; as well as at Teesside, Birmingham, Warwick, Leeds Beckett and Manchester Metropolitan, Edinburgh and Liverpool universities.
AUDE look for teams, projects and individuals who have made a significant contribution to enhancing excellence and ensuring university estates provide best value to support the institutional mission and promote professionalism, efficiency and effectiveness. The awards provide an excellent opportunity to showcase sector achievements and allow everyone to learn from the best practice taking place in our institutions today.
Submissions for the 2027 awards can be made from Autumn 2026.
For any queries, please get in touch with Ruth Tittle, ruth@aude.ac.uk.
The University of Warwick
Sheffield Hallam University
Edge Hill University
