In September 2023 the RAAC issue crashed into estates workloads across the country with the announcement by the Westminster government of immediate school closures where this form of concrete had been identified. Our colleagues in Scotland had been ahead of us on the subject, with the Scottish system seemingly more alert: they’ve played a massive role in helping the rest of us catch up. For all of us, there was a period of assessment and surveys, the fielding of FOI requests, and when necessary, budget recalibration. AUDE’s initial survey suggested that over 30 institutions are affected. For those, there is no doubt that RAAC became one of the themes of the year, and one destined to impact for a long while to come. AUDE’s task was to gather the evidence about the situation across the whole HE estate so that it could inform funding bodies, and governments across the four nations. We did that under a guarantee of anonymity around anything that universities shared with us – this is of course a promise that we’ve stuck to. We recently met with the Shadow Minister for Further Education and Universities to brief him on RAAC, and will continue to lobby on behalf of the kinds of support that affected universities need. Continued below.
Where else has our focus been in 2023/24? On the finances, is my best guess. On recruitment issues, where pay levels for specialist roles is now an increasing concern. On construction industry inflation, which though down from its peak of two years ago remains a real influencer of our long term commissioning decisions. On energy costs, which remain dramatically higher than they were three years ago. On maintenance backlogs, which tend to be the poor relation unless we continually push for the budget that sees them as a first order issue.
AUDE works by aligning itself with your real concerns and then providing the support you need. The association does a set of core things for members – running fantastic learning events and providing training; working with partners on research initiatives and publishing our findings; creating safe spaces for mutual support across all of the specialisms we have in our teams; and the development of practical tools. In all of these areas it was a busy year once more, whether we consider the delivery of specialist conferences for our colleagues working in capital development, strategic facilities management and estates management; our annual Summer School residential programme for the aspiring leaders of the future; or publications on space, sustainability and more, including of course our annual flagship publication the Estates Management Report.
We’ll be doing all of this and more, once more, in the coming year, and now with Syd Cottle (Director of Estates and Infrastructure at the University of Liverpool) to steer the AUDE ship. I am very grateful indeed for your support during my two year period as AUDE Chair and wish everyone the very best in whatever the coming twelve months brings.
Umesh Desai
AUDE Chair (2022-24) and Director of Estates at Nottingham Trent University
We offer membership to organisations in the education and private sectors within the UK and overseas. It will provide your organisation with access to over 4,223 influential estates and facilities professionals from 187 UK institutions, estate management reports, tools, resources, networking and conversation.
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Access a targeted audience with buying power AUDE members are leaders and decision makers within their institutions with budget authority for campus planning, capital projects, construction/refurbishment, energy and utilities management, accommodation, commercial enterprise, maintenance, security and much more.
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About AUDEThe 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 187 institutions in the UK, ten oversees institutions and alternative providers and nine carefully selected business partners. In total, we have over 4,223 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. View organisational structure
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*features statistics correct at the time of filming
Driving our sustainability objectives, this well connected group is driving the net zero agenda and addressing some of the biggest challenges the sector faces.
Raising the profile of this key profession, the group will focus benchmarking, contract management and the interface with capital.
Following several outputs on utilisation, data and strategy, this group will now focus on space policy and have launched a stand alone website for all things space.
From land, leases, property and accommodation this is the go to group for all things estate management.
This group have delivered a 12 part series of EDI training, attended by 1500 delegates.
This body tackles the unique challenges faced by small teaching and research institutions.
A peer-to-peer network to encourage best practice in estates information management (IM) and building information modelling (BIM).
A new group formed to collectively highlight and explore sector risk and compliance.
AUDE have awarded 6,001 hours of CPD to members and welcomed 331 delegates at their annual conference programme plus 45 members attended their flagship Summer School residential for aspiring directors.
Our conference committee bring together four days of topical content and headline speakers for AUDE members and sector providers in our flagship annual event.
A key committee who are responsible for the publication of the annual higher educations estates management report and the corresponding digital platform.
AUDE's statement of accounts for the year ending 31 July 2023.
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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, Umesh Desai 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.
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