AUDE partners with a limited number of suppliers across Higher Education estates and we are very pleased to welcome Browne Jacobson to the ranks of AUDE Business Partners. Typically AUDE chooses its partnerships on the basis of the value and insight that the partner organisation can add to AUDE’s members, who are estates and facilities directors and their teams in UK universities. We work with our partners over a 12-month period to bring their skills and insights to our members in a wide range of ways.

Browne Jacobson fulfil this criterion in spades, and we believe their legal insight will provide that value to AUDE members across a wide range of subjects of immediate current relevance – from fire safety to life after Brexit, and issues around managing your estate during the pandemic including your relationship with your commercial tenants and student accommodation costs in the light of lockdowns – as well as in their broader understanding of and experience working with the HE sector.

As one of the UK’s leading law firms, the HE sector is a key area of focus for Browne Jacobson. Both organisations see this new partnership as an invaluable collaborative opportunity. For AUDE members the aim is to support in the management and strategic development of the university estate and to ensure that legal expertise and knowledge enables AUDE members to stay ahead of the curve during these challenging times.

Jane White, AUDE Executive Director, said: “We are launching this new Business Partnership during what has been an endlessly tough period for members. One of the great benefits of AUDE membership is the peer support opportunities that are available, the sharing of knowledge, ideas and good approaches to difficult tasks. The pandemic has brought this to the fore: relative isolation from colleagues has given new weight to the networks we all build beyond our institutions. Having such a strong legal team within the network will be immensely valuable to our members. Browne Jacobson will bring a new and highly informed perspective to deliberations.”

Dominic Swift, property partner and a member of the Browne Jacobson’s education team, said: “We are excited to be partnering with AUDE, believing the strong strategic synergy between us makes this collaboration a natural fit. We are looking forward to leveraging our extensive legal expertise, broad sector knowledge and status as an influencer for the collective benefit of AUDE members. This will include an all-year-round schedule, incorporating webinars, workshops and one-to-one sessions, that will support the sharing of best practice, learning & development and peer to peer networking amongst members and, where appropriate, contribute to the development of AUDE’s existing resources and research.”

In joining with AUDE, Browne Jacobson will use the extensive knowledge and experience of its HE real estate team to develop effective collaborative platforms and forums for the discussion, exchange and development of innovative solutions which will benefit the ongoing management and development of the university estate. Examples of this kind of work include: 

• extensive experience advising HE institutions on redeveloping and managing their estates, ensuring maximum return on investment, whether in the form of increased revenue or in helping them to deliver an improved student experience
• developing novel funding solutions for new developments and created new partnerships to enable major regeneration projects to be undertaken
• working in collaboration with the Midlands Engine and the Energy Research Accelerator on how to harness and deliver green energy
• advising HE clients in the East Midlands on joined-up green energy and sustainability measures to benefit their organisations and the region.

Dominic Swift said: “As part of our national powerhouse strategy Browne Jacobson see it as our responsibility to make sure our clients have a strong voice on the issues that matter to them and we will leverage our reputation as an influencer, and relationships with policy makers and influential stakeholders both in the education sector and beyond, to campaign in the best interests of those involved in estates and facilities management within higher education. We want to bring new ideas and fresh thinking from the other sectors and industries we work with to ensure that the HE sector stays at the cutting edge when it comes to the development and management of the built estate.”

To launch the new partnership, AUDE members are invited to join Dominic Swift, Ryan Harrison and James Coles from Browne Jacobson LLP at its inaugural webinar on Thursday 25 February titled ‘Managing your occupiers during the pandemic’, where they will discuss the on-going management of commercial and residential occupiers during the Coronavirus crisis. The team will look at the contentious and non-contentious challenges brought about by the pandemic including:

• What steps can landlords still reasonably take to recover rent arrears from commercial tenants?
• Negotiating the best deals with commercial tenants for the future   
• Student residences – consumer law considerations
• The relevance of frustration and force majeure to student residential agreements.

You can learn more about Browne Jacobson and this business partnership elsewhere on the AUDE website.