AUDE commissioned architecture practice Hassell Studio to help with the study, which looks at ways university estates may operate in terms of size, shape and model in the future.

One of the main findings concerns what AUDE call “spatial resilience”, which covers Issues such as making campuses more flexible in the way they utilise space as well as making them more adaptable over time as changing technologies affect teaching and learning behaviours. Health and wellbeing issues are also central to “reiterating” the campus of the future, so light and fresh air, green spaces and views are central to new campus designs.

Says AUDE: “This is a strong new statement of where our campus buildings are going, at a point in the pandemic where our universities are still trialling options and working towards a ‘blended working future’. We don’t know all the answers and the survey responses help to validate that uncertainty is the current shared position, and that this is OK as the entire sector gently ‘feels its way’.”

Nearly 60% of survey respondents envisage that agile working will be implemented by the end of the year. But there remains significant uncertainty about the ratio of face-to-face teaching to remote teaching: 59% are not yet confident about the room booking systems that are an essential element of flexibility; and 74% do not yet have the tools in place to monitor space utilisation effectively

University of Oxford improves efficiency of estate management with indoor mapping

THE University of Oxford has upgraded its estates management processes with a new indoor mapping system to provide more efficient methods of maintaining asset data and how it charges university departments and other tenants for the space they use. Offering easy access to property and interiors data across 300+ buildings and 35,000 spaces using interactive maps, the University chose GIS mapping technology from Esri UK to build the new system, which went live earlier this year.

Replacing manual processes, static CAD floorplan drawings and Excel spreadsheets, the new solution combines over 2,000 floorplans into a single interactive map, enabling the university to more easily share data online with building managers and department administrators.

Consisting of a broad portfolio, the University of Oxford’s estate includes academic buildings, laboratories, student and staff accommodation, commercial buildings for investment and leasing purposes, farms, plus space embedded in a number of hospitals around Oxford.

The new system is already contributing to the spatial planning of a large new laboratory facility being built, by revealing how the old 1960s building was previously used. Plans for the future include adding large or significant assets to the indoor mapping solution, such as an MRI scanner, by scanning items with a 3D scanner and making them visible on the map.

Construction work starts on the UK’s first new technical college for a generation

WORK to build the UK’s first purpose-built comprehensive technical college for a generation was launched this week. London South Bank Technical College will open to students in 2022/23 and will train the next generation of engineers and scientists from its site in Nine Elms.

The first phase of building work will deliver a 10-storey building for students to study technology, construction, engineering, and science in hi-tech classrooms and workshops. This first building will open in 2022/23 and other blocks will open in the following years enabling specialisms in health science and business.

Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills, Gillian Keegan, said: “London South Bank Technical College will be the first new purpose-built technical college for a generation and will give students access to the hi-tech facilities they need to launch great careers in in-demand industries including engineering and science.”