There are 3 main aspects of the management of the estate:
Good management requires that there should be surveys of the estate every few years to address both its condition and its functionality. The distinction here is simple but important - an estate that has the facilities needed but is dilapidated or inefficiently configured will be one sort of liability; one that is in good condition but has inappropriate space use would be a different liability. Strategically, these are important issues, and a condition survey is a much better measure of the state of buildings than EMS utilisation rates are of their functionality.
The CUC Guide requires governing bodies to "encourage a culture of efficient use of space", and to a new governor from outside higher education this may seem a relatively straightforward task: it is not! Space is a costly commodity (calculated by HEFCE at an average of £244 per m2 ) and ensuring good space management - still more optimal space utilisation - is the dream of many estates directors.
In fact, in many institutions space utilisation has traditionally been poor, and there are many reasons, in particular mismatches between the size of student teaching groups and the space available; timetabling using only a relatively small proportion of the available working week; and in some cases the decentralisation of space management over numerous buildings. From the point of view of a governing body, such problems make achieving better space utilisation difficult, but should not detract from the attempt. Moreover saving space has other potential benefits, not least cost reduction and lowering carbon emissions.
The UK Higher Education Space Management Group, which has been set up to help institutions to identify and implement best practice in the management of space, has produced a 'Model of the Affordable Estate' and various tools, such as the Model of Estates Costs and the Space assessment Model have been developed to help institutions with space management.
The Estates Management Statistics Annual Report for 2007 identified space usage as an area for improvement.
The CUC Guide notes that the governing body is responsible for "long term planning for capital development and the effective maintenance of existing properties". This falls into two main categories:
This already points to a difficulty for a board, in that governors will be aware of the importance of a strategic approach, whereas reactive maintenance is by definition going to be unplanned, because if the failure had been anticipated it would have fallen into the 'planned' category. Maintenance covers the fabric (including paintwork, woodwork, doors and locks, etc), and equipment such as boilers and lifts. Other aspects are less immediately obvious but equally important. Safety systems are an obvious example, and all of an institution's mechanical and electrical systems (and, increasingly importantly, the way they are controlled) also come into this category.
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