Made to measure

With the depths of the financial crisis behind us, short-term pragmatism is being replaced with longer-term planning. And universities in particular are starting to take a longer view of their estates strategy writes estate-assessment specialist Neil Wotherspoon.

Understanding the condition of an estate’s property offers a range of benefits — targeting funds to where they are most needed, improving cost certainty, reducing spikes in annual expenditure and minimising liability. Knowledge is indeed a powerful thing.

During the downturn, the education sector, along with just about everyone else responsible for buildings, was forced to reduce spending on maintenance, refurbishment and new buildings. Today, while budgets are still squeezed, estate managers are taking stock and facing the facts — degrading estates and maintenance backlogs are now a very real and present concern.

To address the challenges, most universities have developed an estate strategy plan. These documents usually start with the same advice — before a programme of work is created, it is essential to assess and understand the condition of the estate. To move forward, it is crucial to gain a full and accurate picture of existing and future repair and maintenance liabilities. Using this information makes it possible to create a programme of works which prioritises spend on those buildings requiring the most urgent attention.

Our teams have been at work in this area for some time now. Higher education clients in the UK and Ireland include Lancaster University, the University of East Anglia, Trinity College Dublin and University College London. We also worked on the UK Department for Education’s Property Data Survey Programme (PDSP). This initiative was to gather information to provide an assessment of building conditions and the cost of bringing the nation’s schools to an acceptable state.

The PDSP obtained condition data for around 23,000 schools throughout England to inform capital allocations. Our building surveying team completed the survey of 6,600 schools across England. These high-level surveys provided a strategic overview of the condition and investment priorities of the buildings on a block-by-block level.

With the condition of the schools now accurately recorded, the Department for Education has been able to allocate its funds more efficiently and decide which should be improved first.

Made-to-measure iPad tools

To carry out the PDSP national assessments, we developed a bespoke tool for the job. Based on iPads for ease of use, it achieves time savings of up to 50 per cent over regular surveying methods, and makes it possible for surveyors to work securely, efficiently, remotely and paper free. We collaborated with Kykloud, our technology partner, in creating the flexible, Web-based asset management and surveying software. Depending on the client’s specific requirements, the survey findings are provided in standalone reports or, more commonly, uploaded directly onto their specification property management system. For the school surveys the information was uploaded onto a database. Many universities have developed their own asset management tools and have now adopted Kykloud on a permanent basis.