THE CONTEXT
OUR PRIORITIES The University will balance capital spending on refurbishing and replacing the existing estate with the delivery of new buildings to meet research and education needs. It will provide an estate that meets the needs of staff and students, reduces environmental impact and is affordable to run and maintain. The Estate Strategy has a number of priorities: • To meet the changing patterns of research and teaching activity that result from changes in the size and shape of the University • To improve the utilisation of space through new buildings designed for flexibility and shared use, and the effective sharing of existing teaching and research facilities • To improve the condition and functional suitability of the estate by reviewing the use of existing buildings which are vacated when new ones are built • To reduce running costs and carbon emissions A more efficient and flexible use of space and sharing of facilities will: • Reduce the resources needed to run and maintain less efficient buildings, enabling resource to be redirected for academic benefit • Allow for new ideas to be realised in research and education through increased collaboration
Oxford has specific issues:
Key challenges are: a very significant change in the capital funding landscape , more emphasis on sharing and flexibility by a smaller number of centres of excellence, the changing needs of students, and carbon and energy reduction. • The UK Higher Education sector as a whole faces a significant reduction in government funding for capital • The quality of student provision has come under scrutiny following introduction of the variable fee • Research funding is increasingly
• A number of properties are no longer functionally suitable for their current use and their future needs to be considered in the light of their location and potential for change of use • The development of new donor-funded buildings is likely to continue as the University grows • The provision of appropriate student housing remains a challenge and will require further investment • Ambitions to promote flexibility and sharing of both teaching and research space enjoy broad support across the University but are some way from becoming a reality • The continued growth of research places significant demands on investment • Research data requires very significant processing, resilience and storage facilities; investment in IT capital projects is likely to become more significant over the next five years
dependent on promoting flexibility, interdisciplinary work and sharing between institutions
• The national value-for-money agenda is promoting better use of space and more efficient servicing. Carbon reduction targets for the sector are challenging
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