February 2006/06
Good practice
Annual report
This report is for information
Performance in higher education estates
EMS annual report 2005
This publication reports on estate management statistics (EMS) for 2005. EMS information empowers UK higher education institutions to improve management of the physical infrastructure. This report sets out the current sector trends and reflects on some longer term time series data.
| To: | Heads of HEFCE-funded higher education institutions Heads of SFC-funded higher education institutions Heads of HEFCW-funded higher education institutions Heads of universities in Northern Ireland |
| Of interest to those responsible for: | Strategic planning, Finance, Estates |
| Reference: | 2006/06 |
| Publication date: | February 2006 |
| Enquiries to: | Adrian Officer at HEFCE Lynne Penman at SFC Chris Cowburn at HEFCW John McGuigan at DEL |
Table of contents and executive summary (read on-line)
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EMS annual report 2005
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Contents
- Executive summary
- Introduction
- The 2004 profile of higher education estates
- Performance across higher education estates
- Where is change being driven forward?
- Investing for change
- Non financial performance: environmental responsibilities
- Management information in estates: an update
- Annex A Summary profile of UK higher education estates, 2000-2004
- Annex B Relationship of stakeholders and EMS services
- List of abbreviations
Executive summary
Purpose
1. This publication reports on the findings of the Estate Management Statistics service (EMS) during 2003-04. It focuses on the following:
- the profile of the UK higher education estate
- variations in performance across and within the sector
- performance characteristics of 'best quartile' estates
- variations in non-financial measures of estates performance
- an update on the improvements in estates management information, and the significance of other sector-wide initiatives.
This report is particularly relevant to estates committees when developing plans for their own institutions.
Key points
2. The 2005 EMS data is the most comprehensive source of estates information to date. Ninety-nine per cent of UK institutional estates made a return in 2005 for information describing performance for 2003-04.
3. The ability to understand and construct a sector standardised total property cost has improved significantly since 2000. Ninety-three per cent of UK higher education estates can now consistently report a total estates cost, which serves to promote transparency and facilitates benchmarking.
4. Total investment in UK estates increased again during 2003-04. Capital invested increased by 2.5 per cent and revenue maintenance by 10 per cent over the previous year. However, rates of investment vary at institutional level, and several estates have investment and maintenance levels that appear low.
5. The UK estate is growing more slowly than the full-time equivalent (FTE) student population. At a sector level this means a further reduction to overall space per student. To achieve this, many estates have also made more efficient use of space. There has been a reduction to the amount of UK core teaching space, which has boosted the income and productivity of that space.
6. A range of measures show a sector trend towards improving cost management, increased investment and income productivity, and reductions in the relative demand for energy. Since 2000-01, median total property costs per student FTE have improved across the sector by 6 per cent, and currently in 2003-04 are reported at £887.
7. Measured by income per m², the median increase in productivity of space across the sector over the previous year was 8 per cent. 83 per cent of HEIs reported some level of improvement between 2002-03 and 2003-04. The highest reported increases to income productivity were in excess of 12 per cent.
8. At institutional level, income productivity improvements (in other words, improvements in income per square metre) are driven more by reductions in space than by increasing student population. 'Best quartile' productivity improvements were mainly driven by a 6 per cent median reduction in non-residential space managed.
9. Investment in estates is not just for those estates in poorer condition, and UK 'best quartile' condition estates increased their median revenue maintenance budget by 12 per cent in 2003-04 over the previous year. It is important that estates with minimal backlog maintenance requirements do not under invest. The bottom quartile UK estates, typically with at least 50 per cent of non-residential space requiring upgrade, reported a median increase of 8 per cent in revenue maintenance budgets.
10. The contribution of the estates community to responsible management is supported by new EMS data assembled in 2003-04 to help raise awareness of environmental issues. Around one-third of UK higher education estates derive a significant proportion of their energy from renewable sources. Our best estimate from new data collated indicates that 1.9 million tonnes of CO2 was produced across the sector during 2003-04, and 25.6 million m³ of water were used.