review: higher education estates forum


First-class result at Warwick


The latest Higher Education Estates (HEE) Forum, held at Warwick University last month, delivered insights, knowledge and stimulating insights to over 100 senior members of the university building and maintenance world


T


HE latest Higher Education


Estates (HEE) Forum, held at Warwick University last


month, delivered insights, knowledge and stimulating insights to over 100 senior members of the university building and maintenance world. The high-ranking university took centre


stage over the day and a half of talks and meetings, with delegates enjoying the wealth of buildings and facilities on campus, as well as a behind-the-scenes tour of the new impressive £49m sports and wellness hub. Setting the scene at the start of day one,


James Breckon, Head of Estates at Warwick, outlined the £250m investment programme the university is currently embarked on. Highlighted future projects included the Warwick Arts Centre, the £58m Faculty of Arts Building and the £54m Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building. Two other Warwick buildings were also


discussed by the teams behind their creation. Lisa Dodd Mayne, Director of Sport & Active Communities, Warwick University, and Andy Mytom, partner at David Morley Architects, who designed Warwick’s new sports and wellness hub, spoke on “Why investment in sport and physical activity infrastructure matters - an insight into the motives, developments and opportunities at the University of Warwick”. The National Automotive Innovation


Centre, based on the Warwick campus, was then discussed by one of its designers, Peter Inglis of Cullinan Studio, and Mike Best of the planning and development consultants, Turley. NAIC is a unique coming together of higher education, university research and


automotive research in one highly innovative building, and is a partnership between Warwick, Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Motors. The theme of the Forum was “Investing


in uncertain times”, so-named to reflect the undercurrent of anxiety in the university sector as it tries to assess Brexit and its impact on overseas students, Government reviews of funding, and the financial pressures numerous universities are suffering. Speaker Richard James, National Higher


Education Sector Manager at Willmott Dixon, acknowledged the pressures but felt confident that universities will continue to invest for many reasons, not least the demographics driving up the number of young people in the UK. Other speakers were Joel Callow of


Qoda Consulting on “How the Passivhaus Standard can help us reach Zero Carbon using a case study on University of Oxford”; Tracey Francis, director of sport and leisure, and Thomas Baines, senior project architect, both of LK2, spoke on “What are the opportunities for mixed use on an evolving campus?”; Rod Duncan, design director, JM Architects described “The new old town of Edinburgh - the development of O’Shea Halls of residence for post grad students at University of Edinburgh”; Colin Cobb, associate architect, Clegg Bradley Studios, spoke on the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire at Birmingham City University he had helped design; and Julie Lecoq, consultant (workplace and change) and Joyce Chan, head of sustainable design, both of HOK, discussed “Facilities that support wellbeing and mental health”.


www.hee-forum.co.uk


Testimonials


“I just wanted to say how much we enjoyed the event. I think this is a really useful and effective way of meeting architects/ specifiers and new customers that we might not normally get in front of.” Nigel Pugh, National Sales Manager, Jaymart


I really enjoyed your event at Warwick. The venue was brilliant and easy for me to get to, the facilities really were fantastic. It was really informative for the projects I have on the go.” Jo Mathieson Head of Facilities Management, Edinburgh Leisure


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