Savills : Is now the time for universities to relocate non-academic staff off-campus?

It's been hard to miss the debate in the offices sector on how Covid-19 has accelerated working from home trends, and whether this may result in permanent 'hybrid' working models.

More specifically, there's speculation over how some businesses may operate 'hub and spoke' office models, involving a smaller showcase HQ for meetings and corporate identity purposes, connected to a wider network of offices housing most workers.

UK universities are not unfamiliar with operating across multiple sites - many have managed satellite or multiple campuses at some point. Some of those that adopted this model may have faced challenges when it comes to academic teaching: not all students or teaching staff are happy, or able, to move between locations during the day.

The process and methods of transportation between multiple sites requires careful planning to minimise issues before any university pursues such a strategy.

What has proved largely more successful, however, is when universities have sited non-academic and professional services staff in locations away from their main campus. These staff seldom have to travel away from their core location during office hours so managing their movements is less crucial. Indeed, Covid-19 has shown that many staff members have been able to carry out their duties successfully from home at least some of the time.

Concurrently, given the financial disruption caused by the pandemic, universities now more than ever are proactively looking at how to derive maximum value from their estates.

Keeping non-student facing staff in often expensive, or core operational, real estate when there are possibly other more cost-effective office options available, and other revenue-generating functions the buildings they occupy could be put to use for, would seem to be short-sighted.

In light of the events of 2020, we envisage that more universities will accelerate exploring relocating some professional services staff to less central locations, using the experience they may have gained in managing multiple sites to ease the transition.

Vacated 'prime' space on campus could then be used to generate income or enhance learning, teaching and research, particularly where these are evolving to reflect new ways of working. Looking beyond Covid-19, this could range from either creating show-stopping teaching or study areas, with a view to attracting students, or more commercially minded uses such as flexible event spaces.

For any business, every member of staff is valued, and it shouldn't be interpreted that the function of professional services staff is undervalued by virtue of seeking to explore more cost effective and efficient working methods. The solution should be sought to perfectly suit their requirements, as per any commercial office occupier search.

It's also not to say that they never have a place at the heart of an operational campus. Often at the start of the academic year or term many staff have a more active and student-facing role. This is where solutions such as pop-up units, which have become increasingly sophisticated over the last decade, may have a purpose, ensuring an estate can flex and adjust to bolster long-term resilience.

Is now the right time to be making decisions on universities' professional services staff working locations? If the commercial office sector is anything to go by, the answer is not quite yet, but what is happening now is an acceptance of a need to change practices for the better.

Businesses are poised for the pandemic to pass. In the meantime they are capturing the lessons learned and what the emerging key priorities are for their staff to inform longer term solutions.

Further information

Contact Sadie Janes

Contact Savills Education