In its UK Higher Education Spotlight the international real estate advisor uses its knowledge of key working trends and the results of its office and workplace surveys over the last 12 months to explore what this means for the university sector. Specific suggestions include:

  • Universities should explore opportunities around being flexible workspace providers: where a university has space that is permanently or temporarily under-utilised, then leasing it on a short-term basis to third parties might offer both an added source of income as well as other benefits. These other benefits could include knowledge sharing with private sector businesses, or enhanced engagement with the community.
  • Flexible lab space would also be in demand: there is also an opportunity to provide laboratory space on a flexible basis to companies as the life sciences sector in the UK is currently very under-supplied in this area.
  • Vacant city centre office and retail space offers an opportunity for cost-effective campus expansion: the amount of vacant office space across UK centres has risen in the last 12 months, offering a short window when a wider variety of office options will become available for institutions who are looking to expand or rationalise. Vacant retail units, which now comprise 12.6% of all retail units, says Savills can also be repurposed for education uses, bringing institutions closer into the town and high street could improve relationships with local communities.

Mat Oakley, head of UK and European commercial research at Savills, comments: 'We would caution against making radical decisions that might involve significant capital expenditure at this time, as until most staff and students have returned to offices and campuses we cannot be sure how much behavioural change has actually taken place, but overall there are likely to real estate opportunities that have arisen from Covid-19 for universities. Firstly, more corporate employers will be considering agile working practices for their staff, and under-utilised office space on campus could be repurposed into flexible space and let to meet this demand, potentially also expanding into offering flexible lab space in due course. Secondly, the economic downturn has unfortunately led to an increase in vacant space in city centres, but this offers institutions a chance to take space that previously may have been unavailable to them, creating mixed-used schemes and integrating more closely with their communities.'

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Savills plc published this content on 05 May 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 05 May 2021 09:46:05 UTC.