The potential mutual benefits from a ‘town and gown’ approach – bringing education uses into town and city centres – has been a hot topic of conversation for some time.

There are several factors that can motivate all parties towards integrating education facilities into the heart of a town or city as opposed to being on the periphery or in out of town locations. Against the backdrop of changing retail habits and evolving high streets, establishing education facilities within the town or city scape is a way of increasing footfall to local businesses and bringing extra energy to a community.

There’s also the potential for education institutions to occupy existing buildings (subject to obtaining the relevant planning permissions) thereby avoiding the need for costly developments. Transforming space vacated by offices and retail in highly accessible and connected locations may fulfil ESG objectives better than constructing from scratch as these often large vacant buildings can continue positively contributing to their town or city.

Furthermore, being at the heart of the action can also give commercially minded vice chancellors and principals the opportunity to build relationships between their institutions and local stakeholders to demonstrate the connection between a university and its community.

It’s therefore no surprise that we’ve seen a steady rise in the number of institutions adopting such a strategy. The University of Bristol’s dental school announced in January 2022 that it has taken a 17-year lease on 74,000 sq ft of space at Natwest’s former office building in the city’s Temple Quay quarter.

Also in the South West, in March Gloucester University gained planning permission to convert the city centre 1930s former Debenhams building into a new teaching, learning and community campus, offering facilities accessible to the public. The scheme showcases the University’s commitment to the economic and cultural development of its town. 

Savills recently advised on the sale of the Castle Meadow Campus to the University of Nottingham. In the city centre, the former HMRC office complex will be vacated by the end of 2022 and repurposed to provide a campus for final year and postgraduate students. This fulfils the University’s ambition of having a greater physical presence within Nottingham and enables it to deliver its ambitions via a more sustainable route than a new purpose-built campus.

Education institutions typically offer landlords strong covenants, can be willing to take longer leases than other tenants, contribute to a strong business ecosystem and help attract other occupiers.

Take, for example, Chiswick Park, which has recently let 37,000 sq ft of offices to Richmond, The American International University. The University intends to make the west London business campus the home of its undergraduates from September 2022, with space including a library and advanced facilities. Fostering relationships with existing businesses on the business park and creating new synergies to be created was one of the key drivers for both parties.

In addition, as our head of research said when he chose ‘education assets’ as one of his top two alternative 2022 buys for investors: 'What could be better for fulfilling the S in your ESG strategy than providing space for people to learn in?' 

With more adult and life-long learning taking place as the UK looks to reskill parts of the workforce to cope with the challenges of the 21^st century, the education sector is only likely to continue to grow and evolve. It appears to be a good time for education institutions to think differently, and for landlords to help them explore opportunities to occupy existing spaces, so they can play a role in transforming their towns or cities.

Further information

Contact Olivia Haslam

Savills Education