AUDE (the Association of University Directors of Estates) is very pleased to announce that Willmott Dixon, one of the UK’s leading specialist building contractor and interior fit-out companies, has today joined the association as a business partner member.

AUDE is the membership organisation for higher education estates departments, providing support, advice and career development opportunities to university directors of estates and their teams. We are partnering with carefully selected specialist businesses which have a strong track record of high-quality work within UK higher education and can support our university members in a wide range of ways.

“Willmott Dixon meets the brief for the kinds of company we choose to work with in full,” said Jane White, AUDE’s Executive Director. “The scale of some of their current public projects – from the Pears Building research centre to the Old Admiralty Building for the Department for Education - is a clear indicator of the level and nature of the work they do. They are one of the top 40 largest private companies in the UK and a very familiar name to most of our universities’ estates teams. Their recent higher education projects include the Sports and Wellness Hub for the University of Warwick, University of Kent’s new Kennedy Building, Green Heart and Teaching & Learning Building for the University of Birmingham and Kingston University’s Town House. Our university members will benefit from the huge experience they bring working to improve university estates through increased co-operative working opportunities with the Willmott Dixon team, under the AUDE umbrella. Their recent Brilliant Buildings guide to transforming universities was a key pointer to the demands faced by higher education establishments and we’re pleased to be able to work closely alongside them, adding value to our membership and showcasing Willmott Dixon projects in this new way. Our first co-operative ventures involve assisting Willmott Dixon with a research brief, and a member event exploring the digital campus of the future.”

Richard James, Senior Sector Manager – Higher Education at Willmott Dixon, said: “Willmott Dixon places great value in AUDE’s role promoting excellence within the Higher Education built environment, and we’re very pleased to have been selected as a Business Partner. We look forward to adding value to the AUDE membership, including launching a new research project looking at the influence of the HE built environment on student outcomes.”

Further information about AUDE’s partnership with Willmott Dixon can be found at https://www.aude.ac.uk/membership/business-partners/willmott-dixon/ and AUDE members can find information on the Digital Campus event being hosted at the University of Birmingham on 30 October at www.aude.ac.uk/digitalcampus .