In April, Tate + Co joined around 200 delegates at AUDE, the annual conference of the Association of University Directors of Estates. Jerry Tate, Founder and Director, and Nick Pocock, Architect and Education Sector Design Lead here at Tate + Co, attended the 2026 event.
Held at the University of Leeds, the conference and exhibition presented us with a fantastic opportunity to catch up with both new and more familiar faces.
Building on the conference’s theme of ‘Industrious and Wise’, we wanted to share just a few of our take-ways from the many interesting – and thoroughly enjoyable – sessions and discussions that took place over the four days.
- We all need to accept that no one really knows what the future is going to hold for the education sector and the best way to address this is to plan for flexibility from the outset. This includes flexibility to manage fluctuating occupancy rates and even create space for future courses.
- Planning for flexibility doesn’t always mean creating brand new buildings, especially when most universities are under financial strain. We must analyse how existing space is being used and think about how we can adopt strong refurbishment strategies/
- AI May not be the golden bullet, but it does help inform our decisions when we are analysing spaces to create a strong plan that will, in turn, use these spaces more efficiently. It’s all about reusing; reusing and adjusting what’s there.
Aude 2026 covered a lot of ground and has proved to be an excellent catalyst to ongoing discussions around this sector. We are looking forward to continuing the conversation.
