Oxford University spent more than £18.5m on estates improvements in 2024, but the sector continues to face increasing pressure from buildings which are unfit for purpose.

In February, the National Audit Office (NAO) released new figures which show the cost of addressing backlog maintenance in government-owned buildings stands at more than £49bn – with schools facing a bill of over £13.8bn to bring buildings up to scratch.

Following the revelation, SFG20, the industry standard for facilities management, submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to universities across the country, asking about spending on building repair and remediation works.

From the universities that responded, 904,000 maintenance projects were logged in 2023.

However, as of January this year, there were still approximately 76,527 outstanding maintenance requests left to carry out.

To attract and retain the best calibre of staff and students, universities must provide outstanding learning environments, supported by high-quality leisure facilities and living conditions

And this demonstrates the sheer volume of maintenance tasks that need to be carried out to keep universities at a safe and habitual standard.

The University of Oxford ranked top position for investment in repair and remediation works across its facilities and buildings, with an overall score of 75.41 based on total costs, number of outstanding requests, completed projects, and total budgets.

The university had one of the highest repair project completion, with almost 40,000 completed.

And, in the most-recent financial year, the university spent a total of £18.5m on building maintenance projects.

With a budget of £26.4m, they were also the university that came most under budget, reflecting cost-efficient allocation of resources.

The University of Oxford was closely followed by the University of York, which spent a total of £12.8m on repair and maintenance works, at approximately £3m under budget.

Universities such as the London School of Economics, Arts University Bournemouth, and The Open University (52.73) were categorised into the bronze tier.

The Arts University Bournemouth had the lowest average spend per maintenance request of all the universities that responded to the FOI request at just £23 per request, calculated with its total spend and total maintenance requests completed.

The London School of Economics and Edinburgh Napier University, both finished the most-recent financial year exactly on budget for repair and remediation works to their buildings, having spent £3.02m and £1.11m respectively.

Well-maintained facilities not only create inspiring spaces for learning, but also play a vital role in university recruitment and retention

Paul Bullard, product director at SFG20, said of the findings: “Staying significantly under budget on maintenance costs and keeping a low cost per repair request are both strong indicators of a well-structured, pro-active maintenance strategy – one that prioritises efficiency and minimises more-serious and costly unexpected downtime.

“To attract and retain the best calibre of staff and students, universities must provide outstanding learning environments, supported by high-quality leisure facilities and living conditions.

“Even before COVID, we saw a shift towards improving indoor air quality to enhance student focus and wellbeing.

“Now, more than ever, delivering a great experience is critical.

“Well-maintained facilities not only create inspiring spaces for learning, but also play a vital role in university recruitment and retention.”