SHORT-TERM FIX

摘要

During the sharp public spending cuts following the election of the coalition government in 2010, one public sector (well, semi public sector) construction market stood out like a beacon in the darkness: universities. While coalition decisions on social housing and school building spend saw activity in those sectors drop sharply, Vince Cable's decision as business secretary to approve - to the huge electoral cost of the Liberal Democrats - the raising of tuition fees to £9,000 per year sparked an investment programme on a once-in-a-generation scale. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the output of the sector has nearly doubled in three years from just over £3bn in 2012, to just under £6bn in the 12 months to June this year. Sue Holmes, director of estates at Oxford Brookes University and current chair of the Association of University Directors of Estates (AUDE), says this investment programme has - according to AUDE's own shortly to be released figures - grown 25% in the last year, and shows little sign of abating. Marcus Fagent, head of education at consultant Arcadis, says: "Tuition fees, combined with the removal of admissions caps, have allowed universities to increase their revenues, and a good part of this has been spent on construction projects. Most of these developments are funded by surpluses, not debt, which is a pretty privileged place to be."