The Elite Athlete Centre and Hotel was also highly commended for the ‘Reaching Higher’ Award at the virtual ceremony which took place on Thursday 15 April.

The Estates and Facilities Management team are the largest professional service department at the University and they have been at the heart of the work that has kept it running during the pandemic.

The team established the Covid logistics hub which has delivered over 120,000 meals, as well as establishing a laundry service and essential food and prescription delivery to those isolating.

This work was done on top of the day-to-day maintenance of the º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ and London campuses, including attending to flooding and power failures.

Director of Estates and Facilities Management Graham Howard commented: “This award really could not have come at a better time.

“We’ve all had a tough year in the sector and to have your work benchmarked by peers as is the case with AUDE Awards and to win is a huge source of satisfaction for the team. The award helps give our work extra weight and credibility within the University. We’re really pleased.

AUDE Chair Stephen Wells added: “The º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ entry was a textbook case of how to demonstrate impact in a wide range of areas – from estates team management interaction with other departments, to project management discipline, to those day-to-day tasks – power supply, compliance and more – that can have a disastrous effect on reputation if mishandled. Graham and the team at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ have every right to celebrate this win.”

The AUDE (Association of University Directors and Estates) Awards take place annually as an occasion to highlight some of the fantastic estate and facilities teams that contribute to the success of universities across the UK.

More information on the 2021 awards can be found here.