His article in the September issue of Building Magazine talks about Higher Education where he believes high tuition fees are leading students to think not just about the quality of their course but also the quality of their environment. He says “you have to make sure that whatever buildings you’re presenting are of the highest quality you can deliver because the expectation from students is there.”

What’s more he feels that the quality of estates and the students’ attitude towards their quality impacts on universities ranking.

Of course investment in university and school estates doesn’t come cheap and with pressures in funding, Estate Managers clearly have to think outside the box to achieve their objectives without hurting the balance sheet too much. This includes working in partnership with the Private Sector and Mark Swindlehurst predicts that institutions will increasingly look at a range of options for funding. He thinks every avenue will be explored.

We find the exact same issues are relevant in both the Independent School Sector and the State Sector.

Whittle Programmed Painting have been offering innovative solutions to the UK State and Independent Education Sector for over 10 years and in Australia for over 50 years through its previous Parent Company.

Stephen Hankinson, Group Chief Executive of Whittle Programmed Painting believes that the Company’s painting programmes provide a solution to the issues raised by Mark Swindlehurst.

He says “our painting programmes have already been recognised by over 100 schools as the best way to deal with maintenance painting issues”.

With fixed annual payments which can last from 5 to 10 years and payments spread over the lifetime of the programmes there is no big initial hit to the balance sheet. Customers also do not have to worry about the presentation of their premises as all programmes include annual visits to service the property to make sure it’s in pristine condition.

www.whittleprogrammed.co.uk