Condition of the Estate Survey

Overview

Condition of the Estate (COTE) Survey 

At Research England, we are undertaking a piece of work to better understand the current state of research infrastructure (buildings and capital equipment) across the English higher education sector. This work, termed the Condition of the Estate (COTE), aims to gather valuable evidence from across the English HEP landscape to highlight the importance of investment into research infrastructure as a fundamental and underpinning element of the wider research ecosystem. We would be very grateful if you could support this endeavour by completing the linked survey.  

A comprehensive overview of the background to the COTE survey, its aims and the work that Research England has been undertaking already to support this are available as an attachment at the bottom of this page, alongisde an offline version of the survey questions. 

Update - the deadline for submission of the survey responses has been extended to 18th July 2024. This has been based on feedback from many HEPs regarding challenges they are facing in providing the information within the original timeframes.  

Submission as early as possible would be gratefully received and if you can complete the survey by the original deadline (11th May 2024) we would encourage you to do so. 

Instructions 

You can complete the survey through the "Give us your views" button at the bottom of this page.

The link to the survey has been sent as a single email to the primary research contact that Research England has on record and the lead estates contact (where available) for each HEP. Please consult with other people within your institution as necessary and ensure that your HEP’s response is co-ordinated into a single response.  

The survey has 3 distinct sections to understand various aspects of the condition of the research estate. There are 15 core questions across the 3 sections, and a further 17 additional questions that are not compulsory. Research England encourages HEPs to engage with these questions as best as HEPs can depending on their resource to do so. 

The survey has been designed to minimise the administrative and bureaucratic burden upon HEPs where possible. Research England appreciates and understands the challenges that all HEPs are facing currently in relation to this, alongside financial sustainability challenges and constraints that are present across the sector. 

Research England is primarily seeking quantitative data that will support existing data sets through the core questions. Figures provided in responses do not need to be exact for these sections. Approximations are entirely suitable and more valuable than not providing any data. 

The additional questions afford opportunities to provide qualitative information for each section. Several additional questions are multiple choice to limit burden where possible. Although these optional questions are non-compulsory, they will help to add valuable context to the quantitative information from the core questions.  

Privacy notice 

Research England is a council of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). All personal data provided to UKRI in connection to the COTE survey will be processed in accordance with current UK data protection legislation. Further information on how we use personal data, and how you can exercise your rights as a data subject, can be found in the UK Research and Innovation Privacy Notice (https://www.ukri.org/privacy-notice/).  

UKRI complies with current data protection law in the UK, and we process and handle personal information in accordance with this. The personal information that you provide for the survey will only be used for the processing of your response to the survey questions. Your data will only be viewed by UKRI staff and external colleagues employed to support this piece of work to help meet the objectives of the COTE work. Your information will not be used/shared for any other purpose without your specific consent. UKRI reserves the right to publish and share anonymised aggregated information with stakeholders.