Space Allocation: An Analysis of Higher Education Requirements

In October 1996 we sent a questionnaire on the subject of university space allocation to the estate managers of ninety six British universities. This was conducted as part of the Automated Space Allocation project being funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee of the UK Higher Education Funding Council. This paper describes and analyses the results obtained from these questionnaires, In particular, emphasis is placed on how large and diverse the problem is within each university, what computing tools are used if any and the constraints the universities use. We conclude by making some comments regarding about there is a requirement for an automated space allocation system and what qualities it must have.