Savills Pledges Support To Help Education Sector In The GCC

Savills, the leading real estate advisor, has pledged to provide a complimentary consultancy service for educational institutions such as schools, universities and colleges, who have been impacted by Covid-19. Savills will be providing free asset operational health checks, where they will be able to identify areas of potential cost savings for education providers.

The hope is that this service will help operators such as schools and colleges reduce their overheads, and ensure they remain viable to provide crucial education to children and young adults, as well as maintain the jobs of teachers and administrative staff.

Simone Dobson, Director for Savills’ Property and Facilities Management, said, “Education providers are under pressure to reduce costs and one of the ways of doing this is through identifying and lowering operational expenditure. Usually Savills would charge for such consultancy, but it is in the interest of all families in the GCC to have a strong education system. In this time of need, the private sector needs to support communities as much as the government. While the real estate sector is also under some pressure from the impacts of Covid-19, it is our responsibility as a business that is committed to the region, to help where we can.

We hope to help schools identify cost savings and that they will be able to pass some of these savings to parents and families in the region.”

The Covid-19 outbreak means that schools across the GCC are now closed for the remainder of the academic year. This prolonged closure presents challenges for the operational management of schools and other education establishments who need to adjust maintenance schedules, energy consumption and a number of other operational aspects.

Within the Education sector, Savills provides comprehensive advisory and consultancy services to all types of education-related occupiers, providers and investors, and are currently working with many schools, colleges, universities and specialist providers of education services in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.

Savills has over 40 years of experience managing assets across a variety of sectors in the GCC, including work with education companies on advisory, management, leasing and operations.

Following the free consultation, education providers will be under no obligation to engage Savills to implement any cost savings, but the advisors will be on hand for those who do require assistance. For any education providers (schools, universities, colleges and nurseries) interested in the free Savills Asset Operational Health-Check, please contact: schools@savills.me