The Future Campus: Optimising Capacity in a Changing Hybrid and Digital Higher Education Landscape

As higher education institutions respond to growing student demand, evolving teaching and learning methods, sustainability ambitions, and the need to make every square metre count, the focus is increasingly shifting from building more spaces to measuring, optimising and reimagining the use of the existing tertiary education estate. This session explores how evidence-based planning, innovative learning environments, adaptive reuse, and sustainability frameworks are reshaping the future of the higher education estate.

Beginning with UCD's data-driven approach to space utilisation and optimisation, the session demonstrates how existing estate capacity can be unlocked through informed decision-making, supporting institutional growth without increasing overall footprint. It then examines the Post Occupancy Evaluation of the O'Connor Centre for Learning, exploring how innovative teaching and learning spaces are performing in practice and what lessons can inform future projects. TU Dublin's Park House project provides a compelling example of adaptive reuse, illustrating how existing buildings can be transformed to meet evolving academic needs while delivering significant sustainability and carbon benefits. Finally, the session broadens the discussion through the HEA's Education for Sustainable Development Framework, considering how campus development, estate management and learning environments can contribute to a whole-of-institution approach to sustainability.

Together, the presentations tell a story of measuring, optimising, evaluating and reimagining the higher education estate. They provide a foundation for a wider discussion on how Ireland can plan, build, repurpose and manage campuses to meet the needs of an increasingly digital, hybrid and lifelong-learning society. As we look to the future, the session asks: what should we build more of, what should we reconfigure, and what should we measure differently?