Education Estates 2026 is the UK's leading event for education infrastructure, bringing together estates professionals, education leaders and industry partners to explore the future of schools, colleges and universities. Join Switchshop at Manchester Central on 20-21 October to discuss the technologies and strategies helping educational institutions build smarter, more connected and secure learning environments.
Date: 20th - 21st October 2026
Location: Manchester Central
Time: 08:45 - 18:00
Stand: 101
Event Overview
Education Estates 2026 is the premier event for professionals responsible for planning, managing and improving educational environments across the UK. Delivered in partnership with the Department for Education, the event provides a platform for sector leaders, estates teams, consultants, architects, contractors and technology providers to share expertise, explore innovation and address the challenges shaping the future of education infrastructure.
Over two days, attendees can access a comprehensive conference programme covering strategy, sustainability, funding, digital transformation, estate management and campus development, alongside a large exhibition showcasing the latest solutions and services supporting the education sector. With a high proportion of decision-makers and influencers in attendance, Education Estates offers valuable opportunities to network, gain insight into sector priorities and discover technologies that help create more effective, secure and sustainable learning environments.
The Switchshop team will be attending to discuss how educational organisations can strengthen their network infrastructure, enhance cybersecurity and improve digital connectivity across their estates. Whether you’re planning new developments, modernising existing sites or looking to support growing technology demands, we’d love to meet you and explore how we can help.
Partnered with
How Switchshop and OccuFi Support Smarter Campus
Understanding how space is used across an educational estate is critical to improving operational efficiency, enhancing the student experience and supporting informed decision-making. OccuFi is a flexible occupancy intelligence platform suitable for estates, facilities, IT and senior leadership teams, providing actionable insight without adding complexity.
OccuFi uses your institution’s existing wireless network, eliminating the need to deploy, manage or maintain additional sensors or hardware. Teams can define flexible zones across a campus, building, library, teaching space or communal area and analyse both live and historical occupancy data aligned to operational priorities.
For example, estates teams can monitor how teaching spaces, study areas and communal environments are being utilised to support future planning and investment decisions. Facilities teams can use occupancy insights to optimise cleaning schedules, identify underused spaces and allocate resources more effectively based on actual demand.
Core OccuFi capabilities include zone-level device and people estimates, percentage occupancy, movement flows between zones, dwell-time analysis and real-world wireless client performance.
This data helps educational organisations make better use of existing facilities, improve campus experiences and support strategic planning for future estate developments.
What You Can Discuss With Us
Whether you are planning a full infrastructure refresh or looking to improve a specific area, we can help with secure networking and Wi-Fi design, cybersecurity and ransomware protection, safeguarding and compliance requirements, multi-site visibility and management, and device onboarding and access control.
Can’t Make It?
If you are unable to attend the Education Estates event, we can arrange a remote session or visit your school to discuss your current setup and future plans.
Register for Education Estates 2026
We look forward to meeting you at this year's Education Estates 2026 at Manchester Central where we will be on hand to discuss your IT and cybersecurity requirements.
Register now