The Guardian | Wednesday 13 July 2011 9

The Guardian roundtable in association with British Gas and Mears

Building partnerships
At a time of huge financial pressures on local authorities, effective asset and facilities management is vital. So how
can the public sector make better use of its property and land portfolio? Saba Salman reports on a recent debate

E
ngland’s public build-
ings – from town halls to
government offices, from
council leisure centres
to housing – combine to
form a national property
portfolio estimated to be
worth £370bn, although
some say that figure could be as much as
£500bn. Every year, according to figures
from the Department for Communities
and Local Government (DCLG), £30bn
of central government funds is spent
on buildings.
At a time of unprecedented finan-
cial pressure on the public sector, asset
­management – ensuring that land and
buildings are effectively run, maintained
and aligned with an organisation’s corpo-
rate aims – has never been more crucial.
The issue is even more important thanks
to rapid technology change, energy scar-
city and the green agenda.
While the economic context encourages
efficiency in the running of buildings, the
localism bill (which offers communities,
among other things, the chance to take
over the running of local buildings) has
turned the spotlight on to neighbourhood
assets. In particular the bill aims to estab-
lish where these assets are, how much they
are worth and how they are managed.
A recent roundtable debate, hosted
by the Guardian and sponsored by Brit-
ish Gas and social housing maintenance
and domiciliary care provider Mears,
focused on how to enable public sector
assets and facilities to be better managed.
To enable frank discussion, the debate
was held under the Chatham House rule,
allowing comments to be reported with-
out attribution.
How the public sector views its asset
management strategy – how well planned
it is and how much it reflects corporate
goals – also affects its relationship with the
private sector. It is therefore vital for pub-
lic bodies, the roundtable heard, to have
a “proactive asset management strategy”
in place.
A corporate event takes place in Birmingham’s town hall: councils often generate revenue from their property by maximising use Photograph: photolibrary.com
Effective use
The government’s capital and assets path- facilities. Public sector agencies that share, planetary alignment; each partner has an ings Programme (CESP), which requires towards more home working is having an
finder programme, which identifies resi- for example, a depot for vehicles could also individual asset management strategy. energy suppliers to deliver energy impact on public assets. “Innovation and
dents’ needs as a basis for managing the share their maintenance, saving money Trying to get them together is like trying saving measures to 90,000 homes in technology is hastening hot desking and
surrounding property, was mentioned as through joint procurement. to align the planets.” deprived areas. remote working,” said one participant,
an example of how areas can be helped to However, a truly area-wide outlook How much organisations share infor- One scheme in Cumbria has improved “the convention of going to a place of
make more effective use of their property. for public buildings means a cross-sector mation about assets, the roundtable 600 housing association-owned homes work – that is all changing.” On one hand,
Central government is also ­considering approach where different public bodies heard, often boils down to individual with improvements including insulation allowing staff to work from home means
how to reduce the costs of its estate, – health, education, government and personalities and, when local authorities and other energy efficiency measures. downsizing corporate space but, as some
including the use of centrally managed local authority – have a shared vision for are involved, if information sharers are of There was a strong feeling that part- participants warned, a mass office exodus
leases, possibly in partnership with the their buildings. the same political complexion. nerships between the public and private can adversely affect the local economy of
private sector. The challenge here, the roundtable The DCLG’s recently launched public sector could result in the growth of the neighbourhoods which lose offices.
While many local authorities have heard, is gathering information. While asset demonstrator map is one project kinds of energy performance contracts The answer, it was felt, is to think of
grasped the nettle of asset management, some agencies have detailed databases that the roundtable felt might help local (as opposed to contracts that simply sup- asset management in a wider social con-
something of a culture change is required of their assets, such as the NHS estate, authorities share information. It combines ply energy) that are commonplace in the text. “Local authorities working with the
to encourage others to adopt a commer- which has mapped its corporate build- a number of public sector databases and in US, allowing the public sector to enter wider public sector need to think of the
cial and performance-based approach. For ings, not all organisations know who owns time will grow to map out more areas. into long-term agreements on supply and regeneration issues that homeworking
instance, there was a view at the roundta- what and data is not shared. This issue is Creating a single public estate would energy efficiency. can bring,” stressed one contributor.
ble that some councils are overly attached being addressed by local authorities in the not only bring huge savings, but would One participant added: “With non- Another solution is to think in terms
to their traditional town hall bases, which west of England, who share a database on be more environmentally efficient. domestic buildings there are opportuni- of flexible working, rather than home
are often expensive to maintain. One non- empty properties; and in Kent, the No Use The roundtable was told that energy ties around contracted energy savings working; enabling staff to move from
council contributor said local authorities Empty scheme aims to get more unused efficiency and asset management go hand that you can make … [such as] remote a town centre space that could release
were sometimes encumbered with old private housing back into use. in hand, with the best in the public sector monitoring and smart meters.” Clever capital funds to under-used district
town halls, especially as the local commu- However, embarking on an area-wide streamlining their assets and reinvesting use of technology supplied by the private offices, for example, thereby revitalising
nity often has an emotional attachment asset management strategy can often funds into energy efficiency measures. sector, as the roundtable heard, can help out-of-town areas.
to such buildings: “What can you do with be tricky as each public sector body has The roundtable was told about the the public sector monitor energy use, con- The ageing population, the move to
them? There are no buyers for them. They its own independent plan in operation, opportunities for local areas under the serve energy and by help cut costs. reduce hospital admissions and the rise
need endless adaptation.” as one participant put it: “We liken it to government’s Community Energy Sav- On the subject of efficiency, the trend of community care are also affecting how
However, not all councils see their homes are used. As a result, the roundta-
headquarters as expensive liabilities.
Many local authorities have introduced
At the table ble was told, councils and housing asso-
ciations must deliver asset management
ways to maximise the use of their build- strategies that keep up with an older pop-
ings by creating a specific strategy related SA Mathieson Nalin Seneviratne Richard Payze ulation living at home longer. The chal-
to its use – what one speaker described (Chair) Director of Group strategic lenge of delivering an asset programme
as “sweating the asset” – by hiring them Network editor, property services, asset manager, that keeps up with changing local demog-
out for events, such as weddings and The Guardian Sheffield city The Hyde Group raphy represents, as one contributor said,
­conferences. council “a bit of a difficult time in terms of working
What can also help local authorities get out what that means … what facilities they
the best out of their properties, the round- need and will need [in the future]”.
table heard, is creating an overarching However, as the roundtable heard,
asset management framework, possibly in Tim Bruce Patrick Blogg Rosie Seymour the best asset management focuses on
partnership with other agencies. The dis- Renewal and Senior programme Deputy director the individuals who use those assets and
cussion heard about Westworks, a group investment manager, for local how far the property keeps up with the
of 21 housing associations and councils in manager, programmes and government needs of that individual as well as the
Wessex, which have joined forces to bulk Bristol city council performance, reform, corporate goals of the landlord. “You can-
buy and make savings. Hampshire county DCLG not consider the asset without the user,”
New mobile technology that enables council one participant stressed, “you cannot con-
staff to collect data about buildings and sider the house without considering the
facilities was cited as a way organisations Lorna Pelly Peter Janoska Farooq individual in it.”
could improve asset mapping. In Bristol Principal Researcher, Mohammed
the council has been exploiting the use sustainability Policy Connect Business
of new technology; for example, mobile advisor, development
devices that allow gas engineers to collect Forum for director, British
data on assets and “feed” the council’s the future Gas Community
asset management database. Energy
As one participant explained, mapping Roundtable report commissioned by
Photographs by anna gordon

public sector properties from housing to

office space allows authorities to “make
Mapping properties can Ray Blundell
Group sales
David Wright
Facilities manager,
Seven Plus and controlled by the Guardian.
Discussion hosted to a brief agreed
enormous saving in real pounds and in ‘make enormous saving leader, Islington council with British Gas and Mears.
operational footprint”. As the roundta- Mears Paid for by British Gas and Mears.
ble reflected, knowing what your public in real pounds and in Contact Paul Lancaster 020-3353 2687.
sector peers own in your region makes it For information on roundtables visit:
possible to avoid duplication and to share operational footprint’ guardian.co.uk/sponsored-content