FEATURE © Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council will reduce the 55 buildings it uses for office space to 8, saving 50,000m2
. One
building in particular, the Lancaster Circus Council Building has already cut 10,000m2
of floor
space, generating savings of £3.5m per year in running costs, making a carbon reduction of 40%.
SHRINKING SPACE
By following best practice examples of low cost, flexible working practices, local government could reduce the space it occupies by 20%-30%, with the potential to deliver savings in running costs of up to £7 billion a year. The magnitude of these potential efficiency gains, both in terms of money and carbon, suggest that reducing space, should be a priority for local government property teams across the UK. Many would claim that a space reduction of 20-30% is over-ambitious. Yet the example of Birmingham City Council showcases the possibilities. Through reducing its core office portfolio from 55 to 8 buildings, the council estimates that it will cut the space used by 40% and save over £100 million. Similarly, Southwark London Borough has relocated from 20 previously disparate buildings to a single, centrally located building. This rationalisation exercise has not only delivered operational cost savings of about £3 million per year, but also, achieved environmental efficiency savings of 1,781 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Saving space saves money and energy.
Addressing the flexibility of working practices as well as property can improve efficiency even further. A flexible work force allows for greater estate rationalisation as less desk space is needed in the office. Using technology to facilitate remote working with the support of “drop in offices” where staff from any agency can call in to use desks, phones and internet or network connections could all reduce the need for space.
CENTRAL CONTROL Building on the efficiency gains made
already, every local authority establishing central control over property within a single department would push this even further. For example, a “Central Property Unit” would in the first place act as a corporate landlord for service departments
20| SUSTAINABLE FM | FEBRUARY 2011
by arranging their accommodation requests, managing building improvements, procurement processes and negotiation of property contracts. The creation of a corporate asset management service and facilities management function would enhance the economies of scale by uniting often fragmented local government property portfolio.
Experience shows that more centralised and consistent facilities management of buildings can markedly improve efficiency. Mark Tailby, Head of Property Strategy at Oxfordshire County Council: “Putting in place a corporate facilities management function has produced initial savings of £340,000, but will also enable the County to procure external provision of hard and soft facilities management services bringing a further estimated saving of £300,000. Several other organisations have expressed interest in participating in the contract”.
WORKING TOGETHER Finally, the current period of austerity will encourage organisations to look beyond their own boundaries to deliver
efficiency savings. Although often considered too difficult in the past due to constraining financial and contractual arrangement, such cooperation will now become crucial to local authorities operating with diminished budgets. Sharing property by different public sector service providers enhances the extent of efficiency savings by enlarging the size of the managed estate. Erick Pickles agrees: “A sensible use of public money demands that we do start to share public buildings and to offer better service to the public.”
The standardisation of back office and support facilities will enable budget savings through the efficient property management and downsizing of the estate. The report describes a variety of solutions for joint property management, ranging from a local public sector property management board to a Pooled Asset Vehicle for the estate of all local public service providers. Local government and its public sector partners should seek out solutions that will work in their area and take sensitivities related to the transfer of control over assets to an independent body into account.
Implemented together, these steps will transform the local government estate, into an efficient, effective model for the rest of Europe. When launching the report, Matthew Hancock MP noted: “We estimate that the total savings potential if everybody adopted best practice is for savings of £7 billion – equivalent to £316 per council tax payer.”
Best practice is leaner and greener property management, which local government will need to start employing if it is to rise to the challenges ahead over the next few years.
www.policyconnect.org.uk/wsbf © Suffolk County Council.
West Suffolk House is a shared building project that accommodates the head quarters of St Edmundsbury Borough Council and local area office space for Suffolk County Council. A £20 million capital budget, funded from £7.1 million capital receipts and prudential borrowing, delivered an 8.000 m² BREEAM Excellent building.
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