EG LONDON PUBLIC SECTOR


Running on em Y


The government aims to cut its central London office estate from 213 buildings to 23. David Thame looks at progress so far


ou would need security clearance to know for sure, but it is widely believed that several floors at the Ministry of Defence Main Building are empty. The MoD admits that at least 89,000 sq ft is empty on the


seventh and eighth floors. How much more remains under-utilised is unclear. The wasted space at the MoD’s central London base could not be a better illustration of the problem facing Cabinet Office enforcer Francis Maude as he tries


84 www.estatesgazette.com


to stamp down on Whitehall inefficiency. National Audit Office figures show that if the government could squeeze average space per employee by another 34 sq ft – which is its target – it would save £830m pa in running costs. Despite already banking savings worth


more than £1bn by disposing of more than 1,000 leases and 250 freeholds – including the £60m sale of Admiralty Arch – the government still has some serious problems to confront.


13 April 2013 That is because the MoD is one of the


handful of hard cases that faced Maude and his team at the revamped Government Property Unit. Thanks to old buildings, prominent locations and burdensome private finance initiative contracts, it could be all but impossible to crack. The PFI cases are the most striking.


HM Treasury – supposedly the guardian of efficient public spending – has been burning money on office costs.


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