VIEWS & OPINION Planning estates budgets & maintenance
Comment by NEIL TRIGGS, Director of Property & Construction Compliance at Inspectas What to plan?
Where does a bursar, head teacher, principal, facilities manager or estates responsible person start when considering property condition and compliance obligations, alongside all the other competing demands of operating an education facility?
Here, Inspectas’ Head of Property Compliance Neil Triggs, who has 35 years’ experience in the property compliance arena, talks through the priorities and steps to help plan, prioritise and budget for effective education property management.
The starting point is the building environment and the need for it to be fit for its intended purpose; watertight, heated,
ventilated, compliant with property and operational legislation, secure and a safe learning environment.
Why plan? What to plan? How to plan?
There are multiple challenges in keeping buildings in good condition and that provide a comfortable and well-functioning environment for staff and students. As compliance experts however, we regularly encounter schools who are juggling this end goal while under pressure from: · Reduced funding
· Compliance Reporting & Action Plan overload · Lack of structured and up-to-date information on the built assets · Prioritising
· Curriculum and Legislation changes · Knowledge retention and staff churn
Why plan?
As Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail”. The starting point is therefore to know what assets you have and then to understand their ‘state’ or condition. From this, funding can be properly considered from a baseline and on a continuing basis, as reflected by the live and dynamic school environment. The first step is to develop an appropriate asset register covering the buildings (structure, fabric, M&E services, fixtures, fittings and furniture). Sitting alongside this is a condition assessment that not only records actual condition but incorporates a categorisation and a priority rating based on criteria such as “cosmetic”, statutory compliance, wind and weather tight, urgent disrepair, routine maintenance etc.
The condition assessment should be RAG rated (red, amber, green) to establish urgent or priority items while still acknowledging the bigger picture. This can be the focus for funding applications to central government and will also help with competing demands, whilst demonstrating good stewardship of the assets. For Asset Registers, Condition Assessments and Compliance Registers, context is key. What matters is having information that is easily understandable, manageable and usable as a budgeting, planning and operational delivery tool. Does having a 200-page asset register and 300- page condition assessment help? The outputs (register and assessment) need to be appropriate to the estate and those managing it and we discuss this further in this article.
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www.education-today.co.uk September 2024
Compliance reporting & action plan overload This is the understandable headache for any Responsible Person; faced with an ever-increasing raft of legislative driven requirements for facility compliance audits, reports and action plans. Understandably, when planning budgets, the natural place to start is with compliance. Compliance is non-negotiable so it becomes the “default driver” in the building and maintenance budget planning process. The essential suite of compliance reports continues to grow and shows no signs of reducing. Looking at the list of reports schools have requested of us over the years, include:
· Fire Risk Assessments · Fire Door Surveys
· Fire Compartmentation surveys · Fire Strategy and plans · Evacuation Strategies
· Fire Extinguisher testing & maintenance · Health & Safety Risk Assessment · Water Risk Assessment (Legionella) · RAAC reports (Reinforced Aerated Concrete) · CDM Health and Safety File updates · Glazing surveys
· Equality Act (DDA) surveys
· Mechanical, Electrical & Fabric Condition surveys · Workplace surveys and Risk Assessments · Drainage and CCTV surveys · Portable appliance (PAT) testing · Invasive weed surveys
· Asbestos Management plan, Management surveys, R&D surveys · School Equipment Maintenance & Testing
It’s easy to see how the Responsible Person can quickly feel overwhelmed with the prospect of prioritising where funding is allocated, so we’ve combined our decades of experience to provide a guide to budgetary planning and project prioritisation to get over the first hurdle of “where to start”.
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