VIEWS & OPINION


What premises information to collect, why and in what detail There are pitfalls of having too much asset information as it becomes impractical to manage and keep up-to-date. You may have heard about or been advised to get a property asset management system (CAFM) with a condition assessment and asset register that drills down to element, sub element, component level and follows certain industry protocols such as NRM and SFG20. These can be “overkill” for typical school estates management needs and are often counterproductive. For example, there’s often little point in counting and “assetising” every ceiling tile, light fitting, electrical socket and switch! Asset systems can be expensive, so it’s worth considering whether they are really needed in your circumstance, particularly as you and colleagues will need to be trained on the system. Estates strategy


An alternative and more manageable approach is for your responsible person to prepare a written estates strategy which complements the school’s learning and curriculum objectives. Ideally, this document should:


· Consider the compliance issues found and whether these can be “risk managed” via a risk assessment


· Be simple and something that can be easily reviewed as your priorities change


· Balance improvements and re-modelling against maintaining and “making do”


· Consider how education and curriculum demands and changes, shape where budgets need to be allocated


Prioritising


Condition and Compliance reports are usually accompanied with an action plan or a list to help the school prioritise next steps. But how often have you looked at that list and found that almost everything is “priority 1” or “immediate” or “to do in three months”?


Sometimes these lists can be far more panic-inducing than intelligently contextualised, as it quickly looks like everything is a priority! This is as much due to the industry being driven by a culture of self-preservation in a litigious world and the requirements around professional indemnity and public liability insurance. Reports need reviewing by a “cool head” and with a dose of pragmatism and realism to distil what’s essential and what can be risk managed.


Some compliance regulations are requirements for insurers, so when looking at where budgets need to be spent, we advise that having an effective evacuation and life safety (fire risk) strategy should be top of any list.


How to plan - top tips: · Cost management: Lump projects together to save on contractors preliminaries


· Life cycle planning: Secure the correct surveys with the right level of detail to enable you to make informed decisions on replacement vs maintenance (things can last longer than the manual says, if well maintained)


· Adopt a risk and priority based approach: Focus on critical wind & weathertight, operational, curriculum and legislation mandated issues. Risk assess what is critical and consider “trade-offs” where funds are insufficient


· Funding: Map out grant and funding options for projects to combine and pool funding pots to help achieve a better outcome


· Advice: Get the correct advice from competent professionals – if appointing external support, make sure your shortlist includes professionals with appropriate technical knowledge relating to your project and the educational environment


· Clarity: Brief professionals and external suppliers clearly about your objectives and what you want to achieve rather than satisfying their agenda. Ask for input but judge on whether the advice is pragmatic, realistic and grounded in experience


· Focus: Develop a plan that is appropriate for the complexity of your school estate. External consultants are sometimes keen to showcase the capabilities of their available software… but this may not always be appropriate or necessary


· Keep it simple: Whether it’s the advice you are receiving from an external professional or your advice to education staff and estates staff. Not everyone is an expert!


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· Transparency: Plan in advance and plot your timescales to give everyone full clarity and manage expectations


· Preparedness: Be flexible – things rarely go exactly to plan! And with that in mind, always have reserves to help manage the “unforeseen”


· Be simple: Keep documentation simple and something that can easily be reviewed as priorities and / or staff change


Questions to ask and things to consider · Does the school have accurate floor plans and have they been updated since the last change that occurred? Have any room uses changed? Up to date plans are important in terms of stitching together the asset register, condition assessment and compliance information


· Being up-to-date. Evacuation plans, fire strategies, asbestos reports etc should be refreshed and updated when building layouts change, if works are undertaken or when pupil numbers or legislation change. Consultants and suppliers can be retained to “review” and update, rather than repeatedly commissioning new and expensive reports


· Costings. How accurate are they, how old are they, what level of detail do you really need for the budget? Make sure consultants provide costs to address an issue based on clearly defined parameters. Clarify whether items should be costed as “stand alone”, how they will be procured (FM outsource, main contractor tendered works package etc.), are contractor preliminaries and profit included and how VAT is treated


· Ensure maintenance contracts deliver for you, particularly fully comprehensive ones and manage these contracts optimally, so life cycle replacements don’t come out of capital projects


· Regular reviews of the condition report (life cycle plan) and asset registers will determine where money is being spent. Look for patterns and interrogate contractors on delivering best value for money


· Review the technology being used (if any) to deliver the plan. If a CAFM or property management software system is being used, consider the staff’s capability of using this technology and whether it’s appropriate. The cost-benefit of upfront training, ongoing implementation, potential additional IT equipment costs, software licencing fees etc should be considered


· Focus on key reports, documents and assessments that can be used as valuable delivery tools to get the most out of limited resources. If technology supports this, then great!


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