Policy paper

Department for Culture, Media & Sport Strategic Asset Management Plan - Executive Summary

Updated 16 December 2025

Our Vision

With the government’s mission led agenda, DCMS sectors will play a key role in creating positive change in the country and our Secretary of State has set out three priority outcomes with community and people at their heart:

1) Growth and good jobs in every town and city across the nation

We will work to support the growth of our highly innovative sectors and support the creation of jobs across the UK. This also means ensuring that people everywhere have the skills to succeed in our sector.

2) Richer lives with choices and opportunities for all

We will support young people to succeed in our sectors, and help to ensure opportunities are not limited because of where people live, or how much money they have.

3) Build a more cohesive country where people are in charge of their own destinies

We will empower local partners, the media and people to drive change, build cohesive communities and an inclusive national story.

We are committed to supporting the continued movement of civil service roles and opportunities to the regions, and to being a key contributor to the delivery of the Government Property Strategy. Until 2020, DCMS was a London only department and since then we have increased our presence to 10 locations. We now have a thriving second HQ in Manchester and core offices in Belfast, Cardiff, Darlington and Edinburgh and smaller satellite offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds and Liverpool.

Our strategy is to continue to grow our Manchester HQ in terms of size and seniority with a role and grade mix representative of our London HQ, with small increases in our other core locations where possible, such as Darlington.

DCMS is currently on track to meet our existing Place for Growth commitments which will see 50% of all staff based outside of London by 2030.

We will also continue to support the Government Property Strategy through:

• Redesigning our workplaces to remain modern and meet the needs of both our staff and business.
• Reducing our footprint and using space more efficiently.
• Focusing on professional accreditation and aligning with functional standards.

Sustainability and Net Zero

DCMS and our Arms Length Bodies (ALBs) have committed to reducing our direct emissions by 33%. We support the wider Government Estate Sustainability Strategy as we look towards mitigating and adapting to climate change.

We intend to meet Government Greening Commitment (GGC) targets by reducing usage of electricity, gas and water consumption within our estates, while minimising generated waste. We have internally discontinued the standard use of domestic flights and we will be working with our property partners to consider a  switch to energy saving LED lighting within our primary HQs. The scope of our GGC reporting responsibilities has also increased and we now include and consolidate data reporting for approximately thirty additional ALBs, while monitoring and supporting their targets and goals.

Our Property strategy is specifically designed to support the “greener” aspect of the Government Property Strategy, by reducing our overall footprint and consolidating spaces into a single location, where possible. We make use of shared hubs and properties across the Government and Public Estates, actively supporting and influencing co-location between ALBs to reduce our combined footprint- particularly where space is no longer viable or required. The buildings we occupy are equipped with smart building management systems and are designed with a strong focus on the physical wellbeing of occupants whilst contributing to Net Zero.

Our Portfolio

DCMS has undergone a huge transformation since 2020 and now has a firmly established UK wide presence.  The department now has two headquarters (HQs) in London and Manchester, four  Core Offices in Darlington, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, and five Satellite Offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, and Liverpool.

The department also houses the Government Art Collection at the refurbished facility in the Old Admiralty Building in Whitehall.

Blythe House is the only property directly owned by DCMS. DCMS intends to sell  the site at an appropriate time. In the interim, we will focus on maintaining asset value and managing essential compliance activities, whilst we redevelop our sales strategy. During this period we will also explore opportunities for alternative uses ahead of a sale.

Estate Profile

DCMS has a presence at the following locations as at 31st March 2025:

Location	Address	Asset Type
London	Blythe House	Storage
London	100 Parliament Street, London SW1A 2BQ	Office
London	Old Admiralty Building, London SW1A 2BL	Office
Belfast	Erskine House, 20-32 Chichester St, Belfast BT1 4GF	Office
Manchester	Bloc-17, Marble Street, Manchester M2 3AW	Office
Edinburgh	Queen Elizabeth House, 1 Sibbald Walk, Edinburgh EH8 8FT	Office
Cardiff	Ty William Morgan House, Central Square, Cardiff CF10 1XS	Office
Darlington	Feethams House, Darlington DL1 5AD	Office
Birmingham	Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham B2 4BP	Office
Bristol	2 Rivergate, Temple Quay Bristol, BS1 6EH	Office
Glasgow	1 Atlantic Square House, Glasgow G2 8HS	Office
Leeds	7-8 Wellington Place, Leeds, LS1 4AP	Office
Liverpool	Currently co-located with national Museums Liverpool	Office

Strategic Asset Management Plan and Strategic Programmes

Alongside our strategic plans to widen our core DCMS presence across the UK, DCMS is also the parent department for 42 agencies and public bodies. These public bodies cover multiple sectors, from museums and galleries, to sports bodies, regulators and lottery distributors.

The Department’s public bodies (excluding museums) occupy a combination of freehold, leasehold and Memorandum of Term of Occupation (MOTO) space, and DCMS has a strategic role in working with these organisations to identify efficiency opportunities and deliver a cost effective estate.  For example, in recent years, museums - supported by DCMS - have undertaken successful projects to relocate staff from heritage buildings to modern, fit for purpose facilities.  These moves have facilitated the adoption of smart working practices, and have enabled the museums to make better use of prime, centrally located buildings.

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) recently completed its largest ever move, relocating over 250,000 objects, 1,000 archival collections, and 350,000 library books to a new purpose built storage and research centre in east London. The four year project involved vacating Blythe House and  moving to a public-facing (V&A) East Storehouse earlier this year, alongside the V&A East Museum, as part of East Bank - a £1.1 billion cultural development in east London.

The Natural History Museum is developing a new government-funded collection, science, and digitisation centre at Thames Valley Science Park near Reading, which will house around 28 million specimens and feature advanced research and digitisation infrastructure. The move will free up gallery space at the South Kensington site, supporting a wider £550 million transformation to enhance public access and tackle global environmental challenges.

The Tate is also currently in advanced discussions to relocate its storage facility from the present site at Mandela Way, Southwark to a new site in Barking (outer London). As part of broader efforts, including transformation of Tate Liverpool, they are exploring alternative storage solutions to better preserve and manage collections, while also enhancing public access and visitor experience across its sites.

Our People

Our property strategy reflects the diversification of our nationwide portfolio as we continue to move away from a centralised, London-based workforce. The geographic distribution of the DCMS Property Team mirrors this.

Our operations are aligned to the Government Property Functional Standards, focusing on property policy, efficiency, and consistent operating models. The Department will utilise its intelligent client model to ensure that partners deliver optimal workplace experiences, maximising space and opportunities to drive growth across the UK. The department’s office portfolio is now exclusively held by the Government Property Agency following the onboarding of our Manchester HQ in 2023/24.

DCMS actively participates in the Government Property Profession and is working on plans to enhance professionalism of the intelligent client function through use of the Government School of Property and accredited courses. DCMS has made changes within the team to enhance professional competence, and the target operating model is aligned to Functional Standards.