Policy paper

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Strategic Asset Management Plan - Executive Summary

Published 30 October 2025

1. Departmental overview

The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) is a ministerial department leading on the government’s mission to make the UK a clean energy superpower. Here are its key responsibilities:

• UK energy security.
• Protecting billpayers.
• Supporting economic growth for the UK and protecting jobs.
• Reducing the UK’s emissions.

As of September 2025, DESNZ is supported by 15 agencies and public bodies, operating across approximately 3,700 diverse sites throughout the UK.

DESNZ is supported by Integrated Corporate Services (ICS), a shared function between the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT), the Department for Business & Trade (DBT) and DESNZ. An intelligent client function for estates is provided by ICS to DESNZ and DSIT with the Government Property Agency (GPA) supplying and managing the estate occupied by both departments and many of their supporting agencies and public bodies.

2. ICS Estates (the shared DESNZ and DSIT intelligent client function)

Integrated Corporate Services (ICS) was launched in July 2023, including an Estates team that acts as an intelligent client function with a customer-centric focus. This direction is in accordance with the Shared Service Strategy for Government.

ICS provides a comprehensive estates service to both DESNZ and DSIT. Additionally, it offers an assurance and oversight service to their supporting agencies and public bodies, tailored around their diverse needs. This service encompasses estates strategy, estates sustainability, workplace experience, and project management functions.

Whilst ICS is situated within DESNZ, it serves both DESNZ and DSIT. There is also potential for future scaling to serve additional customers. The ICS approach achieves:

• Value for Money: By integrating services, ICS seeks to create better value for money, supporting productivity gains and cost reduction.
• Pooling and Retention: ICS ensures pooling and retention of key capabilities, ensuring departments have access to the necessary skills and expertise.
• Efficiency and Quality: The consolidation and standardisation of processes and data enhance efficiency and quality in corporate services.

3. GPA (the ICS delivery partner)

The Government Property Agency (GPA) is the ICS delivery partner, responsible for providing property delivery services and holding and managing the estate occupied by DESNZ, DSIT, and many of their supporting agencies and public bodies.

Whilst the GPA fully owns or leases and manages this estate, ICS represents the needs of departments. ICS also ensures that the GPA complies with relevant standards and delivers services to a sufficient level of quality. Additionally, ICS provides other essential services outlined above, which the GPA does not offer to departments.

Aligned with the Government Property Strategy 2022-30 missions and broader policies, ICS works on behalf of DESNZ and DSIT to support the GPA to achieve the following objectives:

• Value for money: Optimise estate investment and running costs by right-sizing, improving estate occupancy efficiency, flexibility, and futureproofing.
• Consistent end-user experience and business continuity: Ensure minimum standards of consistent quality, availability, capability, interconnectivity, and interoperability across all sites. This optimisation enhances end-user experience and engagement and facilitates business continuity.
• Optimal location and capacity: Facilitate the Places for Growth policy, accommodating current and future expansion and contraction across the UK by providing conveniently located office space of sufficient quality and size for end- users.
• Cross-departmental engagement: Establish a shared estate in collaboration with other government departments. This approach breaks down silos, pools resources, and expertise, optimising the achievement of common goals.
• Equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI): Address the full EDI spectrum, ensuring accessibility and digital equality both in the office and from home, and responsibly address local social, demographic, economic, and environmental aspects across the estate.
• Environmental sustainability: Transform the estate and occupancy practices to mitigate and adapt to climate change (work towards net-zero), support nature recovery, and optimise sustainable use of resources.
• Health, safety, and wellbeing: Ensure a safe estate that prioritises end-user wellbeing, health, and safety across diverse activities, premises types, and locations.
• Security: Provide a secure estate, including spaces that meet the minimum-security standards and cater to diverse end-user needs.

4. The estate

ICS office estate shared by DESNZ and DSIT

DESNZ and DSIT do not own freeholds or hold commercial leases for the occupied office estate, as these are owned or leased and managed by the GPA. ICS therefore leads the GPA in delivering the following initiatives on behalf of departments, aligning with Places for Growth, the Plan for London, One Public Estate, and broader policies:

• Shared ICS space: DESNZ, DSIT, and further customers share the same ICS space without hard boundaries where possible. This approach enhances flexibility to accommodate headcount changes, optimises capacity and value for money, and facilitates cross-departmental engagement.
• London DESNZ and DSIT headquarters (HQ) transformation: Facilitating GPA to implement the Whitehall Campus Programme through DESNZ and DSIT exiting 1 Victoria Street, and relocating to newly refurbished, smaller, more sustainable and efficient premises in 3-8 Whitehall Place and 55 Whitehall (DESNZ HQ), and 22-26 Whitehall (DSIT HQ).
• Places for Growth (PfG): DESNZ and DSIT continue to co-occupy GPA supplied premises with other departments outside of London across PfG locations inherited from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), and the Cabinet Office (CO), and seek new PfG sites as staff relocate or are recruited there, including:
  • DESNZ and DSIT have 2nd HQs in Greater Manchester, aligned with the emerging thematic Manchester Digital Campus.
  • DESNZ has a 2nd HQ in Aberdeen, aligned with the Energy Campus.
  • Further DESNZ and DSIT common PfG locations are across Birmingham, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, and Bristol. These align with existing and future planned GPA hubs, and various other shared premises types supplied by the GPA.
• Legacy non-growth locations: DESNZ and DSIT continue to maintain presence in existing non-growth locations inherited from BEIS, DCMS and CO across the estate supplied by the GPA.
• Sustainability: ICS maintains relevant strategies and plans to ensure the GPA pursues and contributes towards DESNZ and DSIT achieving their relevant Greening Government Commitment targets and delivers further sustainability initiatives outside of the GPA scope.

The key metrics and planned outcome information of the GPA estate are held by the GPA.

DESNZ and DSIT supporting agencies and public bodies estates

Whilst DESNZ and DSIT supporting agencies and public bodies manage their own estates, some of which are onboarded to GPA, the departments retain overall responsibility. They are supported by an assurance and oversight service from ICS and their Partnership and policy Sponsorship teams, covering the following areas and more:

• Major estate change case advice: Supporting agencies and public bodies in need of professional advice beyond their own internal resources.
• Cabinet Office estate policy/controls advice and oversight: Ensuring agencies and public bodies comply with policies and controls, particularly related to Places for Growth, the Plan for London, One Public Estate, and Property and Facilities Management Spend Controls.
• Cabinet Office estate commissions: Ensuring agencies and public bodies comply with commissions, provide relevant information accurately and in a timely manner and complete all follow-up actions.
• Property forum: Facilitate a community of practice to disseminate relevant, timely advice and information to agencies and public bodies, and empower them to support and learn from each other.
• Estate Sustainability: Ensure that agencies and public bodies comply with their applicable Greening Government Commitments and work towards achieving targets, including fulfilment of reporting requirements.

The key metrics and planned outcome information of supporting agencies and public bodies are held by a combination of their own teams, the GPA and the Government Property Function.

5. ICS capability building

As a recently established function delivering on behalf of DESNZ and DSIT, ICS is capability building towards maturity to enhance the level of service quality for current and future ICS customers. This includes the following initiatives (alongside further activities):

ICS governance: ICS continues to align governance processes with both DESNZ and DSIT, ensuring effective leadership, scrutiny and decision making, including clarity around roles, responsibilities, and relationships to optimise delivery.

ICS expansion: Several further ICS customers (beyond DESNZ and DSIT) have onboarded to ICS, with a further pipeline in place, including related feasibility studies to facilitate their transition. This involves substantial due diligence to understand implications, dependencies, risks, and the necessary structures, planning, sequencing, management and resources required but has the potential to deliver considerable economics of scale to onboarded customers.

Managing risk: ICS continues to implement a cross-functional risk management approach, ensuring that risks are appropriately managed and reported on at the correct levels and frequency on behalf of DESNZ and DSIT.

Meeting the Public Sector Equality Duty: ICS builds on existing plans and capabilities to ensure that the estate and ICS function consider the aims of the general equality duty and complete equality impact assessments where appropriate to ensure change opportunity compliance on behalf of DESNZ and DSIT.

Assurance activities: ICS leads on outwards-looking estates assurance of both the GPA service and their estate, as well as the estates service of supporting agencies and public bodies. Additionally, ICS facilitates inward-looking assurance activities of ICS estates, including a multi-year audit cycle against relevant government functional standards including property to provide assurance to DESNZ and DSIT.

Data management: ICS is currently improving estates data management capabilities and processes and ensuring the GPA follows suit to comply with relevant data standards, providing a comprehensive picture of the estate which DESNZ and DSIT occupy to facilitate well informed and timely decisions.

Achieving the Government Property Profession accreditation targets: ICS has implemented an ongoing learning and development plan across the ICS Estates team, aiming to catalyse and continue the pursuit of recognised accreditations and broader activities for all estates team members, strengthening capabilities and service delivery for DESNZ and DSIT.

Client and Stakeholder engagement: ICS estates is currently establishing a new client and stakeholder engagement team focussing on client satisfaction, relationship management and wider communications to facilitate expansion and improved delivery on the ICS customer-focussed mission and vision for DESNZ and DSIT.