Guidance

State of the Estate in 2020-2021

Updated 9 November 2022

State of the Estate 2020-21

Presented to Parliament pursuant to section 86 of the Climate Change Act 2008
HM Government

Joint ministerial foreword

The public sector estate provides an essential platform for public services and government operations, from our NHS, job centres, local council services and justice system through to our schools, armed services and administrative offices.

This report covers the estate in the period 2020-21 – the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Property Function responded by putting in place extensive measures to make public buildings secure and enabling new ways of delivering services. This included office staff working from home and use of phone and video calls for medical appointments, job coaching, and ‘virtual’ court hearings. COVID-19 has both triggered and accelerated long term changes in ways services are delivered to the public and how civil servants work.

Looking forward, as we seek to Build Back Better post-Covid, Government Property has a key part to play in accelerating infrastructure, levelling up and boosting growth and jobs and transforming the government estate to a sustainable, net zero platform for future public services. Government plans to develop the country’s infrastructure include 40 new and 70 upgraded hospitals, 20,000 new prison places, rebuilding 500 schools, improvements to cultural and heritage buildings and new regional government office hubs. The Places for Growth programme is supporting civil service moves to the regions and alongside this, thirteen buildings in Whitehall were closed during 2020-21, with 5,800 civil servants moved or re-housed. It is vital that new facilities are built to modern, net zero standards and take account of whole life costs, and apply best practice construction standards including Modern Methods of Construction.

The central government properties covered by this report have a value of over £100 billion, with the wider public estate valued at over £500 billion. The June 2021 Declaration of Government Reform committed the government to publishing a central record (Domesday Book) of all government property. This report is an important step towards that, reporting by portfolio, e.g. offices, science, courts, prisons for the first time. This improves transparency and aligns the data to service delivery.

Our management of the public estate will also be critical to supporting a net zero pathway. Public sector buildings are responsible for approximately 9% of building CO2 emissions. It is therefore essential that the government shows leadership in this area and drives down carbon emissions. The UK Government was the first major economy in the world to commit to going net zero for greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The ambition is to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035, compared to 1990s levels, along with the commitment for public buildings to achieve the Clean Growth Strategy ambition of 50% emission reduction by 2032, against 2017 baselines.

In addition to decarbonisation, the public estate has an important role to play in delivering our 25 Year Environment Plan commitment to improve the environment for future generations. In the year of COP26, the government’s work to conserve and enhance the environment is guided by the twin challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss. The Environment Act 2021 sets out a new and ambitious domestic framework for environmental governance. This landmark piece of legislation will deliver significant environmental improvement, by restoring nature, cleaning our air, improving the management of water and decreasing waste. In early 2022 we will be consulting on proposals for legally binding environmental targets required under the Act.

The Greening Government Commitments illustrate how the government is playing its role, through its estates and operations, in meeting environmental and climate goals. To ensure we build on the considerable progress already achieved, the new Greening Government Commitment Framework for 2021-25 sets out ambitious targets for the environmental impact of the government estate. The framework also includes important new commitments on nature recovery and climate adaptation, in line with our 25 Year Environment Plan and Net Zero Strategy.

Lord Agnew,
Minister of State at the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury

Rebecca Pow,
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Nature Recovery and the Domestic Environment

Purpose and scope

The State of the Estate series of reports fulfils the requirement in the Climate Change Act 2008^{[footnote 1]} to assess the progress made in the year towards improving the efficiency and contribution to sustainability of buildings that are part of the public sector estate. The report is laid before Parliament, as required under the Act.

This report covers the period from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021. This broadly coincides with the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the response to which dominated the activities of much of the Government Property Function in that year.

This year the data is presented by portfolio, giving a more holistic view of central government UK property assets^{[footnote 2]} and highlighting the role of the estate in enabling service delivery. The portfolios encompass central government departments and their arm’s length bodies, non departmental public bodies and executive agencies, with the addition of the school and hospital portfolios. Previously the report focused on general-purpose assets only (primarily offices). This report, for the first time, features both general-purpose and specialist estates and focuses on use rather than ownership.

2020-21 was a transitional year, drawing on data from a number of sources across government. In June 2021 the Declaration of Government Reform^{[footnote 3]} set out the government’s commitment to publish a central record (Domesday book) of all government property. Department are progressing reporting to comply with the new Government Property Data Standard which was introduced during 2020-21.

The report therefore creates a new baseline of government property assets, with comparisons to the previous year being made where like for like, time series data exists (e.g. the office portfolio).

Assumptions, set out in Appendix C, have been used to make the data consistent and have been used on portfolio definition so that ancillary activities will often be included within the main portfolio (e.g. the range of back of house activities associated with a museum are included within the cultural facilities portfolio). Each portfolio section summarises the content of the relevant portfolio.

Chapter 1: Government estate overview

Summary of the government estate in 2020-21

The data below is the aggregate of the portfolio data provided later in this section of the report and relates to central government departments and their arm’s length bodies, schools and hospitals.

Figure 1 Central government estate headline statistics

• 136,844 Built assets

• 156.8m m² Floor area (GIA)

• £21.7bn Annual running cost

• £157.6bn Estimated value

• £473.5m Disposals

• 452,830 Full time equivalent employees

Notes:

All data was taken from aggregate data collection from central government for the State of the Estate in 2020‑21 report, as at March 31st 2021, and has been validated and checked by organisations.

Annual running costs: these are total annual net cost of operating the property estate, made up of rent, rates, service charge, internal repair & maintenance, mechanical & engineering, repair & maintenance, external repair & maintenance, minor improvements, dilapidations, security, cleaning, water & sewerage, total energy costs for all assets. Health portfolio costs include staffing costs. School portfolio costs are gross costs, for academy schools only, as at 2018-19.

Estimated value Different assets are valued on different bases, reflecting accounting rules and valuation practice for that asset type. To provide a high‑level approximate estimate of value, these have been aggregated. Estimated value for the health portfolio is at 2019‑20. Estimated value for the school portfolio (approximately £56.1bn) only includes academy schools and is from 2018‑19. Schools that are not academies report their value within Local Government valuations.

In the last published Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) (2018‑19) the value of central government assets was c. £180 billion, with £250 billion from Local Government (including LA housing and LA schools), £11 billion from public corporations and assets under construction valued at c. £73 billion, totalling c. £515 billion.

Gross Internal Area: Building floor areas have been converted to GIA for the purposes of this table. See Appendix C for further information on the conversion factors used.

Disposals: Capital receipts from a sale of property (land or buildings) during 2020‑21.

Full time employees: Total number of Civil Servants as defined in Civil Service Statistics (excluding other public sector workers such as teachers, health professionals, military personnel, etc.)

Portfolio overview

The portfolios within the estate are summarised below.

Figure 2 Overview of portfolios

Portfolio	Total Floor Area (m²) GIA	Number of Built Assets	% Total Floor Area	% Number of Built Assets	Cost
School	78.7 million	22,031	50.2%	16.1%	£3.3 billion
Defence	31.3 million	98,497	20.0%	72.0%	£3.7 billion
Health	29.1 million	7,899	18.6%	5.8%	£10.8 billion
Prison	5.6 million	377	3.6%	0.3%	£981.8 million
Office	4.6 million	1,408	2.9%	1.0%	£1.6 billion
Cultural assets	1.6 million	263	1.0%	0.2%	£102.6 million
Court and Tribunal	1.7 million	362	1.1%	0.3%	£424.3 million
Remaining estate	1.2 million	2,187	0.8%	1.6%	£148.5 million
Science	1.0 million	491	0.6%	0.4%	£167.6 million
Job centre	1.0 million	688	0.6%	0.5%	£327.6 million
Logistics and storage	0.5 million	633	0.3%	0.5%	£21.5 million
Probation	0.3 million	473	0.2%	0.3%	£88.6 million
Land	0.3 million ha	1,535	0.0%	1.1%	£20.6 million

The estate in 2020-21: key themes

2020-21 was the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Property Function responded by putting in place extensive measures to make public buildings secure and enabling new ways of delivering services. This included working from home for office staff and use of phone and video calls for medical appointments, job coaching, and ‘virtual’ court hearings. Looking back on the year, COVID-19 has both triggered and accelerated changes in ways services are delivered to the public and how civil servants work.

There was relatively little change in the size of the office portfolio in 2020-21 (3.51 million m² in March 2020 to 3.45 million m² in March 2021). These changes generally result from leases ending/lease breaks. The return to the workplace and changes to operating models, such as the introduction of hybrid working, fall outside the timescale of this report. There was little change to the regional distribution of offices in 2020-21, reflecting the limited changes in the overall office footprint in the year.

Elements of the COVID-19 response resulted in increases to the size of the estate, including temporary Local and Regional Testing Centres and DWP’s provision of over 13,000 work coaches in addition to sourcing 80 new temporary job centres to meet growing demand.

COVID-19 meant that there was a dramatic reduction in emissions from buildings in 2020-21, as well as a significant reduction in paper consumption across departments with the increase of digital activities. Looking forward, the environmental impact of the estate will be affected by footprint rationalisation and positive interventions to address the impacts of both buildings and how they are run. More in formation is provided in Chapter 2.

2020-21 saw an increased focus on the risks to business continuity, customers and staff from poor building condition. Examples of the maintenance challenge highlighted by the National Audit Office in recent years include prisons, museums and the Defence estate. The Government Property Data Standard will facilitate more comprehensive condition reporting in future years.

Case study: Department of Health and Social Care – Featherstone Terrace, Ealing, Local Test Site

Featherstone Terrace is a Local Test Site (LTS) in Ealing. The LTS network was established by NHS Test and Trace to improve local accessibility to testing. It has been key to supporting those who are not able to travel by car and vulnerable communities.

Ealing Council approached the Department of Health and Social Care in August 2020 with a request for a walk-through testing facility to meet the needs of its local community and to respond to rising COVID-19 rates in the area. The council-owned car park at Featherstone Terrace was chosen because of the proximity to its target population, good pedestrian access, and suitable layout.

A collaborative team of public and private sector organisations worked together to identify the suitable site and build the testing infrastructure. The build was completed in one day, opening within a week of the Council’s request.

The site provided testing, staff welfare and storage facilities and operated seven days a week. By the end of March 2021, the site had provided more than 30,000 tests, playing a significant role in driving down the levels of COVID-19 transmission.

Portfolios

The public estate supports the delivery of public services using a diverse range of properties. To improve the transparency of estate performance across the whole of the public sector, this report is evolving to cover a wider range of assets and reports on the following portfolios:

1.2.1 Court and Tribunal

1.2.2 Cultural assets

1.2.3 Defence

1.2.4 Health

1.2.5 Job centre

1.2.6 Office

1.2.7 Logistics and storage

1.2.8 Prison

1.2.9 Probation

1.2.10 School

1.2.11 Science

1.2.12 Remaining estate

1.2.13 Land

The relative sizes (in Gross Internal Area (GIA)) of these portfolios, by built asset floor area (m²) are shown in Figure 2.

In the separate portfolio sections, all floor areas are GIA with the exception of job centres and offices which are displayed in Net Internal Area (NIA), and the Defence portfolio which is displayed in Gross External Area (GEA).

Figure 3 (a) Largest portfolios by floor area (m² GIA)

Figure 3 (b) Remaining portfolios by floor area (m² GIA)

Remaining portfolio by floor area m2

Court and Tribunal portfolio {:#courts-tribunal}

Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is responsible for the administration of criminal, civil and family courts and tribunals in England and Wales. HMCTS is an executive agency, sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. The portfolio is made up of over 300 courts, with some administrative and storage sites in addition.

Figure 4 Court and Tribunal portfolio summary

• Built Assets^{[footnote 4]} - 362 - 372 (19-20) down 3%

• Floor Area (GIA) - 1.7m m² - 1.7m m² (19-20) down 2%

• Cost - £424.3m - £412m (19-20) up 3%

• Estimated Value - £3.2bn

• Disposals - £16.7m

Commentary

The court and tribunal portfolio was made up of 329 operational court and tribunal buildings (excluding Nightingale venues), 10 operational tribunals in Scotland, 21 administrative buildings and two storage sites, located on 145 ha of land.

One of the main achievements during 2020-21 for HMCTS was the roll out of 32 Nightingale venues – temporary, additional courts acquired to address case-load and the need for a larger footprint as a consequence of social distancing – and digital transformation of the services HMCTS provides to enable public services to keep running during COVID-19 (see case study).

The operational court and tribunal estate has reduced by approximately 35,000m2, with the exit of 12 buildings. In addition, through asset disposals the total portfolio has reduced by a further 25,000m², with the disposal of seven buildings, generating over £16.7 million in receipts. The largest value sale was Camberwell Green Magistrates Court (£13.5 million).

HMCTS received approximately £53 million business-as-usual and a further £105 million in capital funding to aid COVID-19 recovery. Over a third of this was invested in building maintenance to help address the highest priority projects, and spent on modernising courts in Newcastle, Wrexham and Leeds as part of local economic regeneration projects. The portfolio has also invested in energy efficiency programmes, with sustainability objectives embedded in HMCTS’s facilities management practices.

Figure 5 Court and Tribunal portfolio sustainability performance

Solar electricity panels provided for 49 buildings which generated energy and reduced consumption of fossil fuels.

Electric vehicle charging points provided for eight buildings across the estate.

Building management system technology modernised in 88 buildings to ensure all heating, cooling and air conditioning is working efficiently.

Old, energy-draining lighting systems replaced with modern LED lighting in 31 buildings.

40 electric meters replaced, improving energy consumption data with half hourly data collection, and enabling targeted improvements by identification of buildings using higher than expected energy.

Over 780 courtrooms were digitally enabled to support remote attendance, with over 990,000 hearings held via audio or video technology, in addition to 630,000 face to face hearings.

It is estimated that these programmes will reduce annual carbon greenhouse gas emissions by 6,000 tCO₂e from 2021-22 against the 2019-20 baseline.

Case study: HM Courts and Tribunals Service - COVID-19 impact

The funding awarded to HMCTS to aid recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic included:

• Delivery of 32 Nightingale courts (62 courtrooms), 27 portacabins and six small venue hires providing jury deliberation space to enable the justice system to continue to operate safely.

• Installation of over 10,000 plexiglass screens across 450 courtrooms and jury retiring rooms.

• Touchpoint cleaning to reduce transmission of infection through surface contact.

• Provision of over 1.3 million face masks, 0.4 million bottles of hand sanitizer, and 1.6 million gloves Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for staff and users.

• Two projects for super courtrooms at Manchester Crown Square and Loughborough Magistrates’ Court, allowing cases with multiple defendants, with social distancing, to be heard.

• Enabling audio-visual in an additional 782 courtrooms, resulting in 990,000 virtual hearings, in addition to 630,000 face-to-face hearings.

Cultural assets portfolio {:#cultural-assets}

Government sponsors 19 arm’s length bodies that occupy and care for heritage and cultural assets. These range from small house museums like Sir John Soane’s Museum to iconic sites such as the National Gallery and the British Museum; they include former power stations and court houses, historic air fields and heritage rail yards.

Figure 6 Cultural assets portfolio summary

• Built Assets - 263

• Floor Area (GIA) - 1.6m m²

• Cost - £102.6m

• Estimated Value - £5.4bn

Commentary

This cultural assets list is not exhaustive and, for the purposes of this report, includes 15 museums and galleries in England sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), as well as the British Library, British Film Institute, British Council Arts Store, Bletchley Park and The National Archives, as shown in Figure 7. The data covered both front of house and back office estate, including storage where relevant. Many of these assets are Grade I or Grade II listed.

There is a real challenge for the sector to manage building maintenance and improve the overall condition of the estate, as highlighted in a National Audit Office (NAO) report published in March 2020.^{[footnote 5]}

60% of built assets were rated as satisfactory building condition, with 23% rated as poor building condition. The cost of maintaining these complex estates – particularly those that are visitor attractions which play host to millions of visitors a year – is extensive.

The Government Art Collection holds the most dispersed collection of British art in the world, managing art that is displayed in UK government buildings in nearly every capital city in the world. Managed by the Government Property Agency, the UK repository is included in the Office portfolio.

Figure 7 Cultural assets portfolio by ownership and floor area (million m²)

Case study: Imperial War Museums, Parkside office

Imperial War Museums (IWM) has recently established a new office to enable the adoption of smarter working practices and to make more efficient use of their space.

The new office, called Parkside, was opened in July 2021 and is a £5 million building in Southwark. The new office provides 979.5 m2 (NIA) new space for staff and has been designed to support collaborative working for colleagues, encourage creativity and reduce running costs. The office has achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating for its sustainability performance.

Parkside offers a modern, attractive and flexible working environment for IWM staff. The project has been funded by rental income from IWM’s former staff building, All Saints, which has now been leased to tenants, and from a loan from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS).

Defence portfolio {:#defence}

The Defence portfolio is the platform from which the Department lives, works, trains, operates and deploys military capability. It comprises 98,497 built assets across 1,094 establishments within the UK. Land used for Defence activities is included within this portfolio.

Figure 8 UK Defence portfolio summary^{[footnote 6]}

• Built Assets - 98,497

• Floor Area (GEA) - 32.9m m²

• Cost - £3.7bn

• Estimated Value - £25.8bn

• Disposals - £105.3m

• Land Area - 344,300 ha

Commentary

The portfolio consists of a wide range of facilities, including barracks; airfields; nuclear facilities, naval bases and ports; education and training facilities; training and test ranges; logistics, munitions, oil and fuel depots and pipelines; communication facilities; housing estates; medical centres, career centres and offices.

The new Strategy for Defence Infrastructure sets out how MOD plans to address legacy issues on the Defence Estate and start the move towards planned preventative maintenance and an asset management-based approach; to optimise the estate to maintain alignment with current and future military capability; to address the sustainability and net zero challenge; and to drive improvements in productivity and resilience.

MOD is one of the largest landowners in the country, with land holdings approximately equal to 1.4% of the UK land mass. MOD sites are used for training, accommodation and provide a base from which operations can be instigated. Training areas and ranges occupied the largest area at 260,700 hectares (75.7%).

Figure 9 Defence land disposals

• 24 sites - disposed in 20-21

• Receipts totalling over - £105 million

In addition 88,300 ha of military training land holdings was released through revised land management agreements

MOD is the steward of the largest historic estate in government ownership, being responsible for a wide range of heritage and historic assets in the UK and overseas. The overall number of Scheduled Monuments under MOD management remains at 777 and Listed Buildings have increased to 810.

The importance of the defence portfolio for wildlife, heritage and landscape is highlighted by the proportion that is within protected landscapes. Of the 223,000 ha of MOD-owned freehold land in the UK:

• Over 83,000 ha lies within 169 nationally important Sites of Scientific Special Interest.

• Over 31,000 ha land covers 13 different National Parks.

• Over 20,000 ha land covers 33 Areas of Oustanding Natural Beauty or National Scenic Areas.

Case study: South Cerney Station, a community led adaptation to climate change, Gloucestershire

South Cerney station is the home of 29 Regiment, The Royal Logistics Corps (RLC), whose role is to provide postal courier and movement for all three of the Armed Services.

The Regiment has taken early action to mitigate the impact of extreme weather events, facilitating a Climate Impact Risk Assessment Methodology over a period of three years by accumulating information from the Environment Agency (EA), British Geological Survey, UK Government Climate Projections and the Met Office.

The National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies was used to undertake a risk analysis of the site’s critical infrastructure, considering flooding, power failure and extreme weather factors.

The Army Basing & Infrastructure Team engaged with Public Power Solutions, a subsidiary of Swindon Borough Council and proposed a solar wave project; a 1.4MW subsidy-free solar power plant.

29 RLC and the South Cerney Station team have since been announced as the winner of the Energy Managers Association Energy Management Team 2021 - Public Sector Award.

Health portfolio {:#health}

The health portfolio covers NHS Trust hospitals (secondary care), community services (primary care) and residential and care facilities (other) and is presented under these three categories. Administrative buildings are contained within the Office portfolio, with laboratories/specialist science included in the Science portfolio.

Figure 10 Secondary care (acute) portfolio summary^{[footnote 7]}

• Reported Assets - 5,241 - 5,137 (19-20) up 2%

• Floor Area (GIA) - 26.4m m² - 26.5m m² (19-20) down 0.3%

• Cost - £10.1bn - £10.1bn down 0.1%

• Estimated Value - £46.6bn^{[footnote 8]}

• Disposals - £39m

Commentary

The secondary care (acute) portfolio is held by 216 NHS Hospital Trusts, with 220 General acute hospitals, 147 Specialist and Mixed service hospitals and 246 Community hospitals (with inpatient beds), across 10,258 sites. This is reported in the annual Estate Return Information Collection (ERIC) which is managed by NHS England and NHS Improvement on behalf of the Trusts.

This total portfolio was over 26.4 million m2, over half of which was freehold and worth over £46.6 billion. The cost of the portfolio increased over the year due to a variety of factors, including a 4% rise in business rates and a 6% increase in finance costs (affecting PFI properties which are almost one third of the footprint).

The new hospital programme comprises eight pre-existing schemes and 40 new hospitals, totalling 48 hospitals. In October 2020, the government named 32 hospitals which will form part of the 40 new hospitals, with a further eight schemes invited to bid for future funding.

A total of 497 plots of land were declared as surplus or potentially surplus to requirements (by 115 Trusts and NHS Property Services).

Sustainability progress in the secondary care portfolio is shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11 Secondary care sustainability progress

• 137 sites have onsite renewable energy which generated 8.2m kWh

• Electric vehicle charging points provided for 1,411 buildings across the estate

• c. 310,000 LED lights were replaced across the estate

• Over 77,500 trees have been planted since 2009 as part of the NHS forest scheme

Figure 12 Primary care and community portfolio summary

Built Assets - 2,365

Floor Area (GIA) - 2.7m m²

Cost - £689.7m

Estimated Value - £5.3bn

Disposals - £21m

Commentary

Community Healthcare Partnerships (CHP) and NHS Property Services (NHS PS) manage health clinics and community hospitals to support primary care delivery. Data excludes approximately 8,000 privately owned GP premises.

Figure 13 Breakdown of primary care management

• Health clinics - over 1,600 managed by NHS PS 300 managed by CHP

• Hospital buildings - over 400 managed by NHS PS 13 community hospitals managed by CHP

Building condition of the portfolio was split generally equally between good, satisfactory and poor. There was a 4% vacancy rate during 2020-21 which was mostly due to changes in commissioning strategy and estate being held to support long-term reconfiguration and disposal strategies.

Over the last year NHS PS has worked closely with NHS partners to meet urgent demand for space, converting occupied sites into vaccination hubs, or recommissioning vacant or underused space to create additional bed, testing and vaccination capacity. In the past 18 months space equivalent to 1,700 additional beds has been recommissioned.

NHS PS completed the disposal of 48 freehold sites in 2020-21 with a total receipt of £33.5 million, £21 million of which is in the Primary Care & Community portfolio (with the balance split across Land, Office and Other Health portfolios).

Energy performance of the estate was above average across the portfolios, with over half buildings rated as A-C for energy efficiency.

NHS PS continued to progress their three year sustainability plan to target net zero carbon, which launched in 2019-20. Progress is shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14 Primary care sustainability progress

• 14,300 tCO₂e reduction, resulting in cost savings of over £16m for the NHS

• Switching the entire building portfolio to 100% renewable electricity in April 2020, upgrading over 60 sites to LED during 2020-21

• Installing 1,000 smart meters in buildings

• 98% of waste diverted from landfill through greater effort to recycle, including furniture and removal of single-use plastics and more waste segregation across the portfolio

Figure 15 Other health and social care portfolio summary

• Built Assets - 293

• Floor Area (GIA) - 0.06m m²

• Cost - £2.4m

• Estimated Value - £107.2m

• Disposals - £5.3m

Commentary

The Health Other portfolio comprises residential care, rehabilitation, pharmacy/retail and remaining ancillary estate required to support the business and deliver public services. It excludes laboratories and science uses which are included in the Science portfolio, and administrative uses which are included in the Office portfolio.

In March 2021, the estate was predominantly freehold, with a total size of 0.06 million m².

Case study: Transformation of space, Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, Herne Bay, Kent and Brentwood CommunityHospital, Essex

Void space at Queen Victoria Memorial Community Hospital was transformed to deliver a new urgent treatment centre to support the Primary Care Network and align with East Kent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) longer term strategy to extend its primary care service offering.

NHS Property Services (NHS PS) undertook an options appraisal which was reviewed by Kent and Medway CCG, and it was approved to use the former orthotic building which was vacant. Design and costings were agreed, and a new design approach undertaken to eliminate the industrial feel of the building and make it fit for purpose.

The total cost of the scheme was £0.2m. Work began in April 2020 and was completed after three months, despite the pandemic impacting the timeline. The previously vacant block was transformed into a service-designed urgent treatment centre with six bespoke clinical rooms, reception, staff admin space, a rest room and welfare facilities. Disabled facilities were also relocated and incorporated into the completed design.

Elsewhere in the NHS estate, NHS PS created additional capacity for COVID-19 patients by repurposing and reconfiguring Brentwood Community Hospital in Essex. NHS PS worked with the local Commissioners, Trust, and the Ministry of Defence to rapidly recommission a vacant ward and pockets of space across this building. Within a month, capacity for 176 additional beds was delivered, which provided step-down, palliative care capacity to ease pressure on acute sites. NHS PS have since started to formalise this work, so the bed capacity can be permanently kept at a higher level.

Job centre portfolio

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has a geographically dispersed, extensive portfolio across the UK, with over 600 client-facing venues providing key front line services to nearly six million people.

Figure 16 Job centre portfolio summary

• Built Assets - 688 - 689 (19-20) down 0.1%

• Floor Area (NIA) - 0.76m m² - 0.71m m² (19-20) up 6%

• Cost - £327.6m - £300m (19-20) up 9%

• Number of Claimants - 2.6m - 1.2m up 114%

Commentary

In March 2021 there were 639 job centres, with an additional 111 Assessment Centres (62 are co-sited with job centres/offices leaving 49 that operate as standalone sites), totalling nearly 0.76 million m². The estate was 100% leasehold.

The estate is wholly leasehold, with annual rent making up half of the annual operation costs. Vacant space was maintained at a very low rate (0.3%).

As a consequence of government COVID-19 response measures, the demand for the services of job centres increased significantly in March 2021. 91% of sites were operational to process claims.

Figure 17 Cost and utilisation of job centre space

• Higher utilisation can be seen through reduction in space per claimant from 0.5m² to 0.3m²

• Cost per m2 has increased from £382 to £459 through a combination of higher utilisation of space and COVID-19 protocols

• Taken together, cost per claimant has reduced by 43% from £208 to £118

Figure 18 Demand for DWP services between March - April 2020

• Between 16 March and the end of April 2020 DWP received 1.8m claims for Universal Credit and over 250,000 claims for Job Seeker’s Allowance

• Over 20,000 claims for Employment & Support Allowance

• As the pandemic continued into 2021, the number of Job Seeker Allowance claimants was up 114% from March 2020 to 2021

Estate capacity had to increase to meet demand, house an additional 13,500 work coaches and accommodate social distancing. By March 2021, DWP had acquired premises for 40% of the 200 new temporary job centres required across Britain in a Rapid Estate Expansion Programme (REEP) – see case study. REEP will also provide an opportunity to review the Front of House portfolio, with 53% of buildings classed as satisfactory condition and 27% class as poor in March 2021.

Figure 19 DWP initiatives to keep job centres open to process claims

• DWP issued over 1.2m face coverings for customers and over 10,000 reusable face coverings for front line staff

• Over 2,200 hand sanitisers installed

• Installed over 9,100 visors for colleagues and security staff and over 13,000 protective screens

• 1,850 additional cleaning hours were introduced

• Over 15,500 calls taken by the virtual help desk every month

Case Study: DWP Real Estate Expansion Programme (REEP) to set up temporary job centres, UK wide

As part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to support claimants back to work, DWP moved at pace to introduce new job centres, increasing capacity and to support the economic recovery.

By March 2021 DWP had 13,500 additional work coaches in place, the majority of whom were working in existing job centres while new temporary accommodation was being secured. Seven new sites were up and running to provide services – including new job centres at Basildon and Southend, with a further 73 leases signed of the 200 target.

The new job sites provided a high quality, modern and digitally enabled environment for both colleagues and customers. The acquisition of new space offered DWP the opportunity to design the location to make it ‘Covid secure’ from the outset, with Health and Safety at the heart of their design. The sites are predominantly in major centres, with a focus on high demand areas for welfare services. All sites are fully accessible for colleagues and customers, with good transport links, with environmental impact reduced wherever possible, for example, by increasing the Energy Performance Certificate rating; a commitment made by DWP as part of the estates review programme.

Flexible terms are being sought for all lease agreements so that the properties can be exited when no longer required. As the economy recovers, DWP will review the need for these temporary sites, to ensure the right balance between providing essential services for claimants and delivering value for money for the taxpayer is being struck.

Logistics and storage portfolio {:#logistics-storage}

Logistics and storage uses encompass a wide variety of asset types, owned by a variety of government departments – including document stores, fuel testing units, salt barns, vehicle depots and motorway service compounds. These are operational buildings, supporting delivery of services to the public. This portfolio does not include defence or cultural assets.

Figure 20 Logistics and storage portfolio summary

• Built Assets - 633

• Floor Area (GIA) - 0.5m m²

• Cost - £21.5m

• Estimated Value - £291.5m

Commentary

This portfolio, comprising storage, depots and warehouses, occupied 0.5 million m² in March 2021.

The storage assets across central government are presented here for the first time. Together they are estimated to be worth over £291 million (excluding defence and cultural assets). Approximately 40% of the operating costs for 2020-21 were spent on rent.

The vacancy rate was low at 0.7%. Building condition across the estate was satisfactory overall.

As shown in Figure 21, Department for Transport (DfT) had the largest storage estate during 2020-21, followed by Defra and HMRC.

The DfT National Highways estate, totalling 0.2 million m², consisted of salt barns, sheds, road maintenance and motorway service compounds.

The Defra storage estate was over 0.1 million m² – 78% owned by Defra group and 22% owned by Forestry England – and was made up of facilities that supported ongoing work storing, maintaining and investing in flood defence infrastructure as well as fisheries and habitat management, and woodland conservation.

The HMRC estate, at 0.06 million m², was made up predominantly of road fuel testing sites, coach parks and truck stops.

Figure 21 Logistics and storage portfolio breakdown by floor area (m²)

Case study: National Highways Maintenance Compound Estate Strategy

National Highways (NH) operate around 120 Motorway Maintenance Compounds (MMCs) which are strategically positioned across the Strategic Road Network. The compounds were located to ensure effective routine and winter maintenance of the strategic network, reaching all parts within the required response times, hence locations were quite specific.

During 2020-21, NH undertook an MMC Strategy exercise with each region and looked critically at the network of MMCs and identified which were suited to the current requirements, which were surplus and where there were opportunities to co-locate multiple sites into fewer sites. This would ensure correct investment in the right sites to improve sustainability, operational effectiveness, efficiency and reduce running costs of these sites and potentially release surplus sites to the market.

NH shared these strategies with local authorities and other participants such as ‘blue light’ occupiers via the One Public Estate programme and continues to explore opportunities through this route and with other government departments and ALB’s such as the Environment Agency. This will release regeneration opportunities on sites currently occupied by potential partners.

The initial findings have identified replacing approximately 34 sites with up to 25 new ones over a 10-15 year period.

Office portfolio {:#office}

The office portfolio is made up of both departmentally managed offices and offices transferred to the Government Property Agency (GPA). GPA was established in April 2018 as an executive agency of the Cabinet Office, and all central government offices will be managed by GPA in the next five years. As at 31 March 2021, GPA managed nearly a quarter of the office estate for government departments and their arms length bodies (ALBs). This section covers the whole office portfolio, both GPA and departmentally managed offices.

Figure 22 Office portfolio summary

• Built Assets - 1,409

• Floor Area (NIA) - 3.4m m² - 3.5m m² (19-20) down 2%

• Cost - £1.6bn

• Cost per m² - £474 - £595 (19-20) down 20%

• Vacancy Rate - 0.8% - 0.6% (19-20) up 33%

• Estimated Value - £1.2bn

• Disposals - £2.7m

Commentary

The office portfolio comprised over 1,400 cross government assets, totalling 3.4 million m² in March 2021.

The office portfolio has been the main focus of previous State of the Estate reports and like-for-like data is available to allow year-on-year comparison.

There were limited changes in the size and composition of the office estate during the year as the focus was typically on the immediate response to the pandemic rather than long-term adjustment in property holding. Adjustments for the move to hybrid working as a result of the pandemic are expected to show over the next 2-3 years, as lease events and strategic asset management decisions work through to organisations’ footprints.

Compared to 2019-20, the cost per m2 for offices has reduced from £558 to £474. However, 2020-21 was an exceptional year, so should not be used as a new baseline.

Rather, the reduction in unit costs relates primarily to reduced operating costs as a result of changes to working arrangements through the pandemic. The sample of office properties used to calculate cost per m2 increased from 2019-20 to 2020-21. In 2019-20, it focused on headquarters buildings, with a wider mix of office estate included in 2020-21.

There was a mix of condition ratings throughout the office estate^{[footnote 9]}, with half of the portfolio rated as satisfactory and a fairly equal split between good (20%) and poor (17%) for the remaining estate.

Figure 23 Office portfolio management breakdown

Departmental office disposals were made up from one site disposed of by Defra in Lincoln that was no longer required for business need, and one site disposed of by NHS Property Services as a result of demand changes leading to consolidation and release of surplus estate.

Case Study: Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs – Delivering through the pandemic

The HMRC Facilities Management team played a pivotal part in ensuring critical buildings and infrastructure supported the delivery of the government’s plan to tackle the pandemic. This involved an unprecedented UK-wide collaborative effort, centred around working safely and flexibly in more than 100 buildings across the UK.

Working practices were adapted, adhering to the latest government guidance, in order to continue to deliver the highest customer service, including:

• Introducing regular touchpoint and COVID-19-specific cleans to ensure employees wellbeing and safe working environments were not compromised

• Producing over 200,000 behavioural signage posters and way-finder floor stickers to relay good practice of the workforce

• Implementing over 700 miles of floor marker tape to implement one-way systems

• Introducing more than 800 hand sanitiser stations to create safe environments

• This enabled HMRC employees to effectively provide vital services to support the nation via the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.

Case Study: Smarter working design, Ty Taf, Treforest, South Wales

A smarter working project completed during 2020-21 was a contemporary new build DWP Back of House building located in Treforest, South Wales.

The building was designed with Smarter Working principles in mind. Features included open airy collaboration spaces across all floors, with an accessible refreshment hub and breakout areas for informal engagement. The design provided a good balance between desk areas for focused work and meeting room spaces for structured presentations. For those on the go, a touchdown area was located close to reception to facilitate those needing to just ‘check in’. In keeping with the theme of smarter working, furniture was designed with flexibility a key priority.

Elements of the natural world featured in a moss wall and carpeting selected to replicate the moss effect and reduce stress. A wellbeing room further added to provide a more structured space for those wishing to take time out for a moment’s peace and reflection.

Office Utilisation

As many office-based workers predominantly worked from home during the year, the annual government office benchmarking programme was not undertaken.

Based on occupancy by organisations, the vacancy rate of the office estate was very low, at 0.8% which compares to the private sector 7.4%,^{[footnote 10]} although in practice 2020-21 saw high levels of working from home in response to the pandemic.

Regional Offices

Places for Growth (PfG) is contributing toward the government’s levelling up agenda through the relocation of civil service roles to places across the whole of the UK. In support of the Declaration of Government Reform and Levelling-Up agenda, PfG will oversee the relocation of approximately 22,000 roles from London to the regions and nations of the UK. This will contribute to driving operational efficiencies and cost savings across the government estate.

The scale of change in the overall regional balance in 2020-21 reflects the limited movement in the overall office footprint. However, there were reductions in the central London (see the Whitehall Campus Plan pg 37) and South East footprints, which contributed to the overall reduction in average running costs. Increases in demand for regional offices are emerging, but are not yet reflected in occupied space. Regional change is set out in figure 24.

Figure 24 Office portfolio regional year-on-year changes

Whitehall Campus Plan

The Whitehall Campus and Central London Portfolio houses the national HQs of every department plus many non-ministerial departments and their agencies. It comprises around 70 office properties (c. 0.6 million m²) and housing around 68,000 FTEs at an annual cost of £621 million.

Figure 25 Whitehall campus progress

• In March 2021 the programme completed the refurbishment and opening of the Old Admiralty Building, central London, providing accommodation for the Department of International Trade and Government Art Collection

• During 2020-21, the Whitehall Campus Programme drove the closure of 8 buildings across Central London (i.e. TfL Zone 1), comprising c 27,250m2.

• The Whitehall Campus Programme also re- housed c. 3,100 FTEs, across 16 different organisations, saving the taxpayer over £31.3M per annum.

Case study: Queen Elizabeth House – Edinburgh Government Hub

Queen Elizabeth House, the first flagship UK government hub in Scotland, was completed in the summer of 2020. The seven-storey, 17,600 m2 ultra-modern office is located in close proximity to Edinburgh Waverley railway station and is now home to nearly 3,000 civil servants from 16 departments, including The Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland (OSSS), the Office of the Advocate General, Cabinet Office and HMRC. Moving to the Edinburgh hub has enabled HMRC to close eight of its legacy offices in Edinburgh and the East of Scotland, with a further office due to close in April 2022.

The Edinburgh hub was delivered by HMRC and is a key demonstration that government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen and sustain the Union, deliver better, more coordinated public services for people in Scotland and build a strong civil service outside London and lead the way in regional regeneration.

Prison portfolio {:#prison}

The prison portfolio in England and Wales is managed by the MoJ Property Directorate on behalf of Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). The prison portfolio is made up of over 100 prisons, housing approximately 83,000 prisoners in England and Wales, managed by over 22,000 prison officers. This portfolio, including prison officers’ quarters and land ‘outside the wire’, comprises 75% of the MoJ estate by floor area.

Figure 26 Prison portfolio summary

• Number of prisons - 117 - (13 privately managed)

• Floor Area (GIA) - 5.6m m², 5.3m m² (19-20) - up 6.5%

• Cost - £981.8m, £896m (19-20) - down 6.7%

• Estimated Value - £7.2bn

• Number of Prisoners - 0.08m

• Disposals - £0.9m

Commentary

In 2020 MoJ set out its commitment to spend £4 billion to provide 18,000 additional prison places by the mid-2020s. This includes the £2.6 billion for 10,000 prison places in the four new prisons announced in 2019. In June 2020, it was announced sites were being identified and secured for a further three new prisons, one in the north-west of England and two in the south-east, each delivering nearly 1,700 prison places. MoJ intends to procure these new prison places as efficiently as possible, making use of Modern Methods of Construction and standardisation wherever possible. In addition, a consultation on two new prisons on land at RAF Wethersfield, Braintree, began in September 2020. In 2021, the commitment was increased to 20,000 new prison places.

The extra prison capacity will be delivered alongside a running programme to refurbish and improve the existing estate. The estate is also being reconfigured to ensure MoJ has the right type of prison places to meet the needs of the population. The reconfiguration of the estate will be complete by the end of 2023.

MoJ has committed an additional £156 million in 2020-21 to address some of the most immediate maintenance issues across the estate. This has included fire safety and other critical systems and addressing failing infrastructure such as boilers and electrical systems, and, in addition, refurbishing some cells, showers and serveries.

The Estate Asset Capture Survey (EACS) programme was completed at the end of March 2021. Over 2 million assets were surveyed at 110 establishments and all sites are live on the Computer Aided Facilities Management system. This was the first phase of capturing the prison portfolio assets and, for the first time, an overview of the FM assets held on the custodial estate has been captured, which will inform lifecycle history going forward.

Case study: MOJ – Prisoners building LED lights in green prisons push

In November 2020, HMP Garth prisoners became the first to build energy efficient LED lights in-house, for retrofit of lighting across the custodial estate, cutting prisons’ energy use, carbon emissions and saving taxpayers’ money.

Probation portfolio {:#probation}

The probation portfolio is managed by the MoJ Property Directorate on behalf of the Probation Service; a statutory criminal justice service within HMPPS. The Probation Service is based in local communities and the portfolio comprises contact centres and approved premises, providing operational space and a working base for probation staff. There are over 264,000 offenders supported by the probation estate and services.

Figure 27 Probation portfolio summary

• Built Assets - 473

• Floor Area (GIA) - 0.3m m², 0.2m m² (19-20) - down 54%

• Cost - £88.5m, £81.2m (19-20) - up 9%

• Estimated Value - £159.2m, £158m (19-20) - up 1%

• Number of Offenders - 0.3m

• Disposals - £0.2m

Commentary

Probation contact centres support people on probation so they can report to their probation officer, attend training activities and have family visits to assist in the reduction of reoffending. The portfolio also contains Approved Premises which are residential units in the community to house and closely monitor offenders.

Probation Reform Programme has a four-year strategy, with £131 million allocated funding, to unify and modernise the probation portfolio and service delivery, which has resulted in significant changes and transformation for The Probation Service over 2020-21. Offender management has been transferred from 21 Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) areas into the National Probation Service, reforming into 12 regions under the new unified model. Around 140 former CRC properties have been brought into the portfolio and reviewed, 102 have been identified as no longer required in the future.

The Reform Programme has also identified a lack of investment in the portfolio and in line with the Probation Reform modernisation vision has identified works and secured funding to redress this, with £20 million over four years allocated to undertake this work. £5 million was allocated to works in 2020-21 which was spent in around 45 buildings across the estate on a variety of items from upgrades to CCTV, security and alarms to items that have historically not had funding, such as redecoration, and refurbishments of kitchens and bathrooms.

Over £9 million was spent on Approved Premises during the year, including capital investment, planned maintenance and the refurbishment of three Approved Premises buildings. A further £6.4 million was invested in the security of 20 Approved Premises buildings. As a result, 10 sites received enhanced security and a further 10 were upgraded to Counter Terrorist level.

Case study: New probation contact centre, Redfern

A new probation flagship site, situated in Redfern in Manchester’s NOMA district, opening in Spring 2021. NOMA is an £800 million, eight ha, mixed-use redevelopment scheme in Manchester. The listed building – close to excellent public transport links – provides easy access to staff, people on probation and colleagues from partner organisations.

The Redfern office is a newly-acquired property fitted out to the Probation Design Guide, which goes beyond rooms, acoustics and lighting to create welcoming, professional spaces that support positive experiences for people on probation from the moment they arrive.

The new probation contact centre unified staff from five existing contact centres within the M60 ring road, as well as an integrated Headquarters. It provides 229 desks accommodating c. 320 FTE, and a mix of collaborative, interview and 1:1 rooms. The design fosters an environment that keeps people safe, promotes staff wellbeing, creates inclusive and accessible environments, with a flexible, effective use of space.

School portfolio {:#school}

The school portfolio in England is made up of state funded primary and secondary schools, and sixth form colleges, including academies, maintained nurseries, special schools, and alternative provision. The Department for Education (DfE) takes an overall role in funding both new schools and expansion of existing schools to ensure sufficient school places, as well as investment in improving the condition of school buildings. This is a highly devolved system with schools and bodies, such as local authorities and academy trusts, responsible for managing their own property. The wider, non-schools education estate includes higher education and further education colleges in England.

Figure 28 School portfolio summary

• State Funded Schools* - 22,031

• Floor Area (GIA) of State Funded Schools* - 78.7m m²

• Number of Teachers (FTE) and Pupils in State Funded Schools* - 0.5m teachers, 4.2m primary and 3.5m secondary pupils

• Total Condition Need of State Funded Schools* - £11.4bn

• Estimated Value (Academy Schools Only**) - £56.1bn^{[footnote 11]}

• Estimated Cost (Academy Schools Only**) - £3.3bn

*Data based on Condition Collection data (CDC) for locally managed schools in England only.

**Taken from Academy Schools Sector in England, Consolidated Annual Report and Accounts 2018-19 Page 91, note 2. The value of Local Authority schools are recorded within Local Authority values in the Whole of Government Accounts. Costs shown are gross costs.

Commentary

The Condition of School Buildings Survey collates data from the Condition Data Collection (CDC).

Figure 29 Condition Collection Data

The CDC2 programme is refreshing the data from CDC1, as of September 2021, CDC2 had collected data for 1,023 schools

The Department for Education has allocated £9.5 billion between 2015 and 2021 for maintaining and improving the condition of the estate. Local authorities, academies and voluntary-aided school bodies access capital funding from the department for improving the condition of schools. In addition to condition funding allocations, the department has announced the first 100 schools in the new School Rebuilding Programme^{[footnote 12]}, as part of a commitment to 500 projects over the next decade – see case study. New buildings delivered by the programme will be net zero carbon in operation.

This comes on top of the existing Priority School Building Programme which has been rebuilding or refurbishing buildings in poor condition at over 500 schools. CDC1 collected data on 22,031 schools, comprising 63,942 teaching blocks, across nine geographical regions of England.

Case study: School Rebuilding Programme – the pathway to sustainability

The UK Government announced the new Schools Rebuilding Programme (SRP) in June 2020. The first major rebuilding programme since 2014, the programme will raise the standard of school buildings across the country, by carrying out major rebuilding and refurbishment projects at school and sixth form college buildings across England, with buildings prioritised according to their condition.

The scheme will deliver a whole site approach to climate resilience and net zero carbon in operation, as well as improved fabric performance including bi-solar roofs, sustainable drainage and other green infrastructure. Schemes will have to consider the whole life financial and carbon cost of design solutions as they deliver their approach to net zero.

The programme will also establish pathfinders – a construction kit of parts that will create a “platform” to build sustainable schools, using modern methods of construction, that meet the challenges of climate change in addition to creating jobs and boosting the construction sector.

Science portfolio {:#science}

The science portfolio encompasses laboratories, specialist science sites and research facilities, across central government. Defence Science properties are included in the Defence portfolio.

Figure 30 Science portfolio summary

• Built Assets - 491

• Floor Area (GIA) - 1m m²

• Cost - £167.6m

• Estimated Value - £1.6bn

Commentary

The Science portfolio is predominantly managed by three government departments: Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC), Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Figure 31 Main BEIS science portfolio owners

UKRI is the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation, and works in close collaboration with nine organisations with great depth and breadth of expertise, allowing connection of research communities, institutions, business and wider society, in the UK and around the world.

DHSC^{[footnote 13]} owned a total of 0.2 million m² comprising Public Health England (PHE) (56%), NHS Blood & Transplant (36%) and Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (8%). The COVID-19 master testing lab, under DHSC, was under construction in March 2021, with several other COVID-related laboratories part of PHE.

Defra held 0.2 million m², 96% owned by the Defra Group and 4% owned by the Forestry England.

Figure 32 Science portfolio breakdown by floor area (m²)

Case study: Build of new laboratory for COVID-19 waste water testing, Devon

The National Laboratory Service Starcross (in Devon) lab is the current analytical centre for the analysis for COVID-19 virus in sewage wastewater samples which helps to identify geographically spikes up to a week before an outbreak is experienced. The importance of this data to the national disease management efforts led to the Environment Agency (EA) (an arm’s length body of Defra group) being asked to significantly increase its capability to analyse more than 3,000 samples per week. To meet this request for capacity the Defra Group Property Team took a lease of c. 1,000 m² over two floors in a brand-new building near Exeter. The search for suitable space started in December 2020 and the lease was signed in February 2021 with extensive fit out work completed in March 2021. The building was handed over as an open floor plate and it took a six-week programme of fit out works, comprising of partitions, power upgrades, distribution works and stand-alone mechanical ventilation systems. The new laboratory was opened in early April 2021.

Case study: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Health & Safety review

The UKRI Health and Safety (H&S) management system has continued to mature over 2020-21. H&S management arrangements are delegated to individual research councils proportionate to their hazard profile. These arrangements operate within an overarching UKRI H&S policy and arrangements established, maintained and developed by the corporate H&S function. A high standard of H&S is paramount to UKRI’s capability to deliver.

Specific achievements for the year included:

• the UKRI H&S policy has been reviewed, revised and republished and the UKRI H&S Strategy was approved and published

• a project to review and strengthen the H&S arrangements across the office estate commenced and has completed its review and analysis phase and will be implementing its recommendations over 2021-22, in alignment with other workplace change projects

• the recommendations made by an audit of UKRI H&S Assurance in 2019 have now all been implemented

The health, safety and welfare of people on government premises is always a matter of priority, as referenced in the Property Standard. During the pandemic, it has been even more at the forefront, encompassing continued access to online display screen equipment, virtual training and assessment, including specialist assessments and reasonable adjustments; advice on COVID-19-secure arrangements and their implementation; and completion of specific and template COVID-19 risk assessments.

Remaining estate {:#remaining-estate}

The remaining estate covers a wide variety of asset types including ancillary uses for the operational estate, conference/training facilities and facilities for welfare services to staff (e.g. nurseries).

Figure 33 Remaining estate portfolio summary

• Assets - 2,187

• Floor Area (GIA) - 1.2m m²

• Estimated Value - £762.5m

• Disposals - £2.1m

Commentary

The remaining estate accounted for 1.2 million m² (1%) of total government estate floor area.

The largest single use of the remaining estate was conference/training facilities, at around a quarter of the portfolio: varying from conference centres to dog training facilities to firearms training. This was followed by Industrial with 11% of the share. The balance is made up of difficult to disaggregate data, e.g. on large campus multi-asset sites and small organisations with a diverse portfolio of operational and multi-purpose assets, e.g. British Transport Police. As set out on page 4, the introduction of the Government Property Data Standard should improve the granularity of reporting.

Land portfolio {:#land}

Government land use varies from training land to nature conservation, from woodland to lakes. This portfolio excludes Defence land, which is included within the Defence portfolio.

Figure 34 Land portfolio summary

• Land Area - 0.3m ha

• Cost - £20.6m

• Estimated Value - £3.9bn

• Disposals - £278.6m

Commentary

The land on the government estate is held by a variety of organisations, which are shown in Figure 35. The largest land holder, excluding MOD whose land is included in the Defence portfolio, was Forestry England who accounted for 76% of all other government land, totalling 254,200 hectares. Forestry England, an agency of the Forestry Commission, works with others to enable sustainable forest and land management and to manage its own environmental impacts, whether as a tenant or landlord. At March 2021, Forestry England:

• Looked after more than 1,500 forests.

• Produced 1.3 million cubic metres of timber.

• Welcomed over 230 million visits each year.

• Secured over £26 billion in natural capital value for the nation.

The next largest land holders were Network Rail holding 51,600 ha of land for operational purposes; Defra holding 17,800 ha for various uses such as flood defences and boreholes; and Homes England holding 8,800 ha. This land is for residential and employment development and supports government objectives including quality design, Modern Methods of Construction, and financial return to Government. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority held nearly 4,000 ha for a number of operational farms, agricultural land, woodland, flood mitigation, sand dunes and nature reserves.

Figure 35 Land portfolio breakdown by area (ha)

Case study: Homes England, 1,800 home Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) research

As part of the government’s objective to improve construction productivity and encourage the uptake of MMC in housing delivery, the next phase of Homes England, the government’s housing agency, research project will see data collected across eight of Homes England’s sites using MMC.

Monitoring the construction of around 1,800 homes across the country over several years, the study will test the performance of different types of MMC to provide long-term, in-depth and verifiable data so that informed decisions about emerging construction technologies can be made.

The study covers the following sites and technologies: (subject to change)

Site	Location	Size	Technology
Northstowe Phase 2	Cambridge	406 homes	Modular
East Quayside	Newcastle	292 homes	Light gauge steel frame
Swindon Gateway	Swindon	159 homes	Modular
Spencers Park	Hemel Hempstead	600 homes	Panellised
Grappenhall Heys Phase 2	Warrington	220 homes	Modular and panellised
York Road	Birmingham	80 homes	Panellised
Tattenhoe Phase 4	Milton Keynes	100 homes	Panellised
Park Prewett – Hollies Phase	Basingstoke	30 homes	Modular

Case study: New woodland in Kielder Forest, Northumberland

Rushy Knowe is a 145 ha site in Northumberland where the Forestry England has been planting 100 ha of new woodland since 2019. There are areas of protected open habitat, creating a mosaic of glades and peatlands amongst the woodland and supporting a variety of habitats.

Working with nature

Forestry England pioneered a natural capital assessment tool to plan best use of the site. This tool allowed Forestry England to test different scenarios, including the type of woodland planted, to meet a range of benefits such as: climate regulation (carbon sequestration), timber production, priority habitat protection, recreation and impact on the landscape.

As the woodland grows and develops, a variety of habitats will support a range of wildlife. Forestry England will improve the condition of protected habitat and grazing livestock may help to maintain the open grassland at Rushy Knowe.

Working with the community

Working with local people along the way, the development provided opportunities for public access and recreation in a woodland for everyone. After a public consultation process, plans were adapted to ensure the stunning view across Kielder Water was maintained; an iconic view to be enjoyed.

Case study:

Mine water heating; mapping the temperature of Britain’s coalfields, The Coal Authority & British Geological Survey

Mine water treatment at Dawdon and map example, Source: The Coal Authority

In November 2020, the British Geological Survey (BGS) and the Coal Authority released maps that, for the first time, revealed the temperature of Britain’s abandoned coal mines.^{[footnote 14]} Warmed by the natural geothermal gradient within the Earth’s crust, water in underground coal mines presents an enormous opportunity to the UK as a secure, low carbon source of heat that can be harnessed and distributed via heat networks.

The Coal Authority supported two proposed mine water heat networks in the north east of England during 2020; one at Seaham Garden Village and one at Gateshead. The scheme at Seaham Garden Village will use heat from an existing mine water treatment scheme called ‘Dawdon’ whilst the Gateshead scheme will use purpose-drilled boreholes to access the warm mine water. These schemes will be the first in the UK to supply heat from mine water via a heat network, and, combined, they hope to heat nearly 3,000 homes.

Wider government portfolio

The wider government portfolio, for example buildings owned by local authorities and devolved administrations, falls outside the data mandate so is not captured in the portfolio analysis. The wider estate forms an important part of public service delivery and there are many opportunities for co-location across different organisations.

One Public Estate

The One Public Estate (OPE) programme brings public sector partners together to make the best use of public sector land and property, delivering:

• Efficiencies including capital receipts and running cost savings;

• Local economic growth including jobs, land for housing and inward investment; and

• More integrated customer-focused services.

In autumn 2020, OPE successfully launched its eighth funding round, expanding the national programme. Since 2013, OPE has invested around £89 million in over 750 projects, across 72 local partnerships, involving 98% of English local authorities, 13 central government departments and hundreds of wider public sector bodies.

OPE partnerships are designed to suit local opportunities. They are united by a common goal to create greater value from their combined public estate.

From 2013 to March 2021, OPE partnerships had reported delivery of £461 million in capital receipts, reduced annual running costs by £100 million, created 31,500 jobs and released land for over 19,500 homes.

Case study: Former Burnholme Community College, YorkTown hall campus redevelopment, Waltham Forest

In York, the OPE programme funded the evaluation stages of the development of a multi-use health and wellbeing hub at the site of the former Burnholme Community College. Transforming local public services and alleviating pressure on GP services and hospital admissions, the OPE partnership facilitated collaboration and development of a shared vision between public, private and voluntary sectors. The first phase of the Centre@Burnholme has created a new library, sports and community centre and a care home which will be followed by a GP surgery and sustainable, affordable housing. The council have applied the same principles to the development of the £47 million Community Stadium which opened in 2020 and incorporates an 8,500 seater sports stadium, an IMAX cinema, retail and restaurant outlets, a community hub and library, NHS outpatient services and an NHS Learning and Development centre, alongside swimming facilities, a gym, dance studio and sports hall.

In 2020, Waltham Forest Council commenced development at Fellowship Square, a key strategic location in the borough from where they could provide an integrated and more efficient public service offering for the local community.

OPE support and funding for masterplan development was the catalyst for regeneration, enabling the Council to forge strong, long-lasting relationships with a range of public sector bodies, to improve the public realm and to develop plans to rationalise and redevelop the town hall campus, including a former magistrates court.

The project will open up and activate the site to be enjoyed by residents, visitors, and staff; generate c. £45 million capital receipts for local and central government; and provide over 500 new homes.

Chapter 2: Greening the government estate

Greening the Government Estate

This chapter fulfils the requirement in the Climate Change Act 2008 to assess the progress made in the year towards the contribution to the sustainability of buildings that are part of the public sector estate. In addition, the chapter sets out wider sustainability considerations and policies affecting the government estate.

Reducing emissions is a significant focus for the property function in greening the government estate. Public sector buildings account for approximately 9% of building CO₂ emissions,^{[footnote 15]} equivalent to annual greenhouse gas emissions of 1.6 million tCO₂e.

As at March 2021, government as a whole had reduced its emissions by 57% in 2020-21 compared to 2009-10 – exceeding the 43% target.

Decarbonisation, and the journey to net zero, was set by the UK government, in June 2019 in a legally binding commitment to reach net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050.^{[footnote 16]}

Figure 36 UK’s climate promise

In April 2021, the government set the world’s most ambitious climate change target into law, to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels

Case study: GPA – Net Zero Programme (NZP)

NZP has an overall target of 51% reduction in carbon emissions across Government Offices by 2029. The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme has provided £9.4 million to reduce energy and carbon emissions through a series of targeted interventions in c. 26 government buildings nationwide. An example is the Office for National Statistics’ Titchfield House, on the south coast, (19,000 m²). As part of the NZP, new lighting was supplied by a manufacturer based less than five miles from the site and incorporated energy saving PIR controls, daylight sensors and Wi-Fi enabled zonal control. This new lighting is forecast to reduce lighting energy consumption by 75%, whilst the longer life span of LED’s will significantly reduce ongoing maintenance costs.

• 75% Energy forecast energy savings

• 100% of packaging recycled and returned to the supplier to recycle the next batch of lights

• Utilised a locally based supply chain for equipment manufacture

Greening Government Commitments

The Greening Government Commitments^{[footnote 17]} (GGCs) are government targets, set and managed by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), to improve the sustainability of government’s estates and operations. The property-related targets measure greenhouse gas emissions, water, waste and paper usage across the government estate. The GGCs cover the central government estate, executive agencies and executive non-departmental public bodies with some agreed exemptions, and measure against a 2009-10 baseline.

The GGC outcomes for 2020-21 reflect an exceptional year, with many people not working in offices due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This has meant significantly less travel, and reduced consumption of supplies. It may be that as office use increases again, some of the reductions in 2020-21 do not translate fully into 2021-22. Departments continue to collect data, and Defra will seek to build on the progress made. The government will keep the GGC framework under review to ensure the targets remain ambitious in the context of long-term changes arising from the pandemic.

Figure 37 Greening Government Commitments 2020-21 summary

Greenhouse gas emissions	Waste
Target: reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 43% from a 2009-10 baseline (in line with individual departmental targets)	Target: reduce the amount of waste going to landfill to less than 10% and continue to improve our waste management by reducing the overall amount of waste generated and increasing the proportion which is recycled
• Government as a whole has reduced its emissions by 57% in 2020-21 compared to 2009-10 – exceeding the 43% target for 2020 and an improvement on last year’s 50% reduction. • It is estimated that 38% of the reduction in emissions was due to the improved management of the estate and a further 19% was due to the decarbonisation of the national grid. • 20 departments have met or surpassed the target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 43% compared to the 2009-10 baseline. • Reductions in energy consumption saved the government an estimated £182 million in 2020-21.	• Government departments reduced their overall waste products by 51% in 2020-21 compared to the 2009-10 baseline and an improvement on last year’s 39%. 58% of waste was recycled, a slight decrease compared to last year’s 64% • Government departments sent 8% of waste to landfill in 2020-21 – surpassing the target to send less than 10% of waste to landfill but performing slightly less well than last year’s 6%. All but three departments achieved the target for waste sent to landfill. • Reductions in waste saved the government an estimated £33.5 million in costs in 2020-21.

Paper consumption	Water
Target: reduce government’s paper use by at least 50% from a 2009-10 baseline	Target: continue to further reduce water consumption against a 2014-15 baseline, continuing to report on office water use (m³ per Full Time Equivalent (FTE))
• Government as a whole has reduced its paper consumption by 80% in 2020-21 compared to the baseline – exceeding the 50% 2020 target and an improvement on last year’s 63% reduction. • 18 departments met or exceeded the 50% target, with only one department failing to meet the target.	• The government reduced its water consumption by 14% in 2020-21 compared to the baseline – the highest reduction in six years and an improvement on last year’s 12% reduction. • All departments reported a reduction in water consumption compared to the baseline. • An estimated £10.4 million savings were achieved through reduced water consumption in 2020-21.

In October 2021, Defra published a new Greening Government Commitments Framework for the period between April 2021 and March 2025, setting out refreshed targets on the environmental impact of the government estate.

Key changes to the framework include: a new target baseline year of 2017-18; more ambitious targets for emissions, water, waste and domestic flights; and the inclusion of new commitments on ICT and digital, biodiversity and climate adaptation, in line with the 25 Year Environment Plan and Net Zero goals. These will be reported on in the 2021-22 report.

Case study: Modern Energy Partners (MEP) decarbonisation programme

Modern Energy Partners (MEP) is a collaborative, cross-departmental programme, driven and funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and overseen by the Cabinet Office, with Energy Systems Catapult providing programme delivery, analytical and technical support.

The MEP innovation programme explored how to decarbonise the public sector estate, and, during 2020-21 delivered:

• Strategic long-term decarbonisation plans for 24 sites, setting out how to achieve on average 70% emissions reduction by 2032. HMS Collingwood site is an example of the concept design.

• Smart Building Management Systems controlling approx. 177,000 m²

• A suite of tools and templates and a proven and scalable approach to decarbonisation.

HMS Collingwood – concept design

HMS Collingwood is the Royal Navy’s largest training establishment and headquarters to the Maritime Warfare School.

In 2017, the site had an annual energy consumption of over 45 million kW and an estimated energy bill of nearly £3 million.

MEP developed a decarbonisation plan. The first planned measures of the MEP decarbonisation plan, implemented between September 2020 and March 2021, included an LED upgrade of approximately 14,500 lights across 50 buildings and submetering installation of 50 electric meters and 13 gas meters.

The total works cost £2.3 million, funded by BEIS and the Royal Navy. The project will deliver an estimated saving of £0.5 million per annum, based on yearly energy savings of 3.8 million kW.

Energy Performance Certificates and New Acquisitions

The potential energy efficiency rating of a property is set out in an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). Since 2008, properties that are sold or let generally require an EPC,^{[footnote 18]} valid for 10 years, with the rating shown on an A-G rating scale, with A+ being the most efficient (and lowest operational rating) and G being the least efficient.

The UK government has committed to all new acquisitions to be in the top quartile of energy performance, unless exemptions apply. An EPC rating of 0 – 67^{[footnote 19]} met the top quartile of energy performance, any rating above 67 means the building falls outside the upper quartile for energy efficiency.

In total, there were 276 acquisitions (all tenure types) across the central government estate during 2020-21, adding approximately 271,000m². 46 of the newly acquired buildings (17%) required an EPC and, of these, 37 were DWP temporary lease acquisitions relating to the Real Estate Expansion Programme (REEP) as set out on page 29.

Of the 46 buildings in-scope for an EPC, 16 buildings were rated as outside the top quartile for energy performance, as set out in Figure 38.

Figure 38 Acquisitions on the central government estate with an EPC rating outside the top quartile

Department	Building Name, Town	EPC Rating	Rating Number	Reason for Acquisition
Defra	Muriel Matters House, Hastings	C	69	The new site needed to be in close proximity to the fishing docks to support operational requirements and was the best available option at time of property search.
Defra	Abbey House, West Drayton	E	121	The occupation is a short-term office requirement while Defra’s Heathrow property strategy is agreed and implemented.
DfT	Castlepark, Bristol	D	96	This is a small, serviced office acquired on a short-term agreement, which was required for a road infrastructure project. A full property search was carried out at the time and this property was the one that met the requirements regarding size and timings for the project.
DHSC	Orbital Park, Ashford	D	98	The location needed to be within targeted collection areas. NHS Blood and Transplant are working with the landlord to improve the rating.
DWP	Hackney Job centre, London Castle Quay, Banbury King's Lynn Job centre Derby Job centre Arndale House, Manchester Aston Newton, Birmingham Woking Job centre The Blue Building, Doncaster Middlesbrough Job centre Summer Hill, Birmingham	C C C C D D D D D D	68 69 70 74 76 87 90 91 93 97	These locations were acquired as part of the Real Estate Expansion Programme (REEP) on a temporary basis, based on the need to house additional work coaches in this specific location and meet building requirements (e.g. access).
DWP	Winterstoke, Bristol	D	85	This property is a short-term, temporary lease enabling DWP to serve notice on an unsuitable and expensive property in Bristol.
HMRC	The Octagon, Colchester	E	118	Best available option at time of property search by PFI provider. Subsequently, the landlord has extensively refurbished the property and a reassessment of the EPC rating will be undertaken.

Natural capital and biodiversity

In addition to decarbonisation, interventions such as adaptation and increased planting can influence the mitigation of climate change and as stewards of the estate the Property Function continued to lead this initiative from the front.

Case study: Defra – Greening the Defra estate

Defra group policies aim to create a cleaner, greener, more sustainable system across the country; in particular around climate mitigation and adaptation, forestry practices and biodiversity through their 25 Year Environment Plan. Defra works to advise, review and regulate the environmental performance of businesses throughout England.

Through these changes 788,147 kWh hours of renewable energy has been generated across the Defra Group estate, the equivalent of supplying a larger office such as Defra’s Northgate House for a whole year.

Case Study: Vehicle Certification Agency, nature garden

The Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) installed a “bee and insect garden” at their Midlands site as part of a staff volunteering event. The area has been planted with wildflowers and herbs that provide a supportive habitat for bee and insect life, to help tackle the decreasing bee population.

Outdoor seating has been installed to offer a relaxing, open environment for staff to enjoy and connect with nature, supporting staff wellbeing.

VCA has shown how a small site can contribute to nature recovery and provide volunteering opportunities for staff to enhance and engage with nature.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of green space and natural capital for recreation, education and general wellbeing. Government departments had an increased focus on their use of their land assets with increased public access. This was also recognised by the UK government signing The Leaders’ Pledge for Nature in September 2020. This commitment, made along with Heads of State and Governments from across five continents, pledges to reverse nature loss by 2030.^{[footnote 20]}

Chapter 3: Commitments for the year ahead

Commitments for the year ahead

The new Government Property Strategy will be published in 2022. It will set out ambitions and commitments for the estate up to 2030, which will be reported on in future State of the Estate reports. It will build on commitments which have already been announced, including those summarised in Figure 39.

Figure 39 Commitments for the Property Function in 2021-22

Commitment	Detail	How this will be reported in the State of the Estate report
Greening Government Commitments	Between April 2021 and March 2025: • Reduce the overall greenhouse gas emissions from a 2017-18 baseline and also reduce direct greenhouse gas emissions from estate and operations from a 2017-18 baseline, with individual targets for departments.(21)  • Reduce the overall amount of waste generated by 15% from the 2017-2018 baseline. • Reduce water consumption by at least 8% from the 2017-2018 baseline.	The report will provide an annual report on performance against the baseline, allowing progress towards 2025 to be tracked.
Places for Growth	Places for Growth plans to move 22,000 Civil Service jobs out of London by 2030 – with an ambition for 75% of roles to be outside London by 2025.	The report will provide an annual report on changes to the regional distribution of the government estate.
Whitehall Campus Strategy	The Whitehall Campus Strategy aims to deliver a campus with a 50% reduced footprint compared to a 2019 baseline, comprised of c. 20 ‘core’ buildings housing c.40,000 FTEs at a 50% Attendance Rate (i.e. will have a capacity of no more than 20,000 individuals at any one time) by 2030.	The report will update on annual progress of the Whitehall Campus Strategy.

21) Sub-targets for each category, together with the individual department emissions targets can be found at :https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greening-government-commitments-2021-to-2025

Other milestones for the period March 2021-22, which will be reported on in the State of the Estate in 2021-22, are summarised below:

• A refreshed, updated Government Property Strategy will be published setting out government ambitions for the estate to 2030.

• Departments will report on all central government property assets, expanding data collection from c. 5,000 records to c. 50,000 records covering both the general-purpose and specialist estate, schools and the NHS.

• An OGP Net Zero playbook will be published in Autumn 2021 – to support every Government organisation providing a methodical step-by-step guide to help government property professionals decarbonise their estate.

Appendices

Appendix A: Climate Change Act 2008 (extract)

Section 86 Report on the civil estate

1. It is the duty of the Minister for the Cabinet Office to lay before Parliament in respect of each year, beginning with the year 2008, a report containing an assessment of the progress made in the year towards improving the efficiency and contribution to sustainability of buildings that are part of the civil estate.

2. The report must, in particular, include an assessment of the progress made in the year to which it relates towards:

a. Reducing the size of the civil estate, and

b. Ensuring that buildings that become part of the civil estate fall within the top quartile of energy performance.

3. If a building that does not fall within the top quartile of energy performance becomes part of the civil estate in the year to which the report relates, the report must state the reasons why the building has nevertheless become part of the civil estate.

4. A report under this section must be laid before Parliament not later than 1st June in the year following the year to which it relates.

5. In this section ‘building’ means a building that uses energy for heating or cooling the whole or any part of its interior.

6. For the purposes of this section, a building is part of the civil estate if it is:

a. Used for the purposes of central government administration, and

b. Of a description of buildings for which, at the passing of this Act, the Minister for the Cabinet Office has responsibilities in relation to efficiency and sustainability.

7. The Minister for the Cabinet Office may by order provide for buildings of a specified description to being treated as being, or as not being, part of the civil estate for the purposes of this section.

Any such order is subject to affirmative resolution procedure.

Appendix B: Glossary

Climate Change Act 2008

Two key aims of the Act are to:

• Improve carbon management and help the transition towards a low-carbon economy in the UK; and

• Demonstrate strong UK leadership internationally and signal that the UK is committed to taking its share of responsibility for reducing global emissions.

You can find the Climate Change Act 2008 at www.legislation.gov.uk

Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)

Required as part of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). EPCs are required for all buildings (domestic and non-domestic), when constructed, sold or rented. There are some exemptions, e.g. buildings used as places of worship. EPCs are valid for 10 years. The EPC records how energy efficient a property is as a building, using an A-G rating scale (A being the most efficient and G the least).

Gross External Area (GEA)

This measurement includes walls, plant rooms and outbuildings, but excludes external space such as balconies and terraces. It has a narrow field of use mostly limited to calculating building costs for large industrial and warehouse buildings, planning applications and approvals, council tax banding, and rating in Scotland for industrial buildings.

Gross Internal Area (GIA)

This refers to the entire area inside the external walls of a building and includes corridors, lifts, plant rooms, service accommodation (e.g. toilets). It is a widely used metric used in calculating building costs, marketing, valuation, property management and rating (in England and Wales) of industrial buildings (including ancillary offices), warehouses and leisure units and also the valuation of new residential developments.

m²

Square metres, the measurement of estate size.

Net Internal Area (NIA)

This is commonly referred to as the net lettable or ‘usable’ area of offices and retail units. It includes entrance halls, kitchens and cleaners’ cupboards, but excludes corridors, internal walls, stairwells, lifts, WCs and other communal areas. It is a widely used metric and is the recognised method for marketing, valuation, property management and rating for offices, shops and supermarkets.

Operational ratings

Government’s methodology for assessing the operational performance of buildings, i.e. annual emissions of CO2 per m² arising from energy consumption, compared with a value that would be considered typical for the particular type of building. The operational rating is a numerical indicator or the amount of energy consumed during the occupation of the building over a period of 12 months, based on meter readings.

Private Finance Investment (PFI)

A method of providing private finance, introduced in 1992, for the building of public infrastructure assets, and the delivery of services linked to the asset.

Portfolio

A collection of similar use property owned and leased by the Government in connection with delivery of its services.

Property

A separately identifiable unit of real estate. In this report, we use the word ‘property’ to refer to the geographical location of a site.

Smarter working

An approach to organising work that aims to drive efficiency and effectiveness in achieving job outcomes through a combination of flexibility, autonomy and collaboration, in parallel with optimising tools and working environments for employees.

Top quartile commitment

A commitment to procure buildings in the upper quartile of energy performance. Originally announced in the Energy Efficiency Action Plan 2004, it is now a requirement of the Climate Change Act 2008.

Total annual operating cost

The total net cost of operating the property estate reported in The State of the Estate includes annual property occupation costs, building operation costs, business support costs, property management costs, utilities and capital charges. Income from subletting and charged for use of facilities are subtracted from the total expenditure to give the total annual operating cost.

Appendix C: Assumptions

Building condition

Not all organisations provided data on building condition so this is not reported consistently across portfolios. Building condition categories align with the Government Property Data Standard.

Built assets

For this report the term built asset is used to capture buildings as opposed to land or infrastructure assets. In many cases this will match with the number of buildings but not always- for example a prison may be made up of one building (built asset) or multiple built assets.

For the office portfolio there can be multiple organisations in one building so the 1407 number of built assets will not equate precisely to the number of buildings, due to each organisation in occupation reporting the building as a built asset.

Estimated value

The estimated value broadly only relates to the freehold estate. Different assets are valued on different bases, reflecting accounting rules and valuation practice for that asset type. To provide a high level estimate of value, these have been aggregated. The estimated value presented is therefore an approximation which reflects the limitation of this approach. Assets under construction are not included, with the exception of the school portfolio. Not all organisations were able to provide a valuation for their freehold assets due to limitations in reporting by building.

Valuations for 2019-20, where provided, have not been adjusted for inflation.

Floor area measurement

The office and job centre portfolios are presented in m², Net Internal Area (NIA). The defence portfolio is presented in m², Gross External Area (GEA).

All other portfolios are presented in m², Gross Internal Area (GIA).

Where measurements were provided in other measurement types, they have been converted using the following formula, based on the Employment Density Guide: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/ system/uploads/attachment_data/file/378203/employ-den.pdf

GIA – x 75% ratio to calculate NIA

GEA – figures reduced by 5% to calculate GIA

Land area

Generally, land supporting buildings is not included in the Land portfolio – the portfolio captured is stand alone land.

Number of full time equivalent employees

Full-time equivalent employees was not collected as part of the data commission, it is sourced from Civil Service Statistics and relates to the total number of Civil Servants. Source: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/ uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1006434/Statistical_bulletin_Civil_Service_Statistics_2021_V2.pdf

Portfolio content

Aggregate data for each portfolio was commissioned by the Office of Government Property, part of the Cabinet Office, from central government departments. Not all organisations could disaggregate their portfolio data. In some cases all assets are under a single portfolio type (e.g. museums include related back office functions), in other cases the assets are in the Remaining Estate Portfolio (e.g. a campus site with one training centre asset, two office assets and one laboratory asset).

Organisations that did not provide disaggregated data were: British Transport Police (included in Remaining Estate); The Coal Authority (included in Remaining Estate); and Ministry of Defence (included in Defence portfolio)

Organisations that could not provide estimated valuations for their freehold estate were: Cabinet Office Residual Estate, Ordnance Survey, Network Rail, National Museums Liverpool and Public Health England. The estimated value of the school portfolio covers 2018-19 and covers academy schools only.

The Forestry Commission and Health and Safety Executive were able to provide one operational cost for all assets types. The costs were apportioned based on the percentage of floor area each portfolio represented e.g. Offices accounted for 70% of the floor area, and 30% Laboratory. The total operational cost was split 70:30.

Land that supported buildings has been excluded from the Land Portfolio wherever possible.

The significant number of COVID-19 testing sites established by the Department of Health & Social Care during 2020-21 are excluded from the Land Portfolio, from both a size and cost perspective. The majority of these sites were on local council land (e.g. car parks) and acquired on a temporary basis. Clearly these acquisitions were required to meet unprecedented demand in a unique situation, so are therefore excluded from this report.

Organisations who did not respond to the data commission and are therefore excluded from this report are listed below:

• National Crime Agency

• Trinity Lighthouse

• Commissioner of the Irish Lights

• Northern Lighthouse Board

• Intellectual Property Office

• British Business Bank

Partial returns received from The Planning Inspectorate and Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). MCA were unable to provide cost and size information for unmanned sites. However they have been able to provide the number of sites and are working to improve the data set in future years.

The make-up of each portfolio is clearly set out within the report, with any limitations noted within the commentary.

This is a transition year for the report and through the introduction of the Property Data Standard, more granular data should become available which will allow more detailed trend analysis.

Year on year comparisons

This is the first year that this report has been presented by portfolio with a scope across all central government property assets. Therefore complete comparisons with 2019-20 are not possible as the work to expand coverage of the central government estate is continued from the 2019-20 report. Office estate data over time is available through e-PIMS (which is not available for other portfolios) which has been used for office year on year comparisons, rather than the State of the Estate data commission used for the main portfolio data tables.

Where annual running costs have been provided for 2019-20 these have been adjusted for inflation to allow a real-terms comparison.

1. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/27/contents. Appendix A details the reporting requirements under the Act. ↩

2. Overseas estate is not included in 2020-21. ↩

3. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/declaration-on-government-reform ↩

4. Excluding Nightingale courts and non-operational buildings. ↩

5. https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Investigation-into-maintenance-of-the-museum-estate.pdf ↩

6. This portfolio covers the UK only. The overall Defence estate is 98,564 built assets, 1.1 million ha, worth £35.8 billion. ↩

7. NHS Property Services properties leased by NHS Trusts have been excluded from this table to avoid double counting with the Primary Care table. ↩

8. Stated value from 2019-20. ↩

9. Not all organisations provided condition ratings for office buildings. ↩

10. Source: Knight Frank ↩

11. Includes £54.6 billion for land and buildings, and £1.5 billion for assets under construction. ↩

12. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme/school­rebuilding-programme ↩

13. Local COVID-19 testing sites are excluded from these figures due to their temporary nature and flexibility according to need. The testing laboratories are included. ↩

14. The Temperature of Britain’s coalfields https://qjegh.lyellcollection.org/content/54/3/qjegh2020-109 ↩

15. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1028157/net-zero-strategy.pdf ↩

16. Climate Change Act amendment 2019. ↩

17. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greening-government-commitments-2019-to-2020-annual-report ↩

18. There are some exceptions: for example, if a building is transferred between departments, if it is a temporary building with less than two years’ planned use, or if the building is obtained for operational reasons. ↩

19. 67 was the cut off for the top quartile of energy performance in 2019-20. Due to a change in process 2020-21 figures are not available. ↩

20. https://www.wwf.eu/?902966/World-leaders-pledge-to-reverse-nature-loss-by-2030 ↩