Understanding and managing your land and buildings
Advice on the information you should have about your estate, and how to use it effectively.
Importance of data management
It’s important that you manage your data to make sure:
- it’s accurate
- it can be accessed in a format that suits the needs of your users
Different people may need to use the data for different reasons.
Managing your data helps you to:
- make informed decisions and forward plan
- develop the estate strategy and asset management plan
- undertake strategic property reviews
- evaluate and appraise different investment options
- measure the performance of the estate
- satisfy statutory and other external reporting and compliance requirements
- monitor and assess how well you are implementing the estate strategy and asset management plan
- effectively manage projects
- fulfil your financial reporting requirements
- fulfil the requirements of the trustees of the school
What to record
You should hold certain core data fields to help you manage the estate. These include:
- an asset register – a register of all land and buildings
- tenure – what legal interests you hold and the basis of occupation
- building area – gross internal area for each building
- property condition – condition survey data
- statutory compliance – compliance records including health and safety records
- sufficiency – net capacity and number on roll records
- running costs – revenue, utilities, facilities management, insurance costs and so on
Other data that would help you includes:
- geographical location plans
- site area
- number of buildings on each site
- plans – a scaled building layout plan
- number of floors in each building
- energy efficiency – CO2 emissions and energy cost data
- suitability – suitability survey assessments
- images
Find out more about the information you need to know (ODT, 871KB), and how it can help you manage your estate strategically.
Collecting property data
Data will need to be collected from many sources. You may already hold data about the estate in different places and in different formats. Data may be held:
- by individuals but not formally recorded
- in a number of formats in your existing business planning system, for example spreadsheets or paper documents
- in a co-ordinated specialist estate management system
It’s important that you designate responsibility for the collection and maintenance of property data. This minimises security, consistency and resilience risks associated with data management. Depending on the amount of data and how it’s held, responsibility could be given to a school business professional or to dedicated estates staff in larger MATs.
It’s the responsibility of the designated person or staff to ensure data requirements are understood, co-ordinated and sourced effectively.
If you’re being given data by technical advisers, you should make sure your contract specification sets out what format you want it in. It’s important to have a clear understanding of data requirements across your whole organisation.
Storing and managing data
Storing and managing data in one system may be easier, as it:
- reduces the need to manage several systems
- lowers the risk of data duplication and reporting errors
It’s not always necessary to buy or develop a complicated system for your data management. You may be able to store and manage data in a bespoke or locally developed system.
If you decide to buy a proprietary asset management system, you should consider whether it will meet your specific needs and provide value for money.
It’s important to understand the needs of your organisation and the trustees of the school when making this decision.
Any data storage and management system you use should:
- be able to manage all data types that you need for your organisation
- provide data input control to ensure accuracy and consistency
- be easy to use and provide support and training where required
- allow many users to use it at the same time
- be able to store and manage documents
- be able to interface with other systems
- allow data migration and data updating
- provide reporting functions and be able to produce reports in different formats to suit your needs
- provide a full audit process
What a condition survey is
Condition relates to the physical condition of buildings in the estate. This is determined by undertaking condition surveys.
Condition surveys are normally:
- non-intrusive surveys, carried out by suitably qualified professionals
- cover 5-year planning periods for the purpose of strategic estate management
Why you need a condition survey
Condition surveys will help you to:
- identify what work is needed to maintain the estate
- consider how much works might cost
- prioritise work within available funds
- understand if the nature of the buildings change
This information will help you prepare a maintenance programme, which reflects potential future capital investment.
Academy trusts, dioceses or local authorities may carry out condition surveys on behalf of their schools and prepare a long-term maintenance programme. You should check if this has been done.
What’s included
The condition survey should identify specific building condition issues, deficiencies and maintenance requirements, including, but not limited to:
- structural
- roofs
- building fabric
- windows and doors
- mechanical and electrical
- asbestos
- utilities
- sewage and drainage
- fire safety and security
- site layout
It should also provide an estimated cost for repair or replacement.
Condition surveys should identify critical elements that might need further investigation. You should ensure that condition surveys include a suitably detailed assessment of your building’s structure, to identify possible structural problems and health and safety risks. This may include RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) and issues associated with older buildings.
Older buildings, such as those built post-war between 1945 and the 1970s, often need careful maintenance and monitoring. This includes regular condition surveys to assess the building’s structural safety – at least every 5 years, or more often for buildings that need closer monitoring. Guidance on managing older school buildings is available to help you identify these buildings and for further information about monitoring and maintaining them effectively.
If you encounter structural issues, or there are known issues or risks with a particular construction type in your building or structure, you should:
- carry out further checks
- carry out risk assessments
- set up a monitoring regime
- get further professional technical advice
Any condition and maintenance issues that are identified should be prioritised using condition grading and prioritisation ratings, as per industry standard.
Condition is generally categorised as:
- A - good, performing as intended and operating efficiently
- B - satisfactory, performing as intended but exhibiting minor deterioration
- C - poor, exhibiting major defects and/or not operating as intended
- D - bad, life expired and/or serious risk of failure
Priority is generally categorised as:
- 1 - urgent, immediate or 1 year remedial action required - work that will prevent immediate closure of premises and/or address an immediate high risk to the health and safety of the occupants and/or remedy a serious breach of legislation
- 2 - essential, 1 to 2 year remedial action required - work that will prevent serious deterioration of the building fabric or services and/or address a medium risk to the health and safety of the occupants and/or remedy a less serious breach of legislation
- 3 - desirable, 3 to 5 year remedial action required - work that will prevent deterioration of the building fabric or services and/or address a low risk to the health and safety of the occupants and/or remedy a minor breach of legislation
- 4 - long term, outside of a 5-year planning period - work that will prevent deterioration of the building fabric or services
When to survey
Consider how frequently buildings should be surveyed. This will depend on the condition, age and the type of buildings.
Identify critical elements that need to be inspected on a regular basis to minimise:
- the impact on school accessibility
- risk of closure of all or part of the estate
If you need to undertake any refurbishment work in a building that contains asbestos, you may need to commission a refurbishment and demolition survey. Read the asbestos management in schools guidance.
Condition Data Collection programme
For the first time ever, the Condition Data Collection (CDC) programme collected data about the physical condition of school buildings and how they are managed. It took place from early 2017 to autumn 2019 and visited almost every publicly funded school in England. The Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) programme is running from 2021 to 2026, providing updated data about the condition of school and college buildings.
The CDC is a data collection programme and not a full condition survey. You should use your CDC data in conjunction with further information such as a locally commissioned survey to help you accurately assess the condition of your estate.
On its own, the data will not give you enough information to support your asset management planning. This is because:
- it is not invasive, only visible condition was inspected
- it is not structural so critical structural repairs may not be identified
- it does not report on hazardous materials such as asbestos
- it does not address critical health and safety requirements such as fire and intruder alarm functionality, although surveyors observing major health and safety issues will report these directly
- it does not take into account building use or capacity
- it does not provide descriptions of defects and remedies or cost information for schools or responsible bodies
Schools, and their responsible bodies, were sent details on how to download and view their CDC reports. For further help accessing reports, submit an enquiry, including the name and URN of your school.
Suitability
A suitability assessment will help you understand if:
- the estate is fit for purpose
- you need to plan improvements
There is no prescribed format for a suitability assessment but it should look at teaching and non-teaching areas.
The scope and complexity of the assessment can vary depending on your needs. It should consider:
- the size, shape and location of spaces
- how the spaces will be used
- environmental conditions
- fittings and fixed furniture
- ICT infrastructure
- security issues
You’ll need to consider stakeholder views in a suitability assessment. For example, some factors will be more important than others to different users. Include input from:
- building managers
- staff
- pupils
- visitors to the building
You should analyse the suitability assessments. For example, you could use a simple scoring system to categorise each building, such as 1 to 5, or a more sophisticated system to include weighting for some more important issues.
Sufficiency
A sufficiency assessment will help you understand the net capacity of the school. It will show you if you have:
- enough capacity to provide school places
- potential surplus places
You’ll need to understand the number of pupil places available (the capacity) compared to the current and forecast number of pupils.
You’ll also need to find out the overall areas of school buildings to make sure you have the right number and types of classrooms and support space.
The assessment will help you understand if you need to create more space for school places by:
- extending buildings
- reconfiguring existing space
- using modular buildings
It will also show if you have too much capacity. Holding surplus spaces can have a detrimental effect on the educational offer or financial viability of schools.
If you have too much capacity you could consider:
- rationalising or consolidating buildings across the estate
- leasing space to third parties
- reutilising space, for example for childcare provision or community facilities
You should check if there are any restrictions on doing this. Schools with a religious character, in particular, should ensure that they have the authority of the relevant landowner before pursuing these options.
Understanding sufficiency is important for your estate strategy.
This is a complex area. School estate managers will need to engage with school place planning specialists. You may need to contact your local authority, diocese or diocesan board.
You can find guidance on space standards in:
- Building Bulletin 103: Area guidelines for mainstream schools
- Building Bulletin 104: Area guidelines for SEND and alternative provision, including special schools, alternative provision, specially resourced provision and units
You need to understand what legal interests there are in the estate’s land and buildings such as:
- the nature of legal ownership, whether freehold or leasehold
- other controlling interests such as charitable restrictions, particularly if you’re a school with a religious character
The legal interests can affect how you can use the land and buildings.
Example
If you occupy freehold land, the title may include restrictive covenants that limit what you can do.
If you have a leasehold interest, the terms of the lease may limit what you can do or require you to do certain things.
If the land is owned by a charitable trust, the charity’s governing document may limit what you can do or require you to fulfil specific charitable objects. In addition, if you’re a school with a religious character, you will need the consent of the trustees of the school for all dealings involving the land and buildings.
If you’ve granted leases or other usage agreements to third parties, such as utility companies or local sports teams, these may also limit what you can do.
Legal interests
Land and property law can be very complicated. Always seek appropriate professional advice. If you’re a school with a religious character, you should always contact the trustees of the school and the diocese or other religious authority when considering any transactions involving the land and buildings.
Know the terms under which you occupy the land and buildings and the powers and responsibilities granted to you by those terms. Different types of organisations will have different levels of control over the use of the land and buildings occupied.
Depending on your type of school and what you want to do, you may need to speak to your:
- local authority
- charity trustees
- trustees of the school
- board
- diocesan bishop
- diocese, diocesan board or other faith body
- third party owner of land
Consider how the legal interests affect:
- developing strategic policies
- carrying out works
- letting third parties use the estate
- changing how you use any of the estate
- disposing of, or making material changes to, any of the estate
This will help you avoid costly mistakes such as:
- financial penalties
- abortive costs including reinstatement
- project delays
- legal actions
You could also unintentionally create a legal interest, for example by allowing a third party to use the land.
Strategic estate management
Understanding land ownership, rights and obligations will make sure you:
- obtain appropriate consents before considering undertaking any works
- have well informed strategic management
- take account of any legal requirements that have to be met at a specific time
- make fully informed decisions
- consider legal process and requirements when appraising options and assessing risks
- avoid costly mistakes and legal challenges
- have a formal consistent approach to third parties using the premises where everyone understands their rights and responsibilities
You should consider land ownership, rights and obligations when you develop your estate strategy and asset management plan.
As part of the process, you should:
- be aware of the legal ownership of all land and buildings
- enter into discussions with those whose approval you need at the earliest opportunity
- know what you can and cannot do and what you need approval for
- define how you can make decisions and get approvals
- plan for any requirements that have to be met at a specific time
Through strategic estate management, you may identify opportunities to:
- acquire new premises and sites
- dispose of surplus space – both land and buildings
- grant a third party use of the land and buildings, including for the purposes of generating income
Acquisitions and disposals may be of freehold, leasehold or other interests. The term ‘disposal’ includes the transfer or creation of any legal interest in land.
LocatED is a government-owned property company, responsible for buying, managing and developing sites in England to help meet the government’s commitment to build new free schools, and provide property advice and services. If you have land to dispose of you may wish to consider contacting them.
Statutory restrictions
As well as restrictions on the individual titles of land and requirements imposed by land registration, there are also statutory restrictions imposed on disposing of, or making material changes to, school land.
You may need to seek government approvals for certain land and property transactions and any borrowing, whether or not secured on land, for the purposes of acquiring or developing land.
You should be aware of any protections and the statutory restrictions on the disposal or acquisition of land or buildings. Different types of organisation have to handle disposals differently.
Get advice on land and building transactions.
Voluntary schools
Voluntary-aided and voluntary-controlled schools, and academies that were voluntary schools will often have their main school buildings on land which is held by trustees of the school on the basis of a trust deed restricting the use of that land.
This includes Church of England or Catholic Church schools. For other schools with a religious character, a religious body or trust may own the land and buildings.
The land may be publicly funded or be charitable land depending on the school’s origins and history.
Control of the land and buildings rests with the trustees of the school. Some trust documents allow communities to use the land and buildings if it brings income to the school.
Other trust arrangements are more restrictive. Some do not allow third party use of land and buildings, while others may restrict uses to those that support the wider charitable purpose of the trust.
Where the land is publicly-funded land, any disposal of an interest will require notification to the Secretary of State and local authority.
Playing field land will usually be land held by the local authority. Schools need to consider the terms of any lease or usage agreement before allowing third parties to use it. Disposal or change of use will require the consent of the Secretary of State.
Foundation schools
Governing bodies or trustees (if the school has a charitable foundation) of most foundation schools hold the freehold of publicly-funded land acquired from the local authority. Any disposal of an interest in the land will require the notification to the Secretary of State and local authority. Disposal of playing field land requires Secretary of State consent.
Some older foundation schools may also have land held by trustees of the school which isn’t publicly-funded land, but rather has charitable origin. This land may have restrictions similar to voluntary schools.
Academies
If the academy is on land that is held by way of a lease, for example from the local authority, any use of the land will need to comply with the terms of the lease. This generally requires the freeholder’s formal permission for any use of the land by third parties. The freeholder may need the Secretary of State’s consent.
If the academy trust owns either a leasehold or the freehold interest, it may still need to seek the Secretary of State’s consent to dispose of any interest in publicly-funded land.
If an academy occupies land held by trustees of the school, it is restricted in its use of the land in the same way as voluntary schools are.
Community schools
Community schools are usually based on land owned by the local authority. They need to follow the local authority’s policy for using the land. As the freeholder, the local authority may need to apply for consent from the Secretary of State to make any disposal of the land.
Publicly-funded land
This includes any school land acquired from a local authority or the Secretary of State for Education by a board or trustees of the school. Disposal of any publicly funded land may require either:
- the consent of the Secretary of State
- prior notification to the Secretary of State who may issue a direction regarding the land
Seeking approvals
The approval route will depend on the:
- type of organisation
- land ownership
- particular circumstances of the disposal
The exact definition in law is complicated, so you should get independent professional advice.
You may also have restrictions imposed by any funding agreements you have as well as by the land title itself.
Check you do not do anything to conflict with the terms of your funding agreement. You should also check the Academy Trust Handbook.