The report ‘Leaner and Greener: Delivering Effective Estate Management’ was launched with a bit of a fanfare by communities secretary Eric Pickles at the House of Common Terrace today. It is the culmination of an inquiry chaired by Conservative MP Matthew Hancock that examined asset management within the public sector and in particular local government.
It comes up with 15 keys recommendations of how local government could improve asset management practice and as a result suggests reductions of up to 30% on space and savings on running costs of up to £7bn per year. These are big figures that will get politicians and chief execs sitting up to attention, but are they actually achievable?
On first glance it is difficult to argue with any of the recommendations – they all make good asset management sense in the current financial climate. But they are nothing new. Previous guidance from the Audit Commission, the Operational Efficiency Review, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and indeed CIPFA have all argued most, if not all of the points.
What is useful, however, is that the report keeps the momentum for good practice in asset management going when other pressures have been diverting many to short-term kneejerk reactions when it comes to property.
Property needs to be viewed in the long term, and most of the case studies contained within the report have taken years of planning to come to fruition. Set against this background is the current emergency cuts many authorities are making which conflicts with a sensible asset management approach.
To compound this, property will often need investment up front to realise the largest efficiencies in the future. Politicians have recently criticised local authorities in London for investing in office accommodation when the aim has been to rationalise and save running cost in the longer run.
So my hope is that the report will add weight to the asset management argument – the argument that says it is better to plan ahead rather than take short-term decisions and be suddenly surprised by the outcome.
The report doesn’t say anything we didn’t know, but every little helps.
David Bentley is head of asset management at CIPFA Property
