Hampshire County Council

Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel Item 9

24 March 2004

Strategy for the Built Estate

Report by the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services

How the conclusion in this report fits with the Corporate Strategy

This report impacts on the delivery of all the Corporate Aims in particular:

Aim 1 - maximising life opportunities - by providing a good quality and well maintained built estate for the community to enjoy

.

Aim 2 - stewardship of the environment - by ensuring the built estate is well maintained and provides an environment in which people want to live.

Aim 5 - improving services - by providing good quality buildings that enable improved service delivery.

1

Summary

1.1

The purpose of this report is to consider the key objectives against the Strategy for the Built Estate for the coming financial year. The annual plan provides a framework against which it is proposed to allocate the revenue maintenance, capital repairs and NDS funds which are detailed in separate reports elsewhere on the agenda. The management framework for Property Services is set out in the appendix.

1.2

It is also proposed that in the planning and implementation of the various programmes that a longer-term view, over three years, should be adopted. Increasingly, programmes such as NDS and health and safety are being implemented outside of the traditional twelve month period and this together with the constant need to integrate work; plan for very significant future liabilities; particularly in the County Council's Headquarters buildings, and the likely downturn in Government funding for schools suggests a longer term view requires to be taken. This proposal is developed in the report on capital repairs.

2.

Strategy for the Built Estate - Key Objectives

2.1

The strategy remains the principal means by which the County Council manages its priorities with regard to asset and maintenance liabilities and remains valid for the coming 12 months. It is therefore proposed that the key objectives in the next 12 months remain largely unchanged:

· to direct resources to the highest and most significant liabilities in the permanent built estate;

· to maximise the opportunities for planned maintenance regimes as opposed to reactive `patch and mend';

· to ensure that the buildings are accessible and safe to occupy and a robust corporate Health and Safety Strategy and Corporate Risk Assessment exists;

· to maximise the value of particular levels of investment through effective procurement regimes and longer term planning

· to establish effective management partnership arrangements with schools and to maximise the opportunities to integrate government and school funding; and

· to ensure that sustainability is at the heart of property management policies.

3.

Strategy and Planning

3.1

During the last 12 months the Panel has considered major reports on liabilities in the estate, the priorities emerging from the Corporate Risk Assessment, and the initiatives developed to build capacity to develop the major capital programmes. It is suggested in this paper that the extension of these initiatives to the major maintenance and repair programmes would make for more effective management, local consideration and planning, particularly for schools. Similarly, because of the changing nature of the works (many of them internal to the buildings) and their impact on services, the planning horizon should be extended beyond the normal 12 month cycle. This would also fit with the government's indicative allowances for condition which are now broadly known for the next three years. An illustration of this process was the decision in February of this year to ask the Executive Member for P&R to approve elements of the 2004/5 NDS programme.

3.2

This year will see a significant planned carry forward of resources, and the further extension of the programmes beyond the `year one' planning basis. This has met with strong approval for schools as it helps set a framework for when landlord projects will be committed and also when they could reasonably be expected to find their local funding for works which are implemented at the same time

4.

Programme Management

4.1

The papers that follow on the agenda set out the proposed budget distribution. The total resources available over the next four years are summarised below:

2004/05

2005/06

2006/07

2007/08

Capital Repairs

6,354

5,618

5,618

5,618

Major Repairs

8,310

8,310

8,310

8,310

Revenue Maintenance 1.

12,565

12,565

12,565

12,565

NDS Condition 2.

17,190

11,341

-

-

Devolved Capital 3.

16,034

14,321

15,000

15,000

(Schools)

60,453

52,155

41,493

41,493

4.2

Revenue Expenditure

With over 60% committed to planned engineering servicing and maintenance and 12% against planned asbestos testing and internal decorations only 27% is spent on reactive maintenance such as vandalism, roof leaks and asbestos removal. The completion of the Ballard heater replacement programme and the SCOLA re-cladding programme is helping to maintain and improve the balance between planned and unplanned expenditure. This balance will produce the greatest long-term benefits in terms of reducing maintenance liabilities.

4.3

Capital Expenditure

Virtually all capital expenditure by its nature is planned, which would significantly increase the figure of 60% quoted above. With the engineering term contracts fully established and the focus on servicing it is difficult to see how much more this balance between planned (including servicing) and reactive work could be improved.

4.4

Distribution and implementation of NDS Condition (some £50 million so far) is aimed, exclusively, at permanent school buildings with the largest liabilities. Given the remaining maintenance liability at schools (around over £200 million over the next 5 years) the spending priorities previously established remain relevant and once again have been used as the base for allocating NDS and landlord's funding in 2004/05. The table below summarises the impact planned NDS programmes have had over the last four years:

NDS Investment

Priority Area

£000

Number of Schools

SCOLA Re-cladding

11,620

50

Flat Roofing/window replacement

9,430

115

Boilers Mechanical System replacements

7,000

140

Fire Precautions/Electrical Safety

5,780

107

External Works & Drainage

1,090

53

External redecoration

5,710

153

General building, engineering and structural repairs

3,660

21

Other work including temporary classroom replacement and contingencies

11,810

n/a

*

46,100

639

4.5

The allocation in 2004/5 is £17.2m and will be targeted at continuing to reduce maintenance liabilities particularly in areas such as SCOLA re-cladding and external decoration and to address the priorities identified in the Corporate Risk Assessment.

5

Policy Management and Improvement

5.1

Procurement Initiatives

A key component of the initiatives during 2003/4 has been the introduction of the Framework Agreement for major schemes and programmes in order to help create the capacity to deliver a capital programme of around £125m (roughly double last year's programmes). With the major frameworks established the next stage will be to plan for the introduction of frameworks for small and medium size contractors and to create supply chains for specialist areas such as engineering, roofing and cladding. A detailed report covering procurement initiatives appears later on the agenda.

5.2

Sustainability

It is proposed that the future thrust in this area will be to focus on initiatives to reduce carbon emissions. This is in line with the Government's agenda on climate change. Projects at Social Services Homes and offices, that will build on earlier initiatives that have already proved successful in reducing total energy and water consumption, are proposed later on the agenda. The Council's approach, over many years, to energy conservation means that many of the simple measures now being promoted by the Government have already been taken and that future projects are likely to have longer (greater than five years) payback periods.

5.3

Corporate Risk Assessment for the Built Estate

The Panel will receive a detailed report on progress against the implementation of the Corporate Risk Assessment and an update on current performance using the previously agreed `traffic light' system in May. This review of performance and progress is key to establishing the relative priority for future action and resource allocation. It is necessary therefore, at this stage, to maintain the approach agreed last year in order not to anticipate the outcome of the review and to retain a contingency within capital repairs. Proposals relating to the distribution of the contingency will be brought forward to the May Panel meeting.

Early indications suggest that following a review of fire management policy much of the next 18 months activity will focus on improving performance through training and development and revised strategies and guidance. The introduction of further Regulations relating to the management of asbestos has prompted a review of the existing management plan in order to ensure compliance with the legal frameworks. Meeting the new Regulations is likely to have significant resource implications.

5.4

DDA and Access

The Best Value Performance Indicator measures the percentage of buildings open to the public in which all public areas are suitable for and accessible to disabled people. The County Council is ranked top authority for this year with a BVPI of 70%. The target for the next two years has been kept at 70% which reflects the Government's earlier proposal to amend the criteria and increasing public expectations. It is now understood that this BVPI will be subsumed with a wider one incorporating equalities. This year 24 public buildings have been improved with a range of initiatives including improved signage, sensory access e.g. induction loops, vehicle circulation (platform lifts) ramps, increase in accessible parking areas, redecoration of internal spaces to incorporate colour contrast and upgrades. In tandem with the improvements the access audits have progressed with over 95% of the first phase now completed. In the coming 12 months further improvement work will be progressed and the next phase of access audits at 150 buildings, that are partly open to the public, will be planned. A full progress report is later on the agenda.

6.

Performance Review

6.1

Customer Services

While the department has been collecting customer views and publishing performance data for many years it has never conducted independent research among schools although some feedback is available from the Audit Commission's survey of schools views, mentioned later. It is therefore proposed to engage Lynn Miller Associates to undertake face-to-face and telephone research initially amongst the Primary phase during the early part of the summer-term. The research will be informed by a series of face-to-face discussions with Headteachers and is likely to cover satisfaction with the current service and service improvements and developments. The outcomes will be reported to a future Panel meeting.

The Audit Commissions survey contains feedback from 40% of schools in all phases, about the quality of Building Maintenance Services and the quality of programming and management of building projects. The survey enables responses to be tracked since 2000 and it is very pleasing to note that the responses in both areas show a significant increase in satisfaction. When the results are looked at nationally they show satisfaction ratings to be in the top ten of all Local Education Authorities.

6.2

A review of performance in all areas is planned to be reported to the Panel once a full twelve months analysis becomes available.

Recommendation(s)

That the Panel advises the Executive Member for Policy and Resources that:

1

the strategy and objectives for 2004/5 be adopted;

2

the resources for 2004/5 are allocated in 2004/5 based on the strategic objectives and the programme, identified in Appendix 1.