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Councillors and committees

Agenda item

Corporate Asset Management - Annual Update Report

Report of the Strategic Director, Housing, Environment and Healthy Communities

Minutes:

The Committee received a report on the progress in relation to Corporate Asset Management and the ongoing review of the Council’s Assets.

 

In 2020 through a Council restructure a new Property and Assets service was created consolidating most property related functions and budgets to enable a co-ordinated and joined-up approach on the use of assets.

 

Following the restructure, Property and Assets service undertook a review of the Council’s current arrangements for the management, repair and maintenance of its Property Portfolio and if such arrangements were the most appropriate in terms of safety, cost effectiveness and efficiency.  The initial findings included the need to:

 

·         Develop a single comprehensive list of key property data including its condition, compliance, measured drawings, insurance valuations etc.

·         Bring together property budgets and lack of backlog maintenance information leading to lack of consistency of planned preventative maintenance programme.  Maintenance prioritised by reaction.

·         Change culture, property looked at as a service resource rather than a corporate resource.

·         Ensure service business planning includes how the assets they use fit their strategy for transformation.

·         Identify a clear resource for corporate asset management.

 

The Corporate Landlord approach taken by Gateshead is that the management and maintenance of assets are transferred from service areas into the corporate centre.  The Corporate Landlord’s function is to ensure all services are adequately accommodated and to maintain and manage the property asset covering:

 

·         Strategic Asset Management

·         Building Management

·         Statutory Compliance

·         Commissioning Repairs and Maintenance

·         Estates Management (TNRP)

·         Planned, preventative maintenance programme

·         Capital Project Management and Delivery

 

The key aims of the service are:

 

·         To ensure our buildings are safe and secure for the people who use them

·         To allocate funding to project that will achieve the maximum positive impact

·         To achieve an efficient balance between planned and reactive maintenance work

·         Achieving maximum efficiencies in the way we procure building maintenance work

 

The Council has a duty to manage the risk and assess the impact of statutory regulations on its assets in relation to Asbestos, electrical Fixed wiring and Legionella, lifts and Fire Regulation compliance.  The make sure the asset portfolio is compliant with statutory requirements, regular inspection and review of property is carried out and remedial works actioned.

The Corporate Asset Management Strategy and Plan expired in 2020 rather than refresh the previous plan, the Council is developing a new Strategic Asset Management Plan.  This Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP) will provide an overview of our land and property estate, together with our main priorities for managing and developing that estate over the next five years.

 

The plan will provide an overview of land and property estate, together with the Council’s main priorities for managing and developing the estate over the next five years:

 

·         To plan and manage property as a corporate resource for the benefit of the people of Gateshead

·         To provide the right property, fit for purpose, in the right place, to meet current and future service needs

·         To manage and maintain property effectively, efficiently and sustainably, together with optimising financial return and commercial opportunities from the rationalisation and disposal of land and buildings

·         To use land and buildings to stimulate development and growth, together with supporting local business needs and encouraging new business to the area

·         To promote joint working where it will provide benefit for service delivery and in securing efficiencies

 

Assets will continue to be reviewed on a continuous rolling programme.  This ensures that only those assets that are needed are retained.  The ultimate aims of Asset Challenge are to reduce costs, identify assets that should be retained for use and/or invested in, identify those that are surplus to requirements and can be disposed of.

 

The Council will develop a targeted disposal programme to support this SAMP, identified through asset rationalisation and the release of surplus assets.

 

It was queried whether there will now always be home working.  It was noted that this will be in line with customers and customer needs, however, the balance of working in the Civic Centre and working from home is helping with retention of staff.

 

It was queried whether it was possible to re-purpose the atrium, as people think the building is empty it would be good to have some movement in there.  Whilst it was understood that people are hybrid working the perception is that there is no-one working at the Civic and the building is closed. 

 

It was requested that a further update be brought to the Committee in 6 months time.

 

RESOLVED      -        (i)         that the comments of the Committee on the progress of the Corporate Asset Strategy be noted.

                                    (ii)        that the comments of the Committee be noted.

 

Supporting documents:

 

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