I’m a council property manager. What can I learn about Total Place to help me save money?

Peter Parkes, head of property services at Worcestershire County Council, which undertook one of the pilot projects as part of the Total Place initiative responds:
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Our first task in the Total Place pilot scheme task was to create a database and map of the entire public estate in the county.

We created a Geographic Information System map (see bottom of page) of the entire estate, encompassing all local agencies, with the help of the Office of Government Commerce, the West Midlands Improvement and Efficiency Partnership, numerous national agencies, and organisations such as the Post Office. We called this group the Worcestershire Partnership.

The data was kept simple. They included name, location, tenure, use, classification, lease expiry date, book value, and some basic land registry detail. In addition, partners were asked to give a RAG (Resource Allocation Graph) rating to earmark potential disposals and possible shared use.

The map and database only offer intelligence though. Doing this would give your area the information it needs to make savings. This is the stage Total Place is at currently, and it is how this work is taken forward that will be the real test of the initiative.

As a first step, the partnership has committed to looking at the operational public estate as a common resource. It should be exploited to best serve the needs of citizens.

Obviously, we have to recognise that some public services might be delivered from private rather than public property when this is more convenient for the customer or offers better value. We need new ways of working to help reduce the public estate: it is crucial that services dictate the property strategy and not the other way around.

But there are more than 1,300 public sector properties in Worcestershire, with a total value in excess of £3bn. Even a relatively small improvement in efficiency has the potential for major benefits. However, there are obstacles, including the fact that funding streams must be aligned if true integration of services and joint capital investment is to happen.

Total Place principles can also be extended beyond one particular place.

Local authorities in the West Midlands, including Worcestershire, Birmingham and Coventry have formed a West Midland Property Alliance to promote Total Place principles across the region.

There is an opportunity to improve public access to services through co-location and co-working between different agencies. This will reduce revenue expenditure and carbon footprint as well as provide the potential for capital receipts.

The approach is already working well on projects such as the Worcestershire Hub, the Bromsgrove Town Centre Regeneration and the Worcester Library and History Centre.

Now, collaborative working between public bodies in UK areas should be implemented to bring about real tangible benefits for the taxpayer. It is likely the government will encourage you to do this following further steps of Total Place. However, for now, gathering data of the public sector property assets in your area would be a good first step.

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