One Public Estate is now five years old. We work with over 90 per cent of councils in 76 partnerships, 13 government departments, and hundreds of health and blue light organisations.
One Public Estate is a story of working together and breaking down historical barriers to get the best use of public land and property.
The programme performs a distinctive and unique role, catalysing and supporting joint estates planning across public partners in a way not seen in other government-funded land and property initiatives.
We now work with over 90 per cent of councils in 76 partnerships, 13 government departments including the DWP, Defence and hundreds of health and blue light organisations. The rapid expansion from 12 pilot areas in 2013 to over 300 in 2018 demonstrates the momentum gathered through collaboration.
View the case studies in our new 2018 brochure to read about:
- the blue lights wider estates programme in Greater Lincolnshire
- a new pilot of homes for NHS staff
- how the Ministry of Defence is working with Rutland Council to release surplus estate for local redevelopment.
A national programme delivering national priorities
We can now be seen as a national programme at the heart of delivering national priorities. Early projects have already:
- raised £145 million in capital receipts
- cut running costs by £23 million
- created 5,700 jobs
- released land for over 2,900 homes.
By 2020, projects are expected to deliver £615 million in capital receipts and £158 million in running cost savings, create 44,000 jobs and release land for 25,000 homes.
The partnership between the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Cabinet Office’s Office of Government Property is at the very heart of our working model. Our new partnership with the MHCLG to jointly administer its £45m Land Release Fund will see us work much more closely with Homes England to help them deliver their aims of a million new homes by 2020.
Building the foundations for successful partnership working
OPE’s basic building blocks – mapping the public estate; forming a partnership; and allocating dedicated programme management and leadership – have become accepted as best practice in establishing and embedding successful collaborative working.
Our extensive network of partnerships has shown that relatively small amounts of funding and support have successfully given the public sector the confidence and will to put local resource into the delivery of projects that would not have got off the ground had they worked in silos.
As we move forward OPE is establishing a strategic partnership with the University of Liverpool and the University of Manchester. This partnership will provide a forum to collaborate on research and share knowledge within local government and the wider public sector.
Moving forward
The launch of a new funding round to support delivery of new and existing projects is expected in the second half of this year. The programme will see a focus on public sector land projects which support housing delivery, a national priority for government.
To find out more about the programme, contact [email protected].
