The Government Property Function Facilities Management Strategy

Following on from the release of the government's property strategy at the end of the summer of 2022, the facilities management (FM) strategy aims to support the pledge made to reshape the public estate via 3 key missions:

• Transform places and services
• A smaller, better and greener estate
• Improve professional excellence and insight

The scale of the opportunity is significant. The UK Government commands a diverse estate with a public spend on FM services of around £13bn, some 13% of the total UK FM market. The largest parts of those sit within the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice and the Department for Work and Pensions.

The facilities management strategy sets out a coordinated, cross-government vision for facilities management, specifically the strategic approach and standards that govern the quality of service that should be aspired to between 2022 and 2030.

The strategy reflects the outcome of the 2021 government spending review and sets out clearer expectations until 2030. It will feature in the thinking leading up to the next spending review.

Summary of values, goals and ambitions set out in the strategy:

• The strategy acknowledges the positive influence the built environment has on citizens wellbeing and the services delivered to them, as well as the wellbeing and engagement of those who work in the buildings.
• Strategic Asset Management Plans (SAMPs) will be central to the delivery of the ambition, achievement of specified standards and monitoring of progress.
• There will need to be plans to positively influence user behaviour with regards the environment.

• The strategy acknowledges the cultural change required to demonstrate a ‘one team’ approach to FM delivery across a wide range of clients and supplier organisations and also the need to attract a new generation of talent into these vital support services and successfully transfer knowledge.

• The strategy acknowledges the very real and inflated cost of not taking a whole life approach for asset maintenance and investment decision making and the key role that FM services and data have in improving the situation. It also acknowledges the varied picture of available data and condition state across the government estate.
• It plans to resolve this by maximising the capabilities of existing data and usage of CAFM systems as well as SAMPs informing 5 year planned preventative maintenance (PPM) schedules, 30 year lifecycle replacement schedules and 3 year lifecycle building maintenance and investment plans.
• In conjunction with the Levelling Up White Paper, the strategy supports the reservation of smaller contracts for UK suppliers to prioritise growth; a sea change from the past of awarding FM contracts covering wide geographies.