Property & Facilities Management In Dynamic And High Profile Environments

Local authorities are – and will continue to be – the focal point for local public services across the country. Although their property needs are changing as more customers access services through technology solutions, there remains a need for all tiers of local government to retain a physical presence.

The sheer breadth of services that local authorities provide means that it is incredibly difficult to implement organisational strategies across each organisation and the individual needs of departments need to be taken into account when considering how property should be managed. The common theme, however, is the ongoing imperative for whatever solution to provide demonstrable value for money – not only in the context of reducing funding levels and increased devolution from central government pushing more responsibility to local authorities but also because of the need to prove to Council Tax payers that their money is being wisely spent. 

The healthcare sector – and especially acute hospital trusts – relies on effective facilities management services more than any other area of the public sector. Ensuring that cleaning standards support infection control outcomes, portering services are patient-focused and representative of the hospital’s service culture are just two of the ways this manifests itself. As budgets are squeezed and the population demands more complex clinical services from the NHS, this increasingly provides a conflict of demands from finance structures. Furthermore, the vastly matured nature of facilities management provisions in the sector means that there are fewer opportunities to reduce spend on these services through re-design and re-procurement of services.There remains, however, opportunities for healthcare organisations to leverage value from their estate through progressive property strategies linked to developing innovative clinical pathways and more careful management of data and space.Healthcare organisations across the country must respond to the needs of their communities and these differ widely from location to location. 

The UK’s education sector is one of the most diverse in terms of property and facilities management needs of all the public sector. Until recently state-funded schools have been in control of their own property and facilities management spend through devolution of their budgets but where the controlling local authority still retains some responsibility for ensuring the long-term viability and compliance of the fabric of the buildings in which the school operates from. This, in turn, has meant that each school is responsible for delivering its own facilities management solution and, as relatively small players, have been unable to generate the economies of scale or operational efficiency that larger organisations have. Similarly, large suppliers are reluctant to work with schools because of the relatively small size of contracts offered to the market. The development of the Academy model and the creation of larger, controlling multi-academy trusts is changing this model as these organisations operate larger portfolios and can generate economies of scale and interest from the supplier market. However, every school has the right to expect to be able to provide the very best facilities for its students and the right to do so in the most cost-effective way possible.Each school/college will be different and have different requirements from its property portfolio. 

Student expectations are rising along with the fees they pay to come to university. Understandably, they are demanding higher standards from the campuses, colleges and research areas that they will be living and working in for the duration of their course.

At the same time, macro-political challenges are influencing the universities themselves and budgets are being squeezed to unprecedented levels. The need to continue to attract students both from within the UK and beyond as well as lucrative and high-profile research teams is paramount to their success. The role that property and facilities management plays in supporting these challenges should not be overlooked and, increasingly, universities are trying to blend enhancing the student experience with more carefully and intelligently managing their budgets.

Across the Higher Education sector, many different pressures will exist and exert themselves in different ways depending on the nature of the institution, the courses, faculties and specialities that you provide and the profile of your organisation.

The outsourced facilities management sector is now one of the most competitive and mature markets in the UK. Some areas are more mature than others – it is true – but the overall increasing maturity means that supplier organisations can no longer rely on simply being as cheap as they can be to win tenders and make them commercially successful.

Furthermore, as margins are increasingly squeezed, there is an increasing need to justify the return on investment from business development and bidding activity. Organisations need absolute clarity of their bidding strategy to ensure that, where they do decide to sink expensive resource into bid processes, they know why and how they are going to win that tender – successful shot selection is critical. And once that decision is made, the need to be able to develop and articulate the “why us” argument when the competition is so fierce and strategically aware is more important than ever. Each organisation will have its own approach, risk appetite and specialisms and each bid will, in itself present its own challenges and opportunities.