Background
A brief summary of the condition of the NICS office estate and the Workplace 2010 context. More detailed background information can be found in the Strategic Development Plan for the Northern Ireland Civil Service Estate (pdf 1mb)
NICS has a substantial centrally managed office portfolio. This has an estimated current value of £200 million and costs in the region of £88 million per annum to run.
The growing pressures on the estate have been the subject of review and discussion for some time. In early 2004 the Strategic Investment Board and the Department of Finance and Personnel developed a co-sponsored programme to deliver change in line with best practice, target efficiency and address the pressing accommodation issues. This was in line with developments in Great Britain following the Gershon and Lyons reviews.
A major factor of current estate costs is the inefficient and inflexible use of space which is a consequence of a largely cellular (individual office) design. In addition, Departments are often split between a number of buildings which is not conducive to efficient business processes and ways of working.
Many organisations in both UK public sector and private sector now benefit from a much wider use of open plan space. This frees up as much productive space as possible allowing better use of an expensive asset and enabling new ways of working.
Maintenance of the NICS estate has been underfunded for some years. This has resulted in the continuing decline of some buildings to the extent that they require major investment to bring them up to standard. There are also numerous temporary buildings that have far outlasted their original lifespan. Given the condition of the estate and the drive for reform and efficiency a significant step change is necessary in a way that will deliver efficiencies and value for money whilst ensuring that public monies continued to be focused on government priorities.
