Support services - Estates: estate management policy (U01a)

2.1 The Estate Services Departments at headquarters are responsible for dealing with all strategic matters relating to the acquisition, disposal and estate management of the Essex Police and Kent Police Estates. LPA/divisional commanders/heads of department have day-to-day responsibility for the running of the buildings under their command. This procedure will clarify the different aspects of dealing with the Essex Police and Kent Police estates.

3.1 Professional work

3.1.1 Acquisitions

3.1.1.1 All acquisition of new or replacement property, whether by way of purchase or rent, must be handled through the Head of Estate Services at the Estate Services department at each headquarters. No acquisition can take place without the approval of Director of Support Services (Kent Police and Essex Police) or, if appropriate, the Capital Management Board or the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) for Essex or the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Kent as appropriate. The heads of estate services will handle acquisitions utilising either estate services department staff or instructing external consultants as appropriate.

3.1.2 Disposals

3.1.2.1 All disposals will be handled through the Estate Services Departments whether by way of sale or letting. No letting will take place without specific authority of the Director of Support Services (Kent Police and Essex Police) or the PFCC or PCC if appropriate. No sale will take place without approval of the PFCC or PCC. The Heads of Estate Services will handle disposals utilising either Estate Services department staff or instructing external consultants as appropriate.

3.1.3 Lease renewals

3.1.3.1 All lease renewals will be handled by the Estate Services department at the respective headquarters who will liaise with business owners and the Director of Support Services (Kent Police and Essex Police) to confirm that there is a continued need for the premises, which justify the renewal of the lease.

3.1.4 Rent reviews

3.1.4.1 All rent reviews will be conducted through the Estate Services Department at the respective headquarters utilising either in-house staff or appropriate external consultants dependent on workload.

3.1.5 Rating appeals

3.1.5.1 All rating appeals will be conducted through the Estate Services department at the respective headquarters utilising either Estate Services department staff or appropriate external consultants.

3.1.6 Asset valuation

3.1.6.1 Each Head of Estate Services will be responsible for procuring five yearly asset valuations of the entire Essex Police and Kent Police estates with annual re-valuations of a selected 20% sample of the portfolio on a rolling basis utilising either estate services department staff or appropriate external consultants.

3.1.7 Planning applications

3.1.7.1 All planning applications will be submitted through the Estate Services department at the respective headquarters utilising either Estate Services department staff or appropriate external consultants.

3.1.8 Building insurance valuations

3.1.8.1 Each Head of Estate Services will be responsible for procuring five-yearly building insurance valuations of the entire Essex Police and Kent Police estates with annual re-valuations of a selected 20% sample of the portfolio on a rolling basis to provide a template for the annual updating of the remainder of the portfolio.

3.1.9 Legal work

3.1.9.1 Legal work related to property will be handled by appropriate legal practices appointed and instructed by each head of estate services. Head of Legal Services in each force will play a monitoring role in ensuring value for money.

3.1.10 Telecommunication sites

3.1.10.1 Each Head of Estate Services will be responsible for maximising income from telecommunication sites (principally telecommunication masts and high rooftops) via letting of sites, rent reviews and lease renewals utilising either Estate Services department staff or appropriate external consultants.

3.1.11 Rent collection and credit control

3.1.11.1 Each Head of Estate Services will provide the chief finance officers with details of new lettings and rent reviews in order that chief finance officers can issue rent demands, reminders and final reminders. The chief finance officers will periodically provide each Head of Estate Services with arrears statements in order that each head of estate services can determine appropriate recovery methods.

3.1.12 Shared accommodation

3.1.12.1 All proposals for shared accommodation with partner agencies must be reviewed by each Head of Estate Services to ensure that no formal property relationship will be created. If such a relationship will be created this must be documented by a formal lease arrangement. If the relationship is determined to be simply a shared occupation then this must be conducted via the standardised governance protocols to be developed by the force’s Heads of Legal Services.

3.1.13 Day-to-day building management

3.1.13.1 LPA/divisional commanders/heads of department are responsible for ensuring the day-to-day running of the buildings under their control including health and safety. They should ensure that they are fully briefed as to all matters affecting their buildings and that they in turn keep estate services department fully briefed of all matters that may affect those buildings. Each Head of Estate Services is the head of profession for all property matters and can provide detailed guidance and assistance on all property and estate management issues.

3.1.14 Property benchmarking

3.1.14.1 Each Head of Estate Services will be responsible for all necessary property benchmarking returns. The chief finance officers will ensure the delivery of timely, appropriate and accurate financial information for inclusion within the benchmarking returns.

3.1.15 Estate strategy

3.1.15.1 Each Head of Estate Services will draft an Estate Strategy for each force on a five-yearly basis, in consultation with heads of department, chief officers and the PFCC/PCC.

3.1.16 Strategic estate management

3.1.16.1 Each Head of Estate Services will be the lead on strategic estate management, setting the direction and provision of future estate, working in close conjunction with chief officers and the PFCC/PCC. Each Head of Estate Services will be the lead property professional responsible for co-ordinating and managing estate issues across Essex Police and Kent Police.

3.2 Space planning

3.2.1 Each Head of Estate Services is the force lead on space use and space planning. Each estate services department holds a comprehensive database of all force accommodation, including room sizes and room use of the entire Essex Police and Kent Police portfolios.

3.2.2 Minor changes

3.2.2.1 Corporate Accommodation and Future Estate Board will be responsible for day-to-day space use and space planning such as:

• the reallocation of staff within existing accommodation
• approval of the reconfiguration of internal partitioning (although specialist structural advice must be obtained via each Head of Estate Services
• approval of minor works of repair and redecoration

3.2.3 Major changes

3.2.3.1 Each Head of Estate Services will lead and co-ordinate all major space planning within the Essex Police and Kent Police estates in conjunction with the Corporate Accommodation and Future Estate Board.

3.2.3.2 Major and strategic changes will be managed by each Head of Estate Services, if necessary, by reference to the Estate Strategy Boards, Planning Committees and the PFCC/PCC as appropriate.

3.2.3.3 These would typically include:

• the provision or closure of a main police station
• the provision or closure of a secondary police station
• the provision or closure of a shared front counter
• the provision or closure of a police office
• the provision or closure of specialist accommodation such as workshops, kennels, property storage facilities
• the bringing on-stream of fallow space within a PFI building
• the commissioning of major building works
• participation in a partnership

3.2.4 Third party occupation of Essex Police or Kent Police accommodation

3.2.4.1 In order to protect the value, utility and integrity of the Essex Police and Kent Police estates the following criteria must be adopted in relation to third party occupation of Essex Police or Kent Police accommodation:

• no occupation by a partner agency without documentation
• no partner agency to be granted security of tenure within Essex Police or Kent Police accommodation
• standardised governance protocols to be developed by each force’s legal services to be used across the county
• forward planning of at least one year for the recovery of any accommodation let to a partner agency to allow for delays in hand back
• any form of sharing with a partner agency must be approved by each Head of Estate Services

3.2.5 Essex Police or Kent Police occupation of third party accommodation

3.2.5.1 In order to protect the legal, organisational and financial position of Essex Police and Kent Police the following criteria must be adopted in relation to occupation of third party accommodation by Essex Police or Kent Police:

• no occupation in third party accommodation without documentation
• standardised governance protocols for sharing with partner agencies to be developed by each force’s Head of Legal Services to be used across the county
• any form of sharing with a third party must be approved by each Head of Estate Services

3.3 Space utilisation

3.3.1 Space allowed per workstation should comply with the Workplace Regulations 1992 and will average a target figure of 6.5 square metres per workstation; additional space requirements will be dependent on planning restrictions and job specific requirements.

3.3.2 Individual personal circumstances should be taken into account, where appropriate. This will include ensuring that all reasonable adjustments are made to comply with the disability legislation, as specified in the Equality Act 2010.

3.3.3 Desk sizes should be appropriate to the size of the task and as a standard, permanent desks should preferably be 1400mm, agile working desks should be 1000 to 1200mm and touch-down points should be either a breakfast bar or a pod desk.

3.3.4 Desk utilisation should be targeted at 85% full time use. Desk utilisation surveys should be carried out to determine successful implementation of the procedure/SOP.

3.3.5 Ideally desk to staff ratios should be nine desks per ten staff for permanent desk-based roles supplemented by a flexible working culture and to take into account holidays, illness etc. For non-permanent desk roles agile working should be the accepted standard.

3.3.6 Where working conditions allow pedestals to be provided as the norm, which encourages flexible working and de-personalisation of desks. In conjunction with this secure filing space to be provided in the office for personal information together with lockers or a suitable alternative for personal belongings in flexible offices.

3.3.7 Unless required for management purposes personal offices should only be considered for senior management team members, i.e. chief inspector/Grade H/PO6 and above and if it is possible to share then this should be adopted. Offices should be available as meeting rooms when vacant. Allocation of offices should be the exception rather than the rule and must be justified and approved at the appropriate level.

3.3.8 To meet security and health requirements a clear desk policy at the end of each working day is desirable across Essex Police and Kent Police sites and shared sites.

3.3.9 Weeding policy is to be adhered to and archive material to be stored in either internal or external storage wherever possible to reduce demands on office space.

3.3.10 Default position for printing should be to utilise multi-functional devices and individual printers will only be supplied by exception once proper justification and authority submitted.

3.3.11 Lockers to be provided are to be of a standard size (see Procurement department approved suppliers) and procured through the Corporate Procurement route with configuration determined by job role.

3.3.12 LPA/divisional commanders/heads of department: must ensure that the procedure/SOP is adhered to for their area of responsibility/business and monitor compliance.

3.3.13 Managers must ensure that in line with this procedure/SOP the correct and appropriate equipment is purchased when either refurbishing offices or undertaking accommodation moves.

3.3.14 HR managers must ensure that appropriate consultation is undertaken with relevant staff to ensure the health safety and welfare of staff.

3.4 Estate information

3.4.1 Each Head of Estate Services maintains a comprehensive database of information relating to the legal title of the PCC estate. This covers items such as ownership, boundaries, PFCC/PCC rights over third party land, third party rights over PFCC/PCC land, title deeds, registered titles, leases, licences etc.

3.4.2 It is the point of record for each PFCC/PCC estate and each Head of Estate Services should be consulted over all queries, where the information is not held at an LPA/divisional level from documents provided by Estate Services department for day-to-day management.

3.4.3 Each Head of Estate Services also maintains a comprehensive property database recording space size, use and configuration. This database is being expanded to record in one place all estate information. LPA/divisional commanders/heads of departments must ensure that any space use or associated changes to their sites are referred to the force Head of Estate Services immediately.

3.4.4 No agreements or admissions regarding the PFCC/PCC estate should be made without first seeking guidance from the Force Head of Estate Services. LPA/divisional commanders/heads of departments must ensure that any discrepancy regarding their sites is referred to the Force Head of Estate Services immediately.

4.1 An EIA has been carried out and shows the proposals in this procedure/SOP would have no potential or actual differential impact on grounds of age, sex, disability, race, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership, sexual orientation, gender reassignment and pregnancy and maternity.

5.1 This procedure/SOP has been scored as being a medium risk to Essex Police and Kent Police.

6.1 Technical consultation has taken place with LPA/divisional commanders, specialist heads of department, support services heads of department and the Health and Safety department.

7.1 The procedure/SOP will be monitored by, or on behalf of each Head of Estate Services to ensure that it remains accurate and compliant with both legislation and national/local drivers.

7.2 This procedure/SOP will be reviewed every two years by, or on behalf of each Head of Estate Services to ensure that it is accurate and fit for purpose.