Gloucester ilCity Council MAKING OUR PROPERTY PERFORM CONTENTS Page Foreword .................................................................................................... 3 1.0 Introduction ..................................................................................... 4 2.0 Gloucester City Council‟s Assets .................................................... 6 3.0 A Strategy for Managing Assets ...................................................... 7 4.0 A Strategic Approach to Managing our Key Assets ......................... 9 4.1 - Housing Stock ........................................................................ 9 4.2 - Office Accommodation ............................................................ 10 4.3 - Cultural and Tourism Service Buildings .................................. 12 4.4 - Major Sports and Recreation Buildings ................................... 14 4.5 - Parks and Open Spaces ......................................................... 15 4.6 - Car Parks ............................................................................... 17 4.7 - Community Buildings .............................................................. 19 4.8 - Markets ................................................................................... 20 4.9 - Historic Monuments ................................................................ 21 4.10 - Allotments ............................................................................. 22 4.11 - Crematorium and Cemeteries ............................................... 23 4.12 - Investment Property .............................................................. 24 4.13 - King‟s Quarter ....................................................................... 25 4.14 - St. Oswald‟s Park Development Land ................................... 26 4.15 - Strategic Landholdings ......................................................... 27 4.16 - Toilets ................................................................................... 28 4.17 - The Depot, Eastern Avenue .................................................. 29 5.0 Acquisitions & Disposals ................................................................. 30 6.0 Climate Change .............................................................................. 31 7.0 Planned maintenance ..................................................................... 32 8.0 Governance, Performance and Monitoring ..................................... 33 9.0 Summary and conclusions .............................................................. 35 Appendices ................................................................................................ 36 Appendix 1 – Corporate Property Team Structure Appendix 2 – Asset Management Group – Terms of Reference Appendix 3 – Asset Action Plan 2010-2015 2 Foreword from the Leader of the Council, Paul James. I am delighted to introduce to you this important document “Making our Property Perform”. It is Gloucester City Council‟s strategy for managing its diverse portfolio of assets during the period 2010 – 2015. This document covers what will be a very challenging period, and the effects of the economic downturn, and the recovery from it, will pose difficult questions. This plan aims to set a framework within which these questions and decisions will be handled. The Council owns offices, homes, buildings, car parks, open spaces and investment property throughout the city and beyond. As a Council it is not an option for us to sit back and hope that these assets look after themselves. They won‟t. This strategy sets out how we are going to use, develop and nurture our assets to achieve the very best outcomes, aligned to our corporate plan, for our communities, business and visitors. As one of the major land and property owners in the City we recognise the responsibility that we have in helping Gloucester fulfil its true potential. The Council‟s corporate plan “Building a Better Gloucester” sets out our programme to create a stronger, successful and thriving 21st century city. As an organisation, our role in delivering that programme is about us being a top performing council with an unswerving focus on achieving the very best outcomes and value for money for Gloucester. With the advent of economic recession in 2009 and future anticipated strain on local government finance, effective asset management is an essential skill of a top performing council. Through this strategy we will ensure that we use our assets wisely and to the fullest effect to build a better Gloucester for all of our communities and for future generations. Councillor Paul James, Leader of Gloucester City Council 3 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 This Asset Management Strategy tells the story of what “assets” Gloucester City Council owns, why it holds those assets and how they link to our service delivery and strategic priorities. Most of all it sets out the principles and actions necessary to ensure that we use our assets in the most effective way to deliver the best services, value for money and best outcomes for our customers, now and into the future. 1.2 Gloucester is a very special historic city. It is a truly unique fusion of the past, present and future. It has an enviable cultural heritage, a wealth of historic buildings, a great sporting history and is England‟s most inland port. The city‟s 2000 year evolution from a Roman fort to the modern and increasingly successful city we see today is a fascinating story of human endeavour, adaptation and the pursuit of excellence. Throughout that history the intelligent use of natural, land and building assets has been central to success. 1.3 Today, Gloucester is in the midst of another chapter in its history. A massive £1 billion regeneration programme is well underway with major mixed-use schemes at St. Oswald‟s Park, the Docks and Gloucester Quays already delivered and breathing new life into the central area. Major regeneration schemes planned at King‟s Quarter, Blackfriars, Greyfriars, the Canal Corridor and the Railway Triangle are all in the pipeline for delivery over the coming years. Gloucester is changing rapidly and becoming a successful and thriving modern city. 1.4 Gloucester City Council is an ambitious City Council that is playing a central role in this programme of transforming, regenerating and reshaping Gloucester. This is reflected in our corporate plan titled Building a Better Gloucester that sets out four very clear corporate aims, which are: (i) To put Gloucester on the map (ii) A thriving 21st Century City (iii) A city with strong and cohesive communities (iv) A top performing organisation 1.5 These have been developed from a clear evidence base and have widespread ownership from businesses and communities. Using the Council‟s assets wisely is critical to delivering these corporate aims. 1.6 Some simple examples can illustrate the strong link between our corporate aims and our assets. National events at GL1 and top acts at the Guildhall are examples of using our assets to put the city on the map. Using our car parks and markets creatively to increase shopper and visitor numbers is an example of using our assets to help create a thriving city. 1.7 Upgrading our housing stock and our network of premises used by communities and sports organisations all contribute to delivering community strength and cohesion. Developing plans to improve our operational property‟s efficiency is a major priority, which will reduce costs and support our journey to become a top performing organisation. 4 1.8 Making Our Property Perform is all about using our assets to best effect to deliver our corporate aims. We begin by setting out what the Council owns (section 2). The document then explains the principles underlying our approach to strategic asset management planning (section 3). We then explore each major component of the asset portfolio and identify high level asset management priorities (section 4). There is then a short section (section 5) dealing with disposals and acquisitions, a section on climate change (section 6), commentary on Planned Maintenance (section 7) and an account of the governance and performance management arrangements put in place to deliver this strategy (section 8). Section 9 is a summary and conclusion followed by the appendices that include an Action Plan (Appendix 3) that gathers together all of the key asset management priorities and tasks set out in this document. 1.9 This is a necessarily high level strategy and a wide range of strategies and plans sit beneath it. It does not give all of the answers for property related issues for the next five years but it does provide an intelligent route map, founded upon strong commonsense principles of value for money and customer focus. 5 2.0 GLOUCESTER CITY COUNCIL’S ASSETS 2.1 The Council‟s assets comprise everything that it owns. Understanding what assets the Council holds is a key foundation to successful management. 2.2 Our asset base is very wide and diverse and, like most councils, some of it is a simple product of historical circumstance. There aren‟t many organisations that own a 100,000 year old hand axe and a cutting edge 21st century electric car! 2.3 However, our most valuable assets tend to comprise buildings, property and land. Indeed, the Council is one of the largest land and property owners in the city and it is these assets, and their effective management, that are the focus of this strategy. 2.4 To many, thoughts about Gloucester City Council‟s property assets will focus on its operational property,