Inverness & Dingwall Office Review
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The Challenge
Cushman & Wakefield was commissioned to provide a clear vision to guide the Council’s office decision making and overall strategy relating to its office accommodation in Inverness and Dingwall up to 2020, supporting modern working practices and enabling the Council to become a more effective and efficient organisation.
The Office Review project set out to address a number of issues including:
- A portfolio that was significantly larger than necessary to meet operational requirements;
- Out-dated premises, many of which are in need of modernisation.
- A geographically dispersed estate that involved duplication of facilities and significant time spent by Council officers travelling between locations.
The Solution
Through the work undertaken on the office review, strong links were maintained with the other elements of the Council’s Corporate Improvement Programme covering Mobile & Flexible Working, Information Management, Customer Engagement, HR, Business Support and ICT.
Cushman & Wakefield’s role was central to completing the following key tasks and activities:
- Estate data collation & analysis;
- Building surveys and backlog maintenance assessment for all in-scope sites;
- Valuation of feuhold and long leasehold assets;
- Existing estate assessment and benchmarking across a range of criteria including space efficiency and utilisation, running costs, condition, environmental performance and suitability;
- Extensive stakeholder and service level consultation to reach a consensus on the Project Vision, Objectives and Key Benefits and projected staffing levels, role types / work styles.
- Discounted cash flow (DCF) option modelling in accordance with HMT Green Book.
- Engagement with representatives from other public sector partners including NHS Highland, Northern Constabulary, etc to understand shared service initiatives and explore potential collocation opportunities;
- Preparation of a Strategic Outline Case (SOC) and an Outline Business Case (OBC) report.
The Results
Cushman & Wakefield’s work has provided the Council with a clear strategy to guide future decision making relating to its administrative office estate over the period up to 2020. This work has provided the following key results:
- Clearly articulated SOC and OBC reports setting out key findings and recommendations;
- Project vision, objectives and key benefits now agreed by all stakeholders;
- Member support secured with a strong platform established to take the project into the feasibility and implementation stages.
- Detailed programme of actions and next steps identified over the short, medium and long term.