Property Issues

Liaison with OGC

Operational requirements for new accommodation will often relate to property on the Civil Estate (property owned or leased by Government departments). This mostly consists of offices and storage space and excludes the more specialised buildings which make up the NHS estate, the prisons estate, the Foreign Office's overseas estate and the defence estate.

When acquiring property, key responsibilities lie with individual departments. In particular, to:

• secure necessary funding;
• pursue the solution, supported by investment appraisal;
• appoint agents and engage legal advice where necessary, and to meet the fees for such advice; and
• plan, fund and manage any in-going works associated with the acquisition.

However, once a potential need for space on the Civil Estate has been identified, and before appointing agents or considering market options, departments should liaise with OGC. The Civil Estate Co-ordination Protocol sets out the procedures to be followed by OGC and departments in co-ordinating activity in the property market and rationalisation of Civil Estate property.

Benefits of liaison with OGC

• OGC are able to match departments' new requirements with vacant space on the Civil Estate where suitable accommodation is available;
• Departments will be aware of all potential options for meeting their new requirement, including those on the existing Civil Estate;
• before departments negotiate in the market, OGC will be aware of relevant transactions by other departments and other departmental activity in that market;
• it will identify situations where more than one department might be competing for the same building or negotiating in the same market; OGC can identify opportunities to combine departments' requirements into larger units or whole buildings to achieve economies of scale
• OGC can identify opportunities to negotiate trade-off deals (for example, over future rent negotiations) where Government are a major tenant of particular landlords; and
• OGC can identify opportunities where freehold purchase should be considered, and advise on priorities across departments.