GVA has won a major contract to manage 1,000 properties occupied by the Ministry of Justice in the North of England.
The five-year contract was previously held by DTZ and Lambert Smith Hampton.
The win pushes GVA to the top of the leader board in terms of earnings from government contracts. DTZ was previously top of the public sector payroll, having secured £11m in property contracts from May to October last year.
GVA, which won £7.5m in government work over the same period, will take top spot, given that the latest MoJ contract is valued at around £2.5m per annum.
GVA will advise the MoJ on all aspects of estates management across the Midlands, Wales, the North East, the North West, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The contract goes live this summer and covers court and tribunal buildings and judges’ residences.
The MoJ, which has the second largest public sector occupational estate in the country, behind the Ministry of Defence, hired King Sturge to advise it on its property in the South of England earlier this year (26 March, p34).
Its formal appointment came after it conducted a review of the department’s £8.5bn UK estate, which covers 2,850 courts and office buildings.
The MoJ concluded a 15-month tender process in November last year, assembling a panel of seven agents to advise across planning and estates management.
The appointed agents will help the judicial body to deliver on its target of disposing of 150 court buildings across the country, as well as slashing its occupational footprint as it moves to adopt more flexible workspace across its estate.
