An executive team has been appointed to establish a new central body which will manage the central government estate.
The Government Property Agency, which plans a radical rethink of the running of the government estate, will charge rents and oversee land disposals for the bulk of central government property.
The prospect of a central body was first mentioned in the November Budget last year. It is due to be formally established next year and will syphon in civil servants from the estate teams of different departments.
It will own and manage offices, warehouses and land as well as leasehold assets, working within the Government Property Unit with direction from the Cabinet Office and the Treasury. The full scope of GPU functions which will be transferred to the GPA are currently under discussion.
Departments will be charged market rents for freehold public assets they occupy as part of an initiative to streamline the estate into a smaller, fit-for-purpose property portfolio. The agency will play a key role in helping to reduce the government’s 89.5m sq ft estate and raise £5bn from property sales by 2020. As part of the plan to cut offices by 75% by 2023, civil servants are being moved out of old buildings into new cross-department hubs.
Four senior appointments to the executive team have been made on an interim basis, with the expectation that they will continue to run the agency once it is implemented.
Interim chief executive Ian Playford has held executive roles at Aviva, JLL and Parkridge Holdings. His most recent role was group property director at Kingfisher. The new team will work alongside shadow chair Liz Peace to agree how the body is implemented.
Key land disposals will come from a large warehouse portfolio which is likely to be released for housing.
Specialist property assets such as laboratories, where there is little opportunity for commercial management, will not be moved into the agency. It also will not be responsible for land held by the Ministry of Defence, which has its own Defence Infrastructure Organisation, or the Department of Health, which has its own propco, NHS Property Services.
The new Government Property Agency executive team
Chief executive: Ian Playford
Former executive at Parkridge Holdings, Aviva, JLL and most recently group property director at Kingfisher. Recent portfolio of roles include non-executive director for HM Courts and Tribunal Service and real estate adviser for the Aspen Insurance.
Finance director: Stephen Sheridan
Former finance director of the estates division of QinetiQ (previously an MoD agency).
Operations director: Roger Taylor
Former director of property asset management at UKSBS and lead for property matters across the BIS Group.
Strategy and clients director: Colin Turner
Partner with EC Harris (now Arcadis) since 2008, where he led the retail and corporate occupiers sector worldwide. His previous career includes PA Consulting, Cap Gemini and Siemens.
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