NHS Property Services has launched a new vacant space handback scheme where it will take old vacant space off NHS organisations in return for taking on its costs and liabilities.
It will allow NHS commissioners to cut the cost of maintaining empty buildings, and will give NHSPS new assets to work with. NHSPS controls less than 15% of the NHS estate.
The cost of maintaining vacant space in the NHS is estimated to be in excess of £10m a year on the NHSPS estate alone.
The arrangement sets out practical steps for NHS commissioners to pass on the liability for eligible vacant space to NHSPS. The initiative is endorsed by the Department of Health and NHS England.
John Westwood, director of asset management at NHS Property Services, said: “We know that commissioners don’t want to be spending their money on empty space, and now we can help them avoid some of those costs. This scheme will free up more of their budgets for frontline care.
“We can then use our expertise to put the space back into use as soon as possible, maximising the value of the NHS estate.”
Properties that qualify for the scheme must be deemed surplus to NHS requirements and may be re-let, disposed of or considered as a development opportunity.
To qualify for the scheme, space must be:
- A separable and lettable self-contained unit above 1,075 sq ft
- Declared surplus to requirements by commissioners
- Vacant and free of debt
- Not a PFI
- In a property in which NHSPS has a legal interest
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