Four inches of rain in three hours inundated Jeddah on Wednesday 26 January 2011. Floodwater coursed through the streets of the Saudi city. Sherin Aminossehe found herself marooned in a car. Back then, she was working at architectural practice HOK on plans for a huge new city, close to the capital.
“I was going to see the mayor of Jeddah, because our company was to help with a flood alleviation strategy for Jeddah,” she says. “After being stuck in the car for six hours, then wading and swimming for a further three, I decided that I’d rather do something slightly different.”
This faultless irony is enunciated in cut-glass English by the Iranian-born architect who has been the chief operating officer of the UK Government Property Unit since December 2014.
Today, Aminossehe (pronounced as it is spelled: Amin-oss-e-he) sits safely in the Cabinet Office at 70 Whitehall, SW1 – the 2,000-strong department that runs the civil service. A place where status and access define influence.
She reports to finance director Bruce Mann. His boss is John Manzoni, the ex-BP chief executive who was appointed permanent secretary of the Cabinet Office in July in addition to his role as chief executive of the civil service.
So Aminossehe currently sits three steps from the top pay grade. And another step beckons. “My grade may change in the next few weeks,” she says. “I’ll become an SCS2 [director level].” That will put her on the £84,000 to £100,000 step.
From this high vantage point, she looks set to play a central role in a promised five-year transformation programme of government real estate. And it might work this time. Just because Sir Michael Lyons could not persuade 20,000 civil servants to move north in 2004 does not mean the cunning plan won’t work this time.
Here the 38-year-old talks policy, postcodes and plaques and reveals that the government’s estate strategy could see moves to areas of London that might not be associated with a host of relocating civil servants.
New name
When the GPU is eventually overhauled and given a new name – a process expected to be completed by next April – Aminossehe will be near the top of the ladder, although the Cabinet Office won’t say where.
In terms of her reputation within the industry, she already has a high-profile advocate. “It is not very often that private sector people make a really successful transition to the public sector,” says Liz Peace, former head of the British Property Federation and long-time civil servant.
“They either can’t handle the bureaucracy or they go native.
I have watched Sherin show how it can and should be done. She has got to grips with the Whitehall way of doing things but she has also retained the no-nonsense, business approach of a private sector operator.”
Just as well, as there is more to get to grips with in terms of government real estate than at any time since the 1960s. To see why, it is worth recycling this passage from George Osborne’s Fixing the Foundations: A Conservative Party post-election Manifesto for Boosting the Economy, published on 15 July: “By March 2017, the government will implement a new commercially-driven approach to land and property management across the central government estate. A new body or bodies will be created which will charge departments market-level rents for relevant freehold assets. The government will now appoint a shadow chair to lead the development and implementation of this transformation programme.”
This is a position the government aims to have filled within the next few months – one that will directly affect Aminossehe’s role. And it will be a big job. The government estate has shrunk by 20% since 2010 to 92m sq ft, today comprising 5,195 buildings.
In London, the numbers are 17m sq ft across 531 buildings. Freeholds account for 39% of the estate – about 35m sq ft.
It is a figure that valuers should remember. After all, who is going to come up with the market rent to be applied? “This is a process we are working through, as there will have to be valuations done,” admits Aminossehe. When will valuers start being approached? “Over the next few months,” she says. “We will also be working with the valuation office. But if people are interested, then they are more than welcome to get in touch.” A brave invitation.
The transformation programme in central London will be of even more interest. Staff numbers within what civil servants call “the five postcodes” centred around Whitehall are slated to fall from 53,000 to 19,000 by 2020. The number of buildings is due to fall from 67 today to 23 soon after 2020. The amount of space per person is to be squeezed from 10 sq m to 8 sq m by 2018.
What we are likely to see more of are big multi-departmental “hubs” rather than individual ministries. “We don’t believe in front-door vanity,” says Aminossehe.
“You can have a shiny plaque, but you can’t necessarily have your own front door. There is no need.”
Cheaper postcodes
So what will the need to transfer 34,000 civil servants to cheaper postcodes produce in terms of real estate by 2020?
A health warning. The Cabinet Office says it has “no set plans”. But let’s take a guess, based on the 400,000 sq ft “hubs” taken by Transport for London and the Financial Conduct Authority at Stratford, E15. Take 34,000 staff and allocate them 8 sq m each. That’s net floor space of 272,000 sq m – or 2.8m sq ft. Divide that by four and you get seven hubs. Plenty to go around.
“As part of the estate strategy, we have two maps of London: one shows where we are now, the other shows where we want to be,” says Aminossehe, declining to reveal the map. “What we’re saying is that there is the potential to put people within commuting distance of London. There are lots of discussions about where it should or could be – Stratford, Croydon or Wembley.”
The 67-acre Silvertown development headed by Sir Stuart Lipton is also on the strategy map.
“We are already talking to these people about the timescales when the developments will be ready, conversely matching it to when departments will be ready to finally decide,” says Aminossehe.
Hub at Silvertown
Fine – but is the GPU talking to Sir Stuart about a big hub at Silvertown? “I have spoken to Sir Stuart over the past year about various things,” says Aminossehe, with a smile that says yes. Sir Stuart confirms: “Yes, they have come down and looked at Silvertown.”
The government has tried many times before to cut real estate costs by relocating civil servants. Will it succeed this time? No idea. But Aminossehe and her team have a clear run this time. The excuses for failure have narrowed down to economic collapse. If that does not happen again, there will be no excuse this time.
Aminossehe’s story
“I came into this country from Tehran aged six, knowing three words: yes, no and thank-you. My mother is an architect, my father is an engineer and my grandfather was a surveyor. I think property is partly in the blood. I am 38, married, with one small boy, who will be two in September.
“My first memory of school in England was walking into assembly and having a little boy putting his hands round my neck, then tightening his grip. The school was on a north London estate called Chalk Hill, which was at the time notorious for a number of murders. I went on to North London Collegiate School.
“I remember my mother bringing home drawings. She would let me colour them in. I studied architecture at the Bartlett for five years from 1995. Then I did a master’s year in property development and planning. This helped me get my RICS letters via the eminent member route.”
As well as being chief operating officer of the GPU, Aminossehe is also head of Government Property Professions, a networking group she has run since 2012 for 1,800 professionally qualified civil servants and a further 2,900 ancillary staff. As part of that role, she has the following plans.
● To hire around 20 property apprentices in 2016, and 20-30 property graduates in 2017. “I want to be able to compete with the best of the private sector for graduates. To me, we have the biggest Lego set.”
● To set up management training schemes with universities. “We have talked to a number and are looking at starting short courses over the next year to help develop leadership skills.”
● To increase diversity and inclusion. “We are talking to the RICS about getting a more diverse workforce across property. We need to bring in a greater range of people right from the beginning.”
