19 May Changes to Essex County Council’s property portfolio will save £5mil
More than £5 million has been saved following changes to Essex County Council’s property portfolio.
The property ‘transformation’ project, which has been running since 2013, has also led to more than £52 million in capital received through leasing or selling properties.
Launched as part of the authority’s drive to tackle the financial challenge it faces, the project has seen an overhaul of the council’s portfolio looking at where buildings could be better used, vacated, leased out or sold for development. This has led to 32 operational or office buildings being vacated.
Council leader David Finch said: “We face having to save more than £1 million every week for the next four years and this means looking at every aspect of the business, and assessing how it is working and whether it is delivering best value.
“Over the past few years we have also seen major changes to how residents engage with the council. People are increasingly looking to deal with us digitally or indeed through self-service.
“And we are also looking at a more flexible workforce. We employ more than 7,000 employees dealing with hundreds of services, but we need this to be flexible and adaptable, being attached to a desk in a particular building isn’t always the best way of working.
“This means looking at how our property portfolio delivers for taxpayers and there is a careful balance in terms of selling properties, which of course you can do only once, and looking to lease them out.”
And in the coming months the project will be extended following the council’s cabinet approval of £967,000 to be spent on property improvements.
This will see additional mobile and flexible working facilities installed in Essex House in Colchester, Magnet House in Clacton and Goodman House in Harlow, more LED lighting installed in all offices and improvements to be made to Watergardens in Harlow and Duke Street offices in Chelmsford.
