States addressing property inefficiencies

Monday 24 February 2020

A "Master Data Management Solution" is being worked on by the Guernsey Real Estate Team, which will be a solution to a number of concerns "rightly raised" by a Guernsey Deputy.

This comes after Deputy Victoria Oliver spoke out about the potential mismanagement of the States of Guernsey's property portfolio.

She said tax payers money could be being wasted because of the lack of a central database detailing all of the States' property. This has reportedly led to a number of blunders and mistakes, such as teams trying to move to sites that are not big enough for their full staff. 

But Pat Rice, Head of Guernsey Real Estate, said a resolution to this problem was in the works. 

"Property Service has been undertaking a comprehensive review of the way that property is managed across the States portfolio and are currently developing a new target operating model. Part of that is looking at a master data management solution to manage the estate portfolio more efficiently. This will address a number of the concerns Deputy Oliver rightly raises with legacy issues," he said.

"In terms of our wide-ranging work on property rationalisation, which is a key component of public sector reform, this programme comprises two phases so far. Phase one saw the States of Guernsey vacating two properties."

Pictured: Deputy Victoria Oliver made a number of suggestions to Express as to how the States could improve its property management. 

Those two properties were the former Educations Offices on Grange Road - which are now for sale with a price of £1.75m. - and the former tax office at No.2 Cornet Street - currently let out to a number of tenants. 

Further, the Development & Planning Authority has stated its intention is to complete the drafting of a Development Framework for the South Esplanade during the course of this year. The framework will remove some of the current uncertainties surrounding the potential development opportunities for the property. Once the Development Framework is approved the future options for the site will be reassessed.

Mr Rice continued: "The second phase of property rationalisation is underway. We are currently in the process of identifying and making recommendations about which further buildings will be in scope. It is an ambitious programme but the intention of the medium term is to free up properties within our estate, which in turn will release these valuable assets to either be sold, repurposed by government services where there is a need or rented out.

"We are also looking at what medium to long-term strategic investments the States of Guernsey needs to make to maximise the use of our property portfolio."

Pictured top: Grange Road House and the former Tax Office at No2 Cornet Street.