Policing UK 2013 - Police Federation

SPONSORED FEATURE
Shining the blue light on
police property programmes
By Mark Robinson, CEO, Scape
Times are tough, and the policing
sector is facing its fair share of pain
with central Government funding
being cut by 20% between March 2011
and March 2015. Property is increasingly
in the spotlight as it represents a drain on
resources. Save money here and frontline
services can be protected.
Consequently, never before has the
sector been under as much pressure to
make their property portfolio work harder
and more efficiently. However, a shrinking
workforce, resulting in a loss of expertise,
coupled with the questionable track record
of public bodies only delivering 50%
of construction schemes on time or in
budget, is clearly making the challenge
harder rather than easier.
What is needed is a place where both
resources and expertise are available.
That’s where Scape comes in. We’ve
embraced these challenges and set up a
series of frameworks that provide all the
property services a police authority will
ever need – from project management,
energy use surveys, a replacement
reception counter or a new headquarters.
For those who haven’t heard of Scape,
we’re a local authority controlled company
which delivers cost and time savings to
UK public sector organisations. We offer
a complete range of easily accessible,
OJEU/EU compliant frameworks
and services for absolutely any type
of property project; nothing’s too big,
nothing’s too small. These offer a quick
route to market and typically save clients
200 days in the overall timeframe.
During our ten years in operation,
Scape has successfully completed over 700
projects alongside our partners. Not one
of these schemes has ever finished late or
over budget, because we offer certainty
in our approach and cut out unnecessary
risk. And the reason why we can offer a
wide variety of services at the best possible
price is because we’ve tendered large
volumes to achieve significant cost savings.
These are then passed on to individual
clients.
Scape offers four frameworks – each
one slightly different to the next. Two
focus on professional services, the other
two on construction services. A police
authority or crime agency is likely to come
into contact with Scape initially because it
wants to understand its assets and identify
the current state of its buildings as part
of the overall estates management costcutting
strategy.
Scape’s Asset Management, Surveying
and Design Services (AMSandDS)
framework, delivered by Faithful+Gould
(F+G), is designed to do just that. It offers
simple services such as carbon or energy
audits, and provides advice on how
revenue savings could be achieved through
changes in utility usage. Or it can deliver
a full estates audit, including valuations
and disposals, so that a comprehensive
estates rationalisation strategy can be
implemented.
If certain buildings still have a purpose
but need further evaluation – for example
around fire risks, dilapidation issues,
or potential refit – FG will carry out
additional assessments or feasibility studies
to determine the next steps. And if a new
build, refurbishment or renewal is the best
option, then one of the two construction
frameworks will deliver the work.
If construction work is needed, clients
will want representation. Our programme,
project and cost management framework,
delivered by Pick Everard, provides the
resource to allow an authority to get on
with its day job.
Fourteen police authorities and crime
agencies have already been working
with Pick Everard to consolidate their
estates and deliver over £100m of
construction schemes over the past three
years. Feedback has shown they value
the independent expert advice on Home