Supplementary A - London Borough of Hillingdon

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Asset Management Plan is intended to provide a corporate overview of the Council’s
management and use of its property assets and services but excludes Housing Revenue Account
(HRA) fund property, and also Schools’ property, which is covered by a separate Asset
Management Plan requirement from the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).
The Property Asset Strategy that the Council adopted in October 2004 sets out a Vision for
Property Asset Management:
“To provide property assets that are fit for purpose and sufficient and suitable both for the
delivery of the Council’s Corporate and Service objectives and for the provision of the
Council’s services to the public.”
Outcomes from this vision are projected for the short (1 year), medium (5 years) and long
(10 years) term and are set out in Appendix A.
The Property Asset Strategy also sets out the 8 following principles that form its framework:
• All property assets are owned by the Council and all decisions involving the use, alteration and
management of property assets must be made from a corporate perspective and not made in
isolation within Service Departments.
• All property assets should be fit for purpose.
• As a general rule the Council will only hold property assets to deliver services and will take
opportunities to reconfigure the portfolio to meet changing needs. However, holding assets for
investment purposes should not be discounted if a robust business case dictates.
• Where property assets are retained, adequate investment must be made to ensure they are
properly maintained and they meet all legislative requirements.
• The use of all property assets should be optimised in terms of users, groups, activity and time.
• The regular review of property assets must take account of the Council’s ability to invest in
them over the short, medium and longer term to inform decisions on property assets to be
retained and assets to be disposed of. The reviews therefore need to clearly identify
investment profiles for these time periods that are affordable and sustainable.
• Any new property asset developed by the Council must be sustainable in terms of energy,
materials and expected life.
• Where buildings are no longer performing satisfactorily, consideration will be given to their
replacement rather investing resources in outstanding maintenance and refurbishment
A number of activities that are being undertaken to deliver the vision include:
• Comprehensive Asset Reviews of the Social Services Estate and Education and Children’s
Services assets
• Specific Service Area Reviews of the Adult Education Service, Allotments, Arts Buildings, Car
Parks, Crematorium, Cemeteries and Mortuary, Leisure buildings including swimming pools
Libraries, Public Conveniences and Green Belt Estate
• Other reviews, including Office Accommodation, Non-Operational Property Assets,
Development of a sound and workable Maintenance Strategy
• Other activities including Acquisitions, Leases to the Voluntary Sector, Leased in Buildings,
Minerals, Premises Management, Site Rationalisations and Sharing Sites with Partners
The Asset Management Plan identifies the gaps in the provision of property in paragraph 3.1, and
the options for closing these gaps are set out in paragraph 3.2. The Council has developed an
action plan to deliver improvements to its assets which is set out in Appendix B.
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