Challenges ahead on property front

So says Graham Lea, a partner, and the national head of the company’s real estate team, at law firm, Hempsons. He explains that, for NHS estates personnel, occupiers, developers, and investors, there are still a number of key issues to clarify, not least how property development decisions will be taken, and the prospects for investment in an ageing estate.

The dissolution of the PCTs will effectively divide the existing estate into two categories – one group of properties will be transferred pursuant to the Future Ownership and Management of Primary Care Trusts in England Health Guidance Paper published on the 4 August 2011. This policy provides for the transfer of all the estate deemed ‘service-critical clinical infrastructure’ to aspirant Community Trusts, NHS Foundation Trusts, and other NHS Trusts; I will refer to this as ‘the Community Services estate’. The NHS LIFT estate, currently around 300 buildings, will transfer to Community Health Partnerships (CHP) and, from 1 April this year, CHP will take on the responsibilities of PCTs as Head Tenant in these buildings. The remainder of the estate will transfer to NHS Property Services, and I shall refer to this as the ‘the NHS Property Services estate’. This article considers the issues and concerns that will impact these two different strands of the PCT estate, how decisions will be taken, and what the prospects are for investment. In terms of structuring, it is anticipated that NHS Property Services will replicate the structure of the NHS Commissioning Board, with four ‘Regional Leads’ to cover, the North, the Midlands and East, London, and the South (of England), plus 27 Local Area Teams who will manage the estate at a local level. NHS Property Services staff are going to be very busy as they start work on a disparate and extensive estate.

Commissioner and landlord