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Estates management & construction

Part G of the Framework was published in October 2004. Part G sets out the policy, practice and targets for the management of specific aspects of the Government Estate such as construction, refurbishment, contaminated land and other issues related to large-scale maintenance of the Estate.

Departments are required to draw up an estates management strategy (or review that already in place) to cover:

Construction and demolition;
Adaptation to climate change;
Refrigerants, ozone depleting substances and those with high global warming potential;
Heritage;
Disposal of property; and
Contaminated land.

Departments should also ensure that from December 2005 sustainable development considerations are incorporated into all contracts for estate management and construction projects regardless of whether assets are owned or leased.

As Part G was not published during the reporting period, performance data for this report have been collected in line with previous years. Below is a summary of activity and best practice in relation to construction, refurbishment and air conditioning systems.

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Construction and Refurbishment

When undertaking new or major refurbishment projects, all Departments are expected to carry out environmental assessments using the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), or equivalent. New and major refurbishment projects considered eligible for this assessment are those with a budget over £50,000. From March 2003, all Government new build projects are expected to achieve "excellent" BREEAM ratings and all refurbishment projects "very good" ratings.

In 2002-03, fourteen Departments undertook new build or refurbishment construction projects that were of a sufficient size or appropriate building type to warrant a BREEAM assessment. Of these, eleven Departments carried out an environmental assessment using BREEAM or equivalent and five Departments reported their projects received "excellent" ratings.

In 2003-04, eight Departments undertook a total of 147 new build construction projects (including 135 projects undertaken by HO). Much of the project data submitted was incomplete but only three of these projects were reported to have a BREEAM rating of "excellent" in line with Government requirements. Six projects were rated "very good" and a further three were rated "good" / "good to very good". From the limited data submitted, it was difficult to get a clear picture of Departmental performance. However, it appears that many Departments are not achieving an "excellent" BREEAM rating for new construction projects.

A similar situation was evident for major refurbishment projects. Almost 200 refurbishment projects were undertaken by eleven Departments in 2003-04 (98 by the HO). Of these, it appears that only six projects had a BREEAM assessment - one C&E project with a "very good" rating, one DWP project with a "good to very good rating" and the others unconfirmed. While a number of Departments reported that a BREEAM assessment was not required for specific projects, large gaps in the data provided make it difficult to assess the true situation. However, it is evident that overall this requirement is not being met in the majority of cases.

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Air Conditioning Systems

In general, the Government has a preference for naturally ventilated buildings. However, for Departments with air conditioning in their buildings, it is required that when installing new air conditioning systems or refurbishing existing ones, each Department ensures they are (a) free of ozone depleting substances such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and (b) free of gaseous emissions and non-gaseous substances such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that contribute to climate change.

In 2002-03 eight out of fifteen Departments who had installed new air conditioning systems or refurbished existing ones, were able to confirm that such systems were free of HCFCs and HFCs.

Overall the proportion of new or refurbished systems free of HCFCs and HFCs appears to be improving. In 2003-04, eleven Departments reported that they had installed a total of 41 new air conditioning systems. Of these, 35 (or 85 per cent) of these new systems were confirmed as free of HCFCs and HFCs. Those systems that were not free of HCFCs and HFCs included four at FCO, one at ODPM and one at HO. HO stated that its PFI contractor fully considered alternatives but were unable to find one that was appropriate for the building. FCO explained that it was not feasible to install HCFC and HFC free systems as the installations were all small and intended for individual rooms. ODPM did not provide justification. MoD provided data for 3 buildings.

Three Departments also stated that they had refurbished a total of eleven existing air conditioning systems. Both the DfT and IR confirmed that their refurbished systems were free of HCFCs and HFCs. DCA had six refurbishment projects but stated that these projects were component replacements and that it was not cost effective to replace them with non-HCFC systems. MoD, DfID and ECGD did not provide a response to this question.

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Examples of Natural Ventilation

Several Departments rely on natural ventilation as an alternative to air conditioning systems. Defra aims to use natural ventilation wherever possible and a number of DTI buildings are naturally ventilated. MoD, HMT and ONS have stated that the majority of their buildings are naturally cooled.

The new IR buildings in Newcastle use a 100 per cent fresh air displacement system incorporating heat recovery for all office spaces. Only specialised IT rooms are equipped with closed air conditioning representing a very small percentage of floor space. One office also uses a fan coil system for natural ventilation.

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Departmental Data

For more detail on the how specific Departments within the UK Government are achieveing these targets, please access our Search Departmental Data section.

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Report 2004

Updated: 07 March 2005