If you are a Multi Academy Trust or a standalone Academy, you may have heard of Good Estates Management for Schools. The Department for Education are placing an increased priority on school estates management for the Condition Improvement Fund. This can be daunting, and it may be difficult to understand the guidance that has been released by the Department for Education. We have broken down below everything that you need to know about GEMS and how we can assist you in getting the most out of it.
What is GEMS?
- A good estates management document that will apply across an entirely managed portfolio of estates assets, including buildings and outdoor spaces.
- It will include details on your strategy for investing in your assets. This will include condition, school priority and financial considerations.
- A review of your assets outlining your liabilities and responsibilities. This will include reviewing lease repair responsibilities, warranties, and statutory obligations.
- The GEMS will combine this information together to provide a plan of works over an agreed timescale (3 years, 5 years or 10 years).
- Allow an annual review to be undertaken to update decisions as the situation changes.
- A document that can be reviewed and agreed by your board with clear recorded rationale for decisions.
Why do you need it?
- It is now a Department for Education requirement for investment of funds.
- It provides the basis for a funding bid for any available sources or grants.
- It identifies high risk issues.
- It prioritises investment and maintenance of your estate.
- It identifies legal and statutory compliance.
- It allows easier forward planning of projects and works.
- It will reduce running costs.
- It will assist in negotiating better deals and spreading expenditure.
- It will assist in making effective investment decisions.
- It will help you to prioritise your estates maintenance.
- It will result in safer and healthier estates with less breakdowns, which will improve morale across the board.
- It can help to show potential for energy efficiency improvements, resulting in improved environment and/or reduced running costs.
- It will provide greater transparency of the decision making process.
- It will help to achieve buy-in of the board to the estates management process.
- It will provide a method of measuring performance against agreed targets.
How can we assist you?
- We can provide a tailor made solution specific to your requirements.
- We can provide a full document package based upon the information you can provide.
- We can advise you in the information required.
- We can guide you through the decision making process.
- We can provide an asset register.
- We can undertake condition surveys of your estates.
- We can undertake specialist roof surveys.
Hopefully, this makes the whole process a little clearer and helps you to understand what is required for Good Estates Management for Schools.
We are currently offering our tailored services for GEMS, especially for our clients who are preparing for prospective CIF Bids for 2024/25. If this sounds like something you require, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us here.