Policy paper

HMCTS Estates Strategy

Published 23 November 2022

1. Aims, objectives and wider alignment

1.1 Our ambitions for the court and tribunal estate

Our ambition is to:

• take every opportunity to obtain funding to improve the condition of our estate and enhance the dignity and comfort of staff, judges and court users, reduce the risk of building failure and build resilience, recognising the importance of supporting the authority of the court
• maximise capacity in our estate when and where it’s required. We’ll also support our operations teams as they seek to maximise utilisation (and consequent value-for-money) of our court and tribunal buildings including through the consolidation of services and back-office functions
• improve access to justice for court users by supporting the facilitation of remote hearings and the development of innovative capacity solutions, through the design of our buildings
• ensure procurement for construction projects needs to be agile and deliver value-for-money
• base estate decision-making and analytical evidence for funding on developed insights regarding the performance and condition of our court and tribunal buildings
• fully integrate sustainability into the estates strategy to make sure we contribute to meeting Greening Government Commitments to reduce our environmental impact and achieving Net Zero Carbon emissions by 2050.

1.2 How we’ll achieve these ambitions

Through an understanding of future operational strategy and demand modelling, we’ll identify sites with long-term requirements and aim to agree longer lease terms or acquire the freehold interest. The frequent risk of redevelopment leads to a volatile and uncertain estate. We’ll demonstrate how freeholds compare well against leaseholds following recent accounting changes for leaseholds.

We’ll consider innovative ways to deliver hearing room flexibility and to provide temporary venues to meet peaks in demand.

We’ll explore alternate routes for procurement for building projects to improve speed of delivery, value-for-money, and risk-reduction.

We’ll assess court and tribunal buildings within their building type class to determine whether a site performs well against their expected standards. We’ll use these insights to inform decision-making and provide evidence for the case for investment.

Historic underinvestment and an ageing estate have led to significant maintenance backlogs. We’ll need to assess the opportunities to generate future investment through proposals to improve and consolidate, moving hearings into better quality buildings.

To improve agility and flexibility within our estate and to reduce costs, we’ll engage with Other Government Departments to identify alternate locations and opportunities to enable efficiencies while continuing to provide swift access to justice.

Our strategy will be based on the estates policy published in the Fit for the Future- transforming the Court and Tribunal Estate consultation response. This will provide assurance that it supports access to justice, maintains operational efficiency and provides value for money.

Our ageing estate has poor energy performance. We’ll seek investment for sustainability initiatives through alternate funding streams and in collaboration with wider local schemes.

We’ll engage with:

• the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for investment opportunities to improve the sustainability of our buildings
• the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and local government for opportunities to release court and tribunal buildings for wider redevelopment, providing a funding rationale for an HMCTS relocation
• the Office of Government Property and its sponsored agencies (e.g., One Public Estate and Government Property Agency) to identify opportunities to combine public services in shared buildings
• our judicial partners to understand their requirements and the impact of the court and tribunal estate on their work

We’ll need to understand ongoing desk-space requirements for court and tribunal functions needed to conduct hearings and undertake back-office functions. As well as estate requirements for Arm’s Length Bodies using court and tribunal buildings (such as National Compliance and Enforcement Service and National Probation Service).

In accordance with our assumptions regarding the impact of HMCTS Reform (as set out in PBC6), we’ll find ways to facilitate remote hearings in our buildings when these are appropriate.

1.3 Wider government objectives

The government is committed to levelling-up economically disadvantaged areas of the UK, by investing in areas for growth as well as improving public services. We’ll identify proposals which enhance our estate and supporting levelling-up and develop effective cases for funding.

The Climate Change Act 2008 (updated in 2019) commits the UK to reaching Net Zero Carbon by 2050. The public sector is also committed to Greening Government Commitments to reduce carbon, improve conservation of water and increase biodiversity. We’ll need to reduce its estate footprint or obtain investment for innovative greener technologies to achieve these targets.

The Cabinet Office requires flexibility and value-for-money on public sector property transactions. We’ll seek to acquire more freehold interests of new and existing court and tribunal buildings. We’ll ensure we maintain a minimum of ‘good’ performance against Government Property Standard 004.

We’ll engage with One Public Estate to identify potential opportunities to develop multiple use public buildings. 

1.4 Future strategy and objectives

This strategy ties into the five high level strategic objectives we’ve agreed are essential to meeting our service requirements, which are to:

• provide optimal timeliness
• enhance the user experience
• reduce cost to serve
• improve variance of access
• increase resilience and capacity

These are included in our strategy to provide context.

Over the next three years, we’re delivering these objectives through three phases:

1. 2022/23 will focus on recovery and drive to complete Reform. We’ll reduce outstanding case backlog through increased capacity and efficiency. We’ll complete Reform, delivering a modernised justice system designed around the needs of users.
2. 2023/24 will focus on post Reform levelling up. We’ll introduce improvements to legacy services to avoid a two-tier system. We’ll deliver further improvements to efficiency working with other elements of the justice system, reducing variance of access, supporting open justice and resilience.
3. 2024/25 will focus on moving towards a modern justice system. We’ll harness innovation to deliver a variety of dispute resolution systems and alternatives, helping to build an inclusive and proportionate system. We’ll enhance judicial recruitment processes to support and sustain a diverse and flexible judicial capacity.

2. Our core principles and strategic themes

The Estates Strategy is built on providing premises to meet four guiding principles: care, place, value and innovations. We’ll ensure:

• we care for our buildings so that they provide a safe, secure and well-maintained environment
• our buildings are in the right locations to deliver access to justice and provide a flexible and resilient estate
• everything we do delivers value-for-money to the taxpayer
• we develop better ways to provide capacity and use our existing court and tribunal estate

Our estates strategy will meet the needs of those who use and work in our buildings and will appropriately address the wider challenges presented by our estate. In developing this strategy, we’ve engaged with operational and judicial colleagues, Reform leads and property specialists to make sure we have a comprehensive picture.

In doing so, we’ve considered the following external factors which influence HMCTS:

• the justice system
• the performance of our buildings
• conditions in the property and construction sectors
• the wider economic, demographic and political landscape

We’ve assessed in more detail, a series of strategic themes which are specific to HMCTS.

These core themes are described on the following pages and are applied to estate issues identified. They set out our key findings and identify how these are engaged by our core principles of place, innovation, care and value.

We’ve then brought these together into a concluding summary of our principles.

2.1 Place

Our court and tribunal buildings are at the heart of our service. While Reform has opened up new ways to access our services, the most serious cases will continue to be heard in a traditional court.

It’s therefore essential that we make sure our buildings:

• are in the right place for users to access
• provide the best possible accommodation
• are flexible and take full advantage of the benefits of Reform
• comply with necessary safety and security standards

Alongside our traditional buildings we’ll learn the lessons from our successful Nightingale courts programme to utilise additional capacity when needed to deal with contingency or shorter-term demand related requirements.

2.2 Innovation

Much about our courts and tribunals is founded on their traditions and legal practice which has developed over hundreds of years. With our estate however, we’ll seek to innovate and modernise.

Reform of our services should also be accompanied by a reform of the way we use and develop our estate, thinking in fresh ways about the opportunities and constraints provided by our buildings. Different jurisdictions may need different solutions.

To do so we’ll:

• seek ways to support fully video and hybrid hearings, when required, through the design and use of our buildings
• seek to transfer work where possible to modern buildings suited to the technology we now use – whether by exiting, entering or adapting buildings
• consider radical options for providing capacity where it’s needed
• explore the use of space in other public sector buildings, and
• understand the relationship between traditional court and tribunal buildings and access to justice in the 21st Century

2.3 Care

We’ll take care both of our buildings and those who use and work in them.

Maintaining our buildings to a high standard is important to making sure they operate efficiently and demonstrate our commitment to the justice system and the authority of our courts and tribunals. As a minimum, we need buildings that:

• are suitably ventilated
• can maintain an acceptable temperature
• are in a decent state of repair
• afford an appropriate level of dignity
• are comfortable for all users

To do so we’ll:

• maximise the benefits of our facilities management contracts to deliver the best possible day-to-day maintenance
• establish a programme of capital maintenance projects which will replace life-expired mechanical and electrical plant
• seek to identify and address areas of non-compliance (for example with respect to health and safety legislation)
• develop a persuasive and evidence-based case for effective and sustained maintenance of our buildings, and
• build in sustainability into all our work.

2.4 Value

We appreciate that we’re responsible to taxpayers for the costs of operating, maintaining and replacing our buildings. We’ll therefore make sure that our buildings and the services that support them offer the best possible value for money.

We’ll make sure that we deliver value:

• by using our competitive tendering processes to make sure that our contracted works deliver the best balance of quality and cost
• calling on our skilled team members to challenge and drive out excessive costs whenever we find them
• through a focus on sustainability to reduce the energy use and costs of our buildings

3. Working group findings and recommendations

The Estates Strategy Working Group investigated nine core themes to help guide the Estates Strategy – within each area below We’ve identified issues and devised strategic objectives to address them over the next few pages.

The themes investigated were:

• lessons learned from COVID-19
• changes in demand for hearing rooms
• measuring the performance of our buildings
• ease of temporary capacity
• the provisions of the court and tribunal design guide
• changes to accounting standards and Cabinet Office controls
• our controls on construction
• sustainability initiatives
• Court and Tribunal Service Centres (CTSCs)

3.1 Lessons from COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on HMCTS and the use of our estate. Substantial adjustments were implemented to make our buildings safe for users, judiciary and our staff. Polycarbonate screens provided physical separation between parties and hand sanitiser was widely provided. We focussed on maximising ventilation and this placed additional pressure on our existing plant. The most significant impact was pump-priming ways of working around video/remote hearings.

We’ve considered the lessons we’ve learned from supporting the delivery of justice through the pandemic. Our focus is to make sure that we continue to provide safe and secure accommodation and that our buildings are resilient and that we can effectively manage the risks of any future pandemic.

Issue identified	Strategic objective
The pandemic has highlighted how building failure at larger courts has a greater operational impact on the delivery of justice	We’ll prioritise investment for larger buildings to build resilience and will consider the condition of a building for further estates consolidation
Social distancing and air-circulation requirements put pressure on court and tribunal room capacity	We’ll continue to use the Nightingale model (or similar) to create additional capacity in temporary venues
Our “4S” criteria for prioritising investment (Security, Statutory, Safety and Service continuity) does not consider building failure risk	We’ll modify the “4S” spending prioritisation criteria to include “resilience” such that building failure risk is mitigated
It’s often extremely costly to implement COVID-19 measures at existing buildings (such as installing mechanical ventilation)	We’ll balance the value-for-money for temporary capacity against investment in our core estate

3.2 Changes to the demand for hearing rooms

The lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrate that holding hearings by video, where this is appropriate, can be successful and will free up space in our buildings, for some jurisdictions.

Once COVD-19 recovery is complete we’ll review our estate to seek opportunities to consolidate, in line with our published estates principles to reduce our operational costs while maintaining effective access to justice through several channels.

Issue identified	Strategic objective
Hearing capacity cannot always address peaks in demand (or drops in supply)	We’ll better utilise room flexibility to address peaks in demand and improve access to justice
Reform and Digital Technology Services colleagues are improving the operational delivery of services (see note)	We’ll maintain close engagement with Reform colleagues to understand how our buildings can facilitate and complement Reform initiatives across HMCTS
The pandemic has shown that our hearing rooms are much more versatile than expected	We’ll more seriously consider how hearing room flexibility can increase estate decision-making options. We’ll embed  room flexibility into future designs
More spacious buildings have proved more resilient during the pandemic	We’ll balance adding additional capacity in our existing estate against existing layout density
External factors (e.g. 20,000 additional police officers) and internal factors (e.g. Reform, Video) will change the demand requirements in our courts and tribunals	We’ll carefully monitor estate utilisation to propose opportunities for future consolidation and to propose estate investment to maximise potential capacity

3.3 Measuring the performance of our estate

Our operational estate varies widely in its quality, condition and capability. While we have measures in place for the performance of our Facilities Management supplier (EQUANS) our understanding of the performance of the constituent assets of the estate (and their impact) is less well understood.

We’ll develop appropriate metrics to better understand the performance of the estate and its impact on court and tribunal services and users. This will provide a current assessment and, in the long-term, enable a clear, evidence-based link between investment in the estate and its performance, strengthening future funding bids. 

Issue identified	Strategic objective
Some buildings perform better/differently than others (e.g. historic buildings vs office-style lettings). This makes it difficult to benchmark performance and define what “good” is	We’ll develop a classification system for our buildings (e.g. by building type) to determine “best in class” for each benchmark
It’s difficult to ascertain the impact of building condition and performance on the delivery of justice since judges, staff and users simply “make do” to continue with hearings	We’ll define a minimum property standard to be logged by Operations to allow us to better assess day-to-day building performance
Building-Operational performance focuses heavily on hearings and not on other facilities (e.g. accessibility, victims and witness facilities etc.)	We’ll undertake a court and tribunal building survey to better understand the existing facilities across our estate and make a case for investment where this identifies regional issues
We do not have full sight or consistency of building performance and how specific courts and tribunals compare against each other	We’ll report on things such as costs, energy-efficiency and utilisation per court through the Property Data pack to identify outliers, to ascertain benchmarks, and to help evidence the case for investment

3.4 Temporary capacity

Prior to 2020, the use of temporary capacity to deliver hearings in non-court building was limited to some specialist tribunals and a small number of venues established to enhance access to justice following the 2015/16 national estates consultation.

The successful delivery of Nightingale courts under the Additional Courts and Tribunals Capacity (ACTC) Programme has demonstrated that we can hold hearings in non-court venues in significant volume. This means that we can consider the role of these venues to handle temporary workload changes to provide business continuity options and to enhance access to justice.

Issue identified	Strategic objective
Venues like those acquired throughout the Additional Courts and Tribunals Capacity Programme will likely not be available (or value-for-money) post-pandemic	We’ll consider alternative temporary venue types (e.g. offices) for the future. We’ll also engage with Local Authorities and the Police and Crime Commissioner to determine whether there are public buildings that can be used on an ad-hoc basis
We’re dealing with significant backlog issues in Crown Courts, and these are particularly difficult to hear off the estate due to the security requirements involved	We’ll consider temporary non-court venues for non-custodial Crown Court workloads and particularly those with longer expected hearing-lengths (e.g. complex fraud) to avoid bottlenecks of estate supply
Unique and novel locations (such as theatres or cathedrals) are acceptable to stakeholders and court users during a crisis, but will not be suitable post-pandemic	We’ll better plan our designs for off-estate temporary venues to provide more practicable settings, which maintain the authority of the court
Temporary venues, by definition, have a very short “payback” period, reducing the long-term value-for-money	We’ll prioritise/weight opportunities to increase additional capacity in our core estate before considering off-estate options

3.5 The court and tribunal design guide

The court and tribunal design guide, published in 2019, sets out detailed design standards intended to make sure our buildings are appropriate, effective, accessible, flexible and sustainable.

The standards set out in the guide are flexible and have informed work to create both permanent court spaces and when establishing temporary Nightingale courts. We expect the core of the guide to remain relevant for many years and that this will be enhanced by additional supplementary guidance to deal with specific circumstances or contingencies.

Issue identified	Strategic objective
High fit-out costs for courts and tribunals restricts our options and prevents estates agility	We’ll continue to favour acquisitions (temporary and permanent) that already meet some design requirements to reduce fit-out costs
Space requirements within a court or tribunal building will adapt as workload, Reform and ways of working change	We’ll assess existing spatial requirements and spatial benefits associated with other programmes to determine any need to adjust design requirements in the future (see Note 1)
As a result of the pace and novelty of the ACTC Programme, the Nightingale acquisitions did not have a defined set of design requirements or parameters	We’ll establish a Minimum Operational Requirement standard to supplement the CTDG that can be applied in temporary venues to provide assurances on safety and security whilst being conscious of the length and type of use
Our core estate is not fully compliant with Public Health England (PHE) requirements re design and air-circulation	We’ll supplement the CTDG with a document which sets out ways the building design can support safe use during a pandemic
The CTDG does not sufficiently emphasise sustainability	We’ll better incorporate sustainability into future designs by utilising supplementary guidance laid out by the Government Property Agency
High fit-out costs for courts and tribunals reduces can reduce the value-for-money for a project	We’ll adopt a pragmatic approach to the use of the Court and Tribunal Design Guide to avoid excess costs
The retention/acquisition of buildings that are difficult to adapt increase costs and restrict opportunities for improvement across the wider business	We’ll be more demanding in our leasehold and freehold decision making regarding the importance of remote and hybrid working.

3.6 Changes to accounting standards and Cabinet Office controls

The new International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 16 has drastically changed how we account for leaseholds, licences, and MOTOs. This may impact our tenure preferences when we assess freeholds against leaseholds for new and existing assets as well as term length.

The Office for Government Property (OGP) in the Cabinet Office exerts National Property Controls on government departments on the premise that it will “…reduce unnecessary spend, encourage cross-government collaboration and deliver value for money outcomes”.

Issue identified	Strategic objective
Freehold acquisitions are generally less available in large city centres, where the property market tends to offer more floor-by-floor lets than freehold standalone units	We’ll consider freehold options more favourably than before, but concede there may be limitations due to market availability for some locations (and especially large cities)
The Government Property Agency (GPA) is seeking to absorb our admin estate (as it has done with Other Government Departments)	We’ll seek to understand the steady-state non-operational requirements and further potential consolidation within our operational estate before relinquishing overarching responsibility to the GPA
By acquiring the freehold of a building (as opposed to the leasehold) we need to be mindful that we’re accepting ultimate responsibility of all building assets and building fabric	We’ll take greater care to undertake all necessary due diligence to ascertain the quality and condition of existing plant and building fabric before acquisition
We’re not always able to extract landlord inducements on new leases, as National Property Controls favour more flexible leases (i.e., with shorter term-certain)	We’ll seek to acquire the freehold where possible and when affordable where a long-term requirement is identified

3.7 Our controls on construction

For capital works over £1.5m, we must procure works through the Strategic Alliance Agreement (SAA) framework, which requires sponsorship from MOJ Estates Directorate who are ultimately responsible for instructing suppliers, constructors and client representatives.

We should explore options to improve existing processes to achieve better value-for-money, quality and pace of delivery.

Issue identified	Strategic objective
There is a risk that project works are undertaken without full long-term consideration for the quality and layout of court and tribunal buildings	Working with stakeholders, We’ll aspire to develop the ‘comprehensive vision’ for each court and tribunal building to better develop a long-term plan for the site
The existing procurement processes are cumbersome, protracted and adversely impact the ability to deliver projects at pace, with value-for-money and to the desired quality. This also results in higher overheads while we occupy both the existing building and new building whilst we undertake our fit-out	We’ll test the potential for procuring design consultants or even fit-out works via landlords/owners of buildings we (intend to) occupy. We’ll also seek alternative routes to procurement (e.g. through EQUANS approved suppliers)
There is further opportunity to reduce costs and improve the value-for-money for each project	We’ll invest in deeper advice from property professionals (existing and new) to help drive value-for-money across larger projects
The lack of secured long-term funding adversely impacts the ability to plan, meaning projects are unnecessarily accelerated to avoid slippage into the next financial year	Security of funding and a longer-term outlook following the outcome of the Spending Review will allow us to better plan for larger projects and address regional requirements and buildings specifics more comprehensively

3.8 Sustainability initiatives

The UK’s climate targets are set out in law. We need to play an active role in helping achieve them through meeting the current Greening Government Commitments (GGC). Meeting these commitments is challenging as they often require upfront investment (although these are generally offset in the long term by operating cost reductions) and as our older and (sometimes listed) buildings have structural limitations to the improvements which can be made.

Issue identified	Strategic objective
Due to the diversity of our estate portfolio, there does not exist a “one-size-fits-all” solution for improving the environmental impact of our buildings. It’s much harder to retrofit historic/criminal buildings.	We’ll classify our buildings according to their type, condition and suitability for sustainability improvements. We’ll prioritise spending on buildings where the largest improvements are possible
It’s possible energy utilisation can be reduced through behavioural changes at each site	We’ll ensure the training, familiarisation and knowledge of those who use and work in our buildings is an integral part of our sustainability strategy. We’ll create campaigns to drive improved efficiency and awareness of GGC and the part all can play in meeting them
Funding remains a key constraint to delivering sustainability projects	We’ll explore alternative ways to secure funding for sustainability (e.g., through long-term benefits realisation with our existing FM providers)
There is significant need for heating, ventilation and building management systems to be replaced and improved across the estate	We shall seek to decarbonise the estate through HVAC replacement as much as possible
It’s difficult to quantify the economic benefits for undertaking sustainability investment	We’ll consider the whole life costs when evaluating investment and the monetised cost of carbon savings to improve sustainability business cases. This will seek an optimum balance of value for the taxpayer and the meeting of essential corporate climate targets

3.9 Courts and Tribunals Service Centres

Courts and Tribunals Service Centres (CTSC) are an essential element of the Reform Programme, acting as centres for excellence for digital services. Four have been established with a fifth and final centre opening in Spring 2022.

We considered what lessons we could learn from the setting up of the CTSCs, the role of the legacy National Business Centres (NBC) and the impact on the further development of both on the operational court and tribunal estate.

Issue identified	Strategic objective
We risk filling low-utilised buildings with staff such that their possible consolidation is made more difficult	Where Satellite CTSC requirements are identified, we should seek to utilise already well-utilised court and tribunal buildings to avoid hindering future estate flexibility
Working behaviours across all our staff have dramatically changed. We need to be mindful of any regional office space for possible ad-hoc accommodation	New IT infrastructure is well suited for portable working. Once steady-state headcounts are established, we should consider alternative uses for any spare desk space from time to time in the administrative estate
The established expertise and knowledge at existing courts and NBCs should be protected and utilised where possible	For the administrative estate, we’ll look to retain a physical presence in existing locations using the operational estate or alternative venues with suitable accommodation where commercially viable
Working-from-home abilities, as well as Reform, will alter the staff requirements at physical court and tribunal buildings. We risk pockets of vacant space that could be better utilised	We’ll aim to integrate NBC (and indeed other administrative and storage holdings) into the existing core estate where possible to reduce running costs and better utilise operational court and tribunal buildings

4. The performance of our estate and external factors affecting this

4.1 How to understand external factors

There are 4 areas of external factors influencing the nature of where and how HMCTS works.

Technology

Our investment in technology will impact on location and type of building we occupy, for example:

• remote hearings will enable less footfall from court users
• electronic listing will enable greater utilisation of the space we currently have
• modern floor and ceiling voids to enable cabling and IT will enable flexible room layouts/designs and user-friendly access to justice

Expectations of our people

Societal and demographic changes will increasingly drive where and how our staff, judiciary and professional users want to work and collaborate, for example:

• space for support and HQ functions will be places for collaboration and less fixed work
• risk and cost will be reduced by virtual hearings, which are safer (less risk of violence, infections etc) and use less travel time (prisoner transport, preliminary hearings)
• attracting talent into justice is influenced by the conditions of our buildings, including their facilities and flexibility to work remotely

Property Market

Trends in property markets over 10 years will offer opportunities to occupy or release premises, for example:

• IFRS 16 making leaseholds less financially attractive
• demand for offices in towns will grow as city commuting stays low
• releasing out-of-date but high value freeholds and to re-invest in flexible new premises will become more attractive
• the requirement to decarbonise the public estate

Value for money of justice

Together with the MOJ, we’ll be expected to make overhead costs stretch further to meet the challenges of:

• backlogs, as the public expectation to process cases faster than historically is likely to grow as societal change occurs
• HMT allocations, as government seeks to reduce its deficit and its debt, the expectation on us to reduce the ‘total-cost-of-occupation’ will increase over the next 5 years
• The £1bn backlog in capital maintenance, which will grow if the likely Spending Review allocations in 2021 and 2024 focus on other departments

4.2 How to address external factors: Demographic analysis

We’ve commissioned Data and Analytical Services Directorate to create a Property Strategy Tool to help determine whether and where to open, close and relocate court and tribunal buildings. This will use travel-time analysis, population data and other measures (e.g. Indices of Multiple Deprivation) to refine demand requirements across the UK. Engagement with the Customer Directorate, who have reviewed demographics against court demand, is ongoing.

This tool will use an algorithm to explore many different options for court locations and provide several suggestions which can then be further explored by property colleagues. The algorithm requires an objective function – a measure of the ‘goodness’ of an option. The algorithm will search the space of possible options for those which produce a high result in the objective function.

The tool will be able to perform several tasks, but particularly will help to determine:

• whether areas without an existing court or tribunal presence should have one
• the largest/smallest impact of a court or tribunal closure
• the optimum layout of court and tribunal buildings for a given sub-region, such as for multi-site reconfigurations (in the Spending Review 2025)

4.3 How to address external factors: Data collection

The Property Directorate is undertaking more work to improve data collection and how to use it to tell the story of our estate. The Property Data pack will allow markedly better insight for assessing buildings on a variety of performance metrics. This will allow us to identify building outliers, to ascertain benchmarks, and to help evidence the case for future investment.

We’re investigating things such as energy utilisation by m2, costs by m2, Facilities Management costs by m2, and costs by sitting day per building. Other Sustainability performance measures will also be included (for example Energy Performance Certificate rating).

5. Our 5 to 10 year ambitions

5.1 Delivering our ambitions in the next 5 years

We anticipate that the following objectives are achievable within the next five years based on our current anticipated funding.

By the end of 2026 we’ll have:

• in place a comprehensive plan for court renewal and replacement, which will be supported by demographic analyses
• commenced a process of further estates consolidation where these are enabled by Reform efficiencies, which will be supported by objective analysis
• full control over all aspects of the quality and pace of capital works delivered by HMCTS
• enhanced building resilience through maintenance investment and have a core estate which is robust in case of future pandemics or other shocks
• robust data which supports bids for ambitious maintenance and regeneration programmes
• developed ways of working and design guide to support more remote and hybrid working, an
• tried and tested processes to refit/adapt our buildings to effect short term changes of use.
• invested funding to meet Greening Government Commitments 2025
• embarked on the next comprehensive Spending Review 2025, which aligns with our principles and longer-term strategic goals

5.2 Delivering our ambitions in the next 10 years

We anticipate that these objectives will be achievable in the next ten years although their scale will be subject to funding. We’ll seek this through both the Comprehensive Spending Review process and through individual business cases where appropriate.

By the end of 2031 we’ll have:

• in place new court buildings which are flexible, resilient and sustainable
• closed the least efficient and sustainable court buildings and relocated the work where possible to more modern, costs effective and low energy/low carbon sites
• consolidated the administrative estate as far as practicable
• reached expiry for 13 (out of 17) Private Finance Initiative (PFI) agreements – and interest has reverted to HMCTS/MOJ (in most cases)
• developed a shopfitting and ‘moves & changes’ service to support the short-term changes of use, and
• invested funding to meet Greening Government Commitments 2030

6. Statement of Principles

This strategy document sets out our intentions regarding the future of the court and tribunal estate. We’ve explained:

• how our four core principles will be applied to our decision making
• how We’ve examined specific themes to understand how they influence our strategy

To conclude this document, we’ll now set out a series of statements related to each of the principles. We’ll apply these statements as we consider the future of our estate, and how we make decisions regarding expenditure and the future condition, capabilities and resilience of our buildings.

6.1 Place

Making sure that we continue to provide effective access to justice through our buildings will continue to be our top priority, but We’ll also recognise how our services can be accessed remotely and what we can do to support this

We’ll continue to keep the court and tribunal estate under review to check that it meets the needs of our users. Any decisions we make will be guided by our published estates principles and agreed by the Property Board.

We’ll place the need for flexible accommodation high in our design criteria so we can be as responsive as possible to future changes in demand or operational processes recognising the distinct requirements of different jurisdictions

We’ll use a classification system for our buildings to enable objective assessment of condition and maintenance requirements

We’ll use demographic analysis to inform estate decision-making on the location of new buildings

6.2 Innovation

We’ll seek innovative solutions to the issues we find in our estate

We’ll not be constrained by the extent of the current court and tribunal estate but will also look for opportunities to deliver hearings from non-court buildings

We’ll embed room flexibility into future designs and consider highly when approaching estate decision-making

Sustainability will be built into our future proposals and not be an afterthought and will include improvements to the behaviours of those who use and work in our buildings alongside technology-based solutions, and assessment of natural capital built into our estates decision-making

The Reform Programme has transformed the way that justice is delivered in England and Wales, and We’ll continue to find ways for our buildings to support and respond to this

6.3 Care

We’ll maintain our buildings to the best possible level our available funding allows

We’ll continue to drive improvements in the performance of our Facilities Management contract to deliver a more responsive, better quality service

We’ll use compelling, objective and accurate data to make the best possible case for funding to maintain, improve and where necessary, replace worn out buildings and building assets

While We’ll continue to prioritise safety, security, statutory compliance and supporting business delivery, we recognise that a key lesson from the pandemic is that we also need to give appropriate priority to resilience in any future health emergency

We’ll make sure that we’re delivering sustainable solutions when replacing heating, ventilation and building management systems.

6.4 Value

We understand the importance of achieving the best possible value-for-money when maintaining, improving or replacing our buildings
 

We’ll enhance and use the skills of the Property Directorate Team to drive out unnecessary cost and waste in our projects and programmes

The increased use of sustainable building systems will reduce the day-to-day operating costs of our buildings

We’ll continue to seek long-term funding so that we can better plan for future projects. This includes a stronger and more holistic court and regional approach to maintenance and building improvement

We’ll make sure that we do everything we can to support efficient use of our buildings, including considering whether further estates consolidation could achieve lower operating costs 

It should be noted that this strategy is not a funded approach and the ensuing implementation plans will accord with Accounting Officer responsibilities around affordability.

7. Further information

If you’d like more information about our Estates Strategy, contact HMCTS Communications. Our Annexes including methodology are available on request.