Key Elements of a Successful Estates Management Plan

Setting Clear Objectives and Priorities

A successful estates management plan starts with setting clear objectives and priorities for the school’s estate. This must align with the school’s wider objectives and include an outline of the vision for the estate, identifying the most urgent maintenance needs, and establishing a timeline for completing projects. By setting clear objectives, schools can ensure that their efforts are focused on achieving specific outcomes and avoid wasting valuable resources.

Identifying Policies and Procedures

It’s essential to identify and document all policies and procedures related to the management of the school’s estate. This includes decision-making processes, reporting structures, and responsibilities for various tasks. This could be as simple as having a priority level for fixing a faulty light fitting in a classroom. If there’s a clear process of who to report the issue to and who’s responsible for getting it fixed, it then has measurable accountability which avoids confusion, delays, and mistakes, and ensures that the estate is managed efficiently and effectively.

Collecting and Analysing Data

Data collection and analysis are crucial components of a successful estates management plan. Schools should gather information about the condition, performance, and utilisation of their assets to help inform decision-making processes. This can include data on energy consumption, maintenance costs, and space utilisation, among other metrics. Have you ever discovered how much energy your school is consuming between 6pm and 6am? Would it be more cost effective to pay your site team overtime to turn everything off at 6pm, and turn it all back on again at 6am? By analysing this data, schools can identify areas for improvement and allocate resources more effectively.

Community Involvement

To ensure the plan for managing the school’s estate works, it is important to get everyone involved. This means including the school leaders, teachers, students, parents, and even people from the community. By working together, schools can make sure that their plans make sense and match community requirements. This teamwork also helps get everyone on board and makes it more likely that the plan will be successful.

For example, let’s say the school is considering making changes to their sports facilities. By talking to the wider community, including local sports clubs or organisations, they can find out what kind of sports or activities are particularly popular and make decisions that benefit both the school and the wider community. It should not be ignored that your school is more likely to gain further external funding for wider sources if it has a far-reaching cross-section of users.