A new way of getting the best out of 200 council buildings worth £244m, including offices, halls, community centres, schools and sports centres, has been given the go-ahead by East Renfrewshire Council's cabinet.

The council's first corporate asset management plan brings together facts and figures about all of the buildings and how they should be managed over the next five years to ensure they are well-maintained and provide the right services in the right place to residents.

And property bosses are warning that there will have to be rationalisation as 54% of buildings are classed as good, 19% satisfactory, 23% poor and 4% unsatisfactory.

-- Advertisement --

They also say that it makes sense to plan now for future use and requirements as the needs of the public and technology will change how the council will deliver services in future.

It's estimated that £23m will need to be invested in property maintenance over the next five years.

But property chiefs say that closing and disposing of life-expired and older buildings which are neither energy efficient nor suitable for delivering services today, will make sound financial sense.

Council leader Councillor Jim Fletcher said: "The council is a major property owner in the area and this plan brings all the relevant information about our buildings together for the first time.

"That allows us to plan our property needs for the future, to work out what investment will be needed and to identify where we need new buildings, where we should refurbish older ones and when and where we should close and sell off buildings that become surplus to our requirements."

The council will now follow up its property lead with management plans for parks and open spaces, roads, housing, vehicle fleet and corporate assets to cover every aspect of its operations.

(GK/BMcc)