Maintaining a property plan

Property planning benefits

A good property plan helps your agency:

• understand your current portfolio and future needs
• ensure property decisions align with your organisation’s strategy, workforce needs and service delivery
• prioritise investments and manage costs over time
• manage leases and buildings effectively
• track the benefits of workplace changes
• have better informed planning conversations with the Government Property Office (GPO)
• identify whether your property intentions align with the direction set in the Government Office Strategy, which is central to our lease approval process.

Leasing approval process

Developing a property plan

Property plans have two parts:

• Strategic – your long-term direction.
• Operational – actions to take in the next few years.

Larger agencies need a more detailed, long-term property plan, while smaller agencies can use a simpler approach with a short to medium-term focus. Talk to us about the best planning approach for your agency.

A good property plan generally has the following sections

1. Overview

• Purpose of the plan.
• How property supports the agency's work and outcomes.

2. Planning environment

• Government and sector drivers.
• Organisational strategies that influence property, including workforce and digital.
• Key roles, responsibilities and stakeholders.

3. Portfolio snapshot

• Number, type and location of sites.
• Footprint, occupancy and use of space, ownership/lease mix.
• Key issues and constraints.

4. Strategic direction

• Vision for the future portfolio.
• Strategic objectives and property principles.
• Roadmap showing how the agency will achieve its objectives.
• Indicators of success.

5. Site/regional plans

• Description of each site or region.
• Key site metrics such as footprint, people and workstations.
• Intended investments and actions.
• Lease expiry profile.

6. Work programme

• Planned investments and activities – giving consideration to Treasury's Investment Management System
• Criteria used to prioritise investments.

7. Risks, challenges and assumptions

• Key external and internal risks.
• Planning assumptions.
• Approach to mitigating risks.

Sharing your plan with GPO early helps us work with you to ensure your intentions for each site align with the general direction set by the Government Office Strategy.

Government Office Strategy

It also helps us maintain an up-to-date system-level view of the government portfolio and include your agency’s future property requirements in the Government Office Programme.

Government Office Programme

Support available

We can:

• help you choose the right level of planning for the size and complexity of your portfolio
• review draft property plans
• share examples of good practice plans
• identify co-location or consolidation opportunities
• provide tools for space budgeting.

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