Property Matters newsletter | December 2023

In this edition of the Government Property Group newsletter – we reflect on 2023, give you an update on some of our work, and share some insights from our GPG Australia colleagues.

Meri Kirihimete ki a koutou ko te whānau - Merry Christmas to you and your whānau

Catching up with our Government Property Group neighbours across the ditch

Last month our General Manager, Angela Xygalas and Chief Advisor Property, David White engaged with our colleagues from GPG Australia. GPG Australia sits within the Australian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC).

GPG Australia shared their experience implementing a more centralised approach to government property. It was great to hear their thoughts and advice, given that they have been operating centralised models to varying degrees for some time now.

The Australian experience is that taking a portfolio approach enables co-locations and rationalisation of properties into a better standard of accommodation while reducing cost. Some have also consolidated the provision of professional services and standardised fitouts, further reducing costs and standardising the experience for occupants.

This has been our experience in New Zealand and gives us confidence that system leadership is a move in the right direction for government property.

Government Office Accommodation Programme (GOAP)

Bowen House - project update

The refurbishment of Bowen House in Wellington is well underway with landlord works and tenant fitout. We expect agencies will move into the building in early 2025.

Bowen House provides a new approach to government property that allows agencies to share spaces, reduce costs and footprint.

It will be a modern workplace that enables a flexible and joined-up Public Service. The occupancy model provides shared spaces for building occupants as well as some facilities (including conferencing facilities, meeting and training areas) that will be available for non-occupying agencies. Using universal design as a foundation principle, it caters to the widest range of abilities.

Key features of the refurbishment of Bowen House:

• Designed with flexibility in mind to meet changing needs and functions of different users.
• Collaboration spaces with open flow to create a physical sense of commonality and shared ownership of space, encouraging agencies to embrace the vision of an agile and adaptable Public Service.
• Monitoring of occupancy and utilisation with workplace technology solutions.
• Modern fitout and agency neutral shared workspaces to remove duplication and enable reconfiguration if required.

This opportunity takes a system-wide view on who occupies Bowen House and how shared spaces can be used by all agencies.

Our project team has been working, in partnership with Te Kawa Mataaho/Public Service Commission, the first agency to move to Bowen House, to identify other co-locating agencies. GPG will be in touch to discuss this opportunity soon.

If you’re interested in finding out more about Bowen House, contact your Senior Property Portfolio Specialist or the Programme team by emailing info@gpg.govt.nz.

Knowledge Hour recap - end of year event

On 7 December, Waka Kotahi/NZ Transport Agency hosted us for this year’s final Knowledge Hour at their new office space, 44 Bowen Street, Wellington.

Nikki Mazur, Head of Corporate Property, presented an overview of the project and their experience shifting into the new space.  

Nikki described how they wanted to create a whole workspace for staff, one that was connected and adaptable to meet the current and future needs of their agency. Core teams are all under one roof and able to work collaboratively. They also created a set of workspace principles to ensure they achieved their vision for the space including:

• offering flexible desking by default
• having a technology and digital focus
• creating adaptable workspaces and more.

They now plan to use the successes and lessons learnt from 44 Bowen Street for any future sites around the country. 

A big thank you to our colleagues at Waka Kotahi/NZ Transport Agency for sharing your new workspace and insights with us.

Keep an eye out for more Property Knowledge Hours in 2024.

Property collaborative contracts

Property consultancy services

The current Property consultancy services contract expires in March 2024. We have introduced a new subcategory for property-related iwi relationships to help agencies engage with Māori on relevant property projects. We are currently evaluating proposals and will advise participants of the outcome by the end of January 2024. A big shout out to all of the agencies and evaluators who have helped with this process.

Look out for further information in our next newsletter.

Workplace and classroom furniture

The new Workplace and classroom furniture contract launched in February. The increased now includes fit-outs and commodity furniture, in addition to classroom furniture. The contract strongly supports environmental goals by offering sustainably manufactured, low waste and New Zealand-made products. Most suppliers offer sustainable disposals and repurposing of old furniture and are working to reduce their carbon emissions.

This contract has been very successful providing more choice, more competition and centralised cost management. Agency participation has increased by 77%.

Facilities management services

Work is starting on the renewal of the Facilities management services contract for a final two-year term. This is to ensure we have time to develop a new contract that meets agency needs and aligns with the future property ‘ecosystem’ model and system leadership.

If you would like to know more about these contracts, contact us.

Government Property Portal

We deployed the latest version of the Government Property Portal (GPP) in September.

Agencies can now use email notifications to set up their reminders more effectively and new dashboard options provide more property information at a glance.

The GPP is a valuable tool for agencies to help manage their property portfolios.

The portal gives your agency a consolidated overview of the operational information about your properties. This will make it easier to see how your portfolio is performing.

In 2023 we have:

• Hosted 43 agency training sessions to ensure agencies can get the most out of the Portal.
• Delivered a new dashboard allowing agencies to ‘advertise’ their vacant office spaces for other agencies.
• Explored the options available for desk booking to help agencies manage their office space.
• Undertook a space management proof of concept to determine if this tool may be useful for agencies in understanding how they use and occupy space.
• Assisted agencies with updating their information and data ensuring their data remains up to date and provide quality insights.
• Provided setup support so agencies have a clear picture of their property portfolio.

We will continue expanding our portal offering in 2024. We will investigate additional modules to benefit agencies and there will be more dashboard options to improve the information available without having to generate bespoke reports.

If you would like to find out more about the GPP, contact us.

APCC Procurement Professionalisation Survey

The Australasian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC) is conducting a survey to collect data on the current state of professional development of procurement and the procurement profession. Anyone working in procurement, construction, property and asset management is encouraged to complete the short survey before 25 January 2024. The feedback will be used to prioritise investment in developing capability in the procurement profession in both the public and private sectors.

The APCC members are responsible for procurement, construction, property, and asset management policy for Australian State and Territory governments, the Australian Government and the New Zealand Government.

Learn more and take the APCC Procurement Professionalisation Survey.