Property Matters - August 2023

Property Matters newsletter | August 2023

In this edition of the Government Property Group newsletter – we visit our colleagues in Australia, provide an update on the Building Performance Specification, share workplace opportunities near you, and seek evaluators for the Property Consultancy Services contract

Visiting our property neighbours across the ditch

In May our General Manager, Angela Xygalas and Chief Advisor Property, David White met with our colleagues in Sydney, Australia. GPG Australia sits within the Australian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC). GPG Australia enables states to share knowledge, with the aim of promoting excellence in the way government delivers property solutions, focused on office accommodation.

It was great to meet our counterparts across the ditch, share ideas and visit one of the latest government property hubs in Paramatta, as shown above.

This site is a cross-agency shared facility, similar to our Hubs initiative.

These facilities are popular with staff, while also providing benefits in areas such as carbon neutrality, sustainability and fleet sharing and effective use of our footprint.

Such facilities have been successfully established in Australia, consistent with our approach with the Government Office Accommodation Project.

Shared workplace opportunities for your agency

We recently reached out to promote a number of workplace opportunities around the motu.

These modern, easily accessible workplaces will support agency resilience and allow staff to collaborate and reach into local communities.

We are also exploring a number of other co-working and co-location initiatives around the country.

If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please email us.

Energy efficient buildings – reporting back to Ministers

Every 6 months we are required to report back on the status of NABERSNZ assessments to the Carbon Neutral Government Programme (CNGP) Ministers.

NABERSNZ is the energy rating system to measure and compare the environmental energy and carbon performance of Government office buildings, owned and leased.

Energy efficiency standards

Thanks to everyone who has provided us with an update on their NABERSNZ assessments.

Agencies are making good progress and we appreciate your support with this ongoing initiative.

We’ll share an overview of agencies progress in our next issue.

We’re also seeking feedback from agencies on the NABERSNZ assessment process.

• Is there anything else we can do to make this easier for agencies?
• How can we work with landlords so they provide agencies with the data required for the CNGP reporting?
• What other levers can we use to encourage landlords to be more proactive in upgrading heating and ventilation systems that have reached the end of their life?

We have received responses from a number of agencies, if you have any further feedback regarding the reporting requirements, please email us.

Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry (GIDI) Fund

Did you know, Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority (EECA) have funding available to help commercial building owners and tenants.

This funding is designed to increase energy efficiency and lower emissions by replacing fossil fuel boilers used for space and water heating.

Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry Fund

Building Performance Specifications (BPS)

The Building performance specification (BPS) is a baseline set of defined building specifications to help government agencies work with current and prospective landlords to create a modern, healthy, safe and environmentally responsible workplace.

Last year we began a review of the BPS document to create a more flexible and user-friendly document. Over the last two months we held workshops with technical experts to review each section of the document. These workshops provided useful insights into how the BPS is used from both, a tenant and landlord, perspective.

During the workshops we also discussed how we can ensure the BPS remains a living document that is user- friendly and easy to update. This is particularly relevant for any legislative and policy changes, or how the new sustainability requirements should be incorporated.

Once we have collated this technical feedback, we’ll reach out to agencies for feedback.

If you have someone in your agency who is familiar with the BPS and wants to contribute to this important piece of work please contact us as info@gpg.govt.nz.

Key property updates

Insurance premiums

We are aware that many landlords are experiencing increases in insurance premiums, and these may continue to increase going forward.

It is a timely reminder that gross leases, market rent reviews and capped operating expenses are required to minimise our exposure to this cost escalation risk.

We are interested to hear from agencies where insurance premiums have increased significantly, or where landlords are in discussions with you to revise insurance or operating expense provisions within leases.

To get in touch, please email us.

Increase in black mould

With recent significant weather events and the onset of winter, black mould within buildings has increased. We are working with Worksafe so that we can provide you with more guidance on this area.

If you are currently experiencing issues with black mould, please get in touch with us so that we can support you with your engagement with landlords and discuss potential solutions.

Quickfire updates

Save the date!

Thursday 21 September, 10am Property Knowledge Hour. Join us to learn more about our recently established assurance function and the latest NABERSNZ report back.

Keep an eye out for an invitation to this event.

Property consultancy services evaluators wanted

The current property consultancy services contract expires in March 2024. We’re developing the request for proposal (RFP) and expect to publish this in early-mid August 2023.

We're now looking for evaluators from property and procurement teams to support the evaluation of the RFP responses.

This is a great opportunity for your agency to get involved in evaluating the responses to deliver your agency's property needs. Ensuring your agency is represented in this process will help to create a solution that is fit for purpose.

We anticipate that evaluators will need to allocate between 25 to 30 hours, over a period of 6 weeks (4-5 hours per week). It is likely that evaluators will need to allocate more time closer to the evaluation meeting.

If you're interested or would like to know more about the RFP process, contact us.

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