Local Authority Property and Estates 2025

10:00 – 11:15 Plenary

Chair’s welcome

• Ann Carter-Gray, Former Head of Places, Cabinet Office (recently retired)

Using AI To Power Public Sector Real Estate Transformation

• Akshay Thakur, JLLT

Transforming Government Property: capitalising on the public estate to drive regional growth and opportunity

• Saurabh Bhandari, Office of Government Property

Reimagining Property and Place in the West Midlands: Opportunities through Devolution

• Peter Beer, WMCA

The value of collaboration around public sector property

• Lindsay Whitley, One Public Estate, Local Government Association

Sessions

11.45 – 12.15   Navigating the New Planning Landscape: Empowering Councils for Housing Success – Join JLL for an insightful seminar exploring the latest planning reforms and their impact on local authorities and housing delivery. Our expert panel will dissect the new planning regime, offering practical strategies for councils to accelerate housing development amid current market challenges. Discover innovative approaches to overcome obstacles and learn how to leverage the changing regulatory environment to meet housing needs effectively. This seminar is essential for council leaders, planning officers, and housing professionals looking to stay ahead in the evolving property landscape.

• Joanna Gabrilatsou & Henry Burton – JLL

12.15 – 12.45   Maximising Value: Why Local Authorities Should Choose Auctions for Asset Disposal – This session will explore the reasons why local authorities should consider using auctions as a primary method for disposing of assets. Focusing on the benefits of speed, transparency, and market-driven pricing, we will demonstrate how auctions ensure a fair and competitive process, maximising the value of surplus public sector properties and land. The session will also highlight how auctions can minimise administrative costs, reduce risk, and attract a wide range of potential buyers, as well as providing  certainty in completion timelines, helping local authorities to meet financial goals and efficiently manage surplus assets Furthermore, the session will examine key provisions of the Local Government Act, which govern the disposal of public sector assets, and demonstrate how auctions comply with these regulations by providing a clear and competitive process. By the end of this session, delegates will have gained a clear understanding of why auctions are the most effective and efficient solution for asset disposal in the public sector.

• Edward Feather – Pugh & Co (Part of Eddisons)

13.45 – 14.15   Optimising Operational Real Estate: Strategic Insights & Opportunities – This session will provide a high-level insights into the elderly care, childcare & education markets, focusing on the evolution of local authority ownership over the past decade. We will explore significant macro trends impacting both sectors, including government policies and supply challenges. The presentation will highlight successful public-private partnerships, showcasing how collaboration with the private sector has led to improved outcomes. Additionally, we will present strategies for local authorities to optimize and enhance their estates, ensuring better service delivery and efficiency. Through case studies and practical examples, we aim to provide actionable insights for stakeholders in both markets.

• Courteney Donaldson & Karun Ahluwalia – Christie & Co

14.15 – 14.45   Decarbonising local authority buildings – In this session we will share how Salix works with local authorities on their net zero journeys, managing government funding schemes including the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to support the delivery of decarbonisation projects. We will explore the challenges and successes of the scheme to date, including case studies where low carbon heating systems and energy efficiency improvements have reduced carbon and helped create better places to work.

• Simon Pettett, Salix Finance

15.15 – 15.45   Test & learn approaches: Place Pilots – Public Property in Place – Nearing conclusion, ‘Place Pilots: Public Property in Place’, an Office of Government Property initiative, delivered through ‘One Public Estate *’ aimed to encourage all public asset owners in each place – central government organisations, councils and other public sector organisations – to explore opportunities by sharing future asset plans through multi-portfolio collaboration and embedding a stronger focus on strategic asset management, to optimise investment and support better public services. The ambitious initiative sought to test approaches in a range of authority scales and landscapes to deliver a ‘smaller, better, greener’ public estate, fostering collaboration and engagement across the public sector, particularly between local and central government bodies, to generate a more joined up approach to future public estate demand and supply, and collaborative service delivery. In this session we will explore the methods and emerging outcomes.

• Lindsay Whitley, One Public Estate, LGA

15.45 – 16.15   Domestic Retrofit at Scale and Place: Towards Solving the System Challenge with a Place-Based Intervention – Retrofitting our existing building stock is an urgent climate action needed to greatly reduce operational carbon emissions and conserve embodied carbon, by extending the life of existing buildings. It’s also an important part of climate adaptation. The urgency means that one building at a time will not be enough – this presentation gives an overview of how we are confronting the complex system challenge of retrofitting our housing stock at pace and scale.

• Chris Fridlington, Bolsover District Council

16.15 – 16.20   Chair’s wrap-up and closing remarks

16.20 – 17.20   Drinks reception

17.20   Conference close