NHS Property Services (NHSPS) has launched a ‘vacant space handback scheme’ to help NHS commissioners cut the cost of empty space in their buildings.
Qualifying properties must be deemed surplus to NHS requirements and may be relet, disposed of, or considered as a development opportunity.
In launching the Vacant Space Handback Scheme, NHSPS says that while ‘difficult to calculate’, the annual cost of maintaining vacant space in the NHS is reckoned to be over £10 million on the NHS Property Services estate.
John Westwood, NHSPS director of Asset Management (pictured), added: “This is an example of how we are applying commercial property expertise for the NHS’s benefit.” To qualify, space must have been transferred to NHSPS as part of the 2013 health reforms, and be:
- A separable and lettable selfcontained unit above 100 m2.
- Declared surplus to requirements by commissioners.
- Vacant and free of debt.
- Not a PFI.
- In a property in which NHSPS has a legal interest.
Handing back the vacant space must also be ‘in line with the commissioner’s ongoing strategic estate plans’. If a property is eligible, NHSPS takes on its future costs, risks, and opportunities, following a one-off final payment.