In this edition of the Government Property Group newsletter – we explore the future of government workplaces; keep up to date with the work on the Government Office Accommodation Programme; and find out more about the Government Property Portal updates.

We have been working on updating the Government standard lease (complex and the less complex gross versions). In particular, we have considered clauses that have been impacted by recent legislative or market change. We have circulated the updated templates to agencies at the end of October, with a request for feedback by the end of November.

Read more about the contract automation project

NABERSNZ

In the last newsletter, we indicated we were going to consult on NABERSNZ guidance in August. However due to the prioritisation of COVID-19 and pending timeframes we have published the NABERSNZ guidance on our website. You are welcome to provide feedback on this guidance, please email our property team.

Read more about energy efficient buildings and NABERSNZ

Government office branding

The consultation on Government office branding closed on 30 October 2020. We really appreciate the insightful and constructive feedback we received. We are currently considering all the feedback and will publish the outcome before the end of the year.

Auckland Accommodation Programme - Manukau

Auckland’s urban regeneration agency, Panuku Development Auckland, have been working with Transform Manukau on the rejuvenation of Manukau and the potential development of a new Crown office campus.

We are engaging with the market to identify developments that could meet the requirements of agencies in the CBD of Manukau.

Government workplace strategy

Watch this space for an update on the Government workplace strategy in our next newsletter.

Property information current and updated

Now is the time to make sure that your property information, lease records and cost data are current and accurate. This will ensure we start in our new version of the software with a clean slate, as we prepare for our move to a new version of the GPP.

Re-launch of a modernised Government Property Portal

We are excited to let you know that work on the improvements to the GPP is advancing well. The leasing model, as the first big change, is nearing the finishing line. We are in the final stages of testing and planning for deployment and are targeting a release in the near future.

Here is a reminder of what you will see under the new development:

• a new lease console that will bring your access and information together in one place
• overall change to the look and feel for a more intuitive navigation experience
• new landing (home) page and dashboards that display infometrics on trends and changes to your portfolio, as well as shortcuts to commonly used functions, and
• a reduction in the number of reports.

These enhancements offer a simplified and improved user experience. They will make it easier to enter data, display information and understand your portfolio at a glance.

Agency engagements and training sessions

We have postponed our on-site training sessions. However, we will give you a sneak peek of some of the more significant changes of the GPP updates. Look out for an invite to a webinar towards the middle of November. We will follow this with more training before and after the launch.

We are here to help build capability within the system and for those who require assistance with updating property information, to ensure the information held is aligned and consistent with the requirements of the lease management standards and guidelines.

Read our lease management standards and guidelines

If you have any questions about the GPP, please email the GPP team.

Five of the ten sector meetings have been held over the past month. The key themes of the discussions so far are as follows:

• The smaller agencies welcome the support of and access to property capability within the larger agencies in their sector.
• All agencies are represented in the Wellington CBD and as such there is the opportunity for co-location alignment of sectors to improve collaboration and reduce the need for smaller agencies to have to source and manage property leases and facilities.
• Agencies are keen to have access to seismic guidance to provide consistency of application of assessments and application of assessments post an event.
• The COVID-19 lockdown created the opportunity for agencies to trial new ways of working. Agencies are keen to learn off each other rather than have to reinvent the wheel. The ‘new normal’ will have a stronger focus on staff health and wellbeing by including more flexibility about how and where staff work.

The remaining five sector meetings will be held over the next month.

The last meeting was held on Thursday 15th October at our new premises in Pastoral House (PH), 25 The Terrace. If you have not received invites to these meetings, please contact your agency’s assigned Property Portfolio Specialist (PPS).

Pastoral House is a newly refurbished, totally flexible working site with no assigned desks. There was a presentation highlighting the key design aspects followed by a tour of one of the floors. Other topics covered were:

• Sneak preview of the Government Property Portal lease module enhancements.
• Presentation of GPG seismic guidance including:
  • Consistency of assessment (standards / guidelines).
  • Consistency of application of assessments post an event (decision making).
• Overview of the key changes to the updated Standard Government Deed of Lease template.
• Update on new GPG guidelines covering office branding and NABERSNZ.
• Latest brokering map (surplus and required Government office space).

Property definitions

We have added a list of key property definitions to our website that supports the property guidelines, standards and reports.

Property definitions