- What Ministry of Justice appoints Cushman & Wakefield to oversee 2,250-property estate
- Why MoJ has been streamlining its estate over the last seven years
- What next Cushman will help the government body to maximise efficiency across its portfolio
The Ministry of Justice has appointed Cushman & Wakefield to oversee its £7.5bn occupational real estate portfolio across the UK, React News can reveal.
The body’s Estates Directorate has appointed the agent to provide national estates professional services in the UK.
The MoJ Estates Directorate manages 2,250 properties across the UK held by multiple governmental organisations, encompassing the Home Office and MoJ, including Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service. The cluster accounts for a significant proportion of the government’s civil service estate.
The contract was last put out to tender in 2013, after which the MoJ assembled a team of agents to help rationalise its then £8.5bn property portfolio in the UK.
The judicial body concluded a 15-month tender process by hiring a raft of advisors to streamline its HQ and administration buildings across its then 2,850 sites nationwide.
The estates management panel helped slash the MoJ’s 25 London HQ buildings to four, and reduced its occupational footprint as leases expired and it moved to adopt flexible workspace across its estate. It also helped the MoJ deliver on its target of disposing of 150 court buildings in the UK.
Cushman & Wakefield’s appointment follows a competitive tender process run under the Crown Commercial Services’ Estates Professional Services framework.
The contract will be managed by Cushman primarily through its global occupier services (GOS) and public sector advisory team service lines. The firm will manage the entire Ministry of Justice cluster portfolio, including acquisitions, disposals, lease renewals, rent reviews and liaison with landlords and intra-government and wider public sector occupancy agreements, including managing and collecting payments for rents, rates, insurances and service charges.
Richard Golding, head of GOS UK, Cushman & Wakefield, told React News: “We are delighted to have been appointed to support MoJ Estates Directorate at this exciting time of estate transformation for the cluster. Our teams have a long track record of partnering with the public sector to deliver efficient, sustainable and fit-for-purpose property, securing value for money for the public purse. We are extremely proud to be the leading provider of estates services to central government, also supporting the Department for Work & Pensions and HM Revenue & Customs.”
