Facilities and Property Service Update Report - Final
Renfrewshire Council · 11 June 2026
Back to Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy Board — 11 June 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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PUBLIC To: Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy Board On: 11 June 2026 Report by: Director of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure Heading: Facilities and Property Services - Service Update Report 1 Summary 1.1 Environment, Housing & Infrastructure brings together a range of Council services and activities, with both strategic and operational responsibilities. This report provides an operational performance update on Facilities Management (Hard and Soft Services), Building Services and Technical Services delivered by Environment, Housing & Infrastructure since the last Policy Board in April 2026. 1.2 Further information and details of service delivery can be found in a number of other reports being presented to the Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy Board today. 2 Recommendations It is recommended that members of the Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy Board: 2.1 Note the content of this report. 3 Operational Update Hard Facilities Management (Assets) 3.1 Development & Strategy 3.1.1 A new team has been established to drive, manage and oversee the use of Renfrewshire Council’s public building assets, including the delivery of the Strategic Property Programme (SPP). The SPP will work with all stakeholders within the Council across multiple workstreams (Learning Estate/OneRen/ HSCP/New Ways of Working/Sustainable Property Assets Group) to evolve the public building property portfolio to be leaner, fit for purpose, coordinated and in locations best to support future service delivery models to support the needs of
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PUBLIC residents, businesses and visitors within Renfrewshire. 3.1.2 The team will sit alongside the Hard FM function (compliance, repairs and maintenance) and includes a Lead Facilities Manager – Development and Strategy (Assets), an Asset Management Coordinator and will be led by an incoming Strategic Facilities Manager (Asset Management and Hard FM). 3.1.3 The Strategic Property Programme is a key part of the Property Asset Management Strategy Board paper that is also being presented to this Board. 3.1.4 The Assets team is currently establishing a Surplus Property Management Process alongside Estates to ensure Renfrewshire Council are compliant and meet our insurance obligations for properties that have been identified as ‘surplus’ for future sale, return to Landlord, or demolition. 3.1.5 A further strand to the work is the ‘New Ways of Working’ initiatives and funding has been discussed with colleagues in Finance to allow the Assets Development and Strategy (ADaS) team to support workplace change over the next year, with an aim to a wider programme being developed aligned with the SPP for full launch and communication in September 2027. 3.1.6 The ADaS team have been supporting the Renfrewshire Council Planning team with activities in relation to Local Place Plans across the 10 local Community Councils groups. These events have given insight into some of the Community asks and challenges faced across the region, with the aim being to incorporate potential changes within the 10-year Local Development Plan 3 – which will be prepared over the next year for submission to the Scottish Government – one particular challenge facing the plan is the requirement to identify Housing sites. Hard Facilities Management (Hard FM) 3.2 Public Buildings – Capital Projects 3.2.1 Following the commitment at the Council budget in February 2026 to provide £1.4m investment in school football pitches, preparation has started on the provision of 2 new artificial pitches for St Benedict’s HS and Linwood HS. This would ensure a 3G provision at all secondary schools in Renfrewshire. 3.2.2 Due to the PPP contract, discussions have started with AMEY and Renfrewshire Schools Partnership (RSP) to assess ground conditions and move forward. Site visits with architects were undertaken in April 2026 to agree final pitch dimensions and general layout ahead of final design submission. 3.3 Public Buildings - Lifecycle Replacement works 3.3.1 Works have progressed well this fiscal year and Officers continue to explore areas of investment across the estate. 3.3.2 The 26/27 Lifecycle Proposals for the PPP Schools estate have been received from Renfrewshire Schools Partnership. Final works have been agreed with a number of flooring and decoration works completed over the Easter break.
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PUBLIC 2025/26 (New Works) Site Work Required Hunterhill Care Home Replacement LED lighting Renfrew Care Home Replacement LED lighting Cochrane Castle Community Centre Replace fire alarm panel Trinity HS Air Conditioning in ICT suite Gryffe HS Replacement of 3 CCTV cameras Johnstone Town Hall Decoration of Social Work family rooms Bargarran/St John Bosco Campus Painting of hall Bridge of Weir PS Renewing flooring in office Renfrew HS Decoration works - painting Thorn PS Folding partition walls Johnstone HS Replacement of Emergency Lighting Renfrew HS Replacement of Emergency Lighting Bishopton PS Replacement of CCTV camera St Margaret’s PS Repair of CCTV camera 3.4 Public Buildings compliance – Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 3.4.1 Good performance across compliance tasks within the portfolio with Officers working to meet the 90% target, however, it fell slightly below at 87%. Officers continue to review and strive to increase performance at all times with a key focus on the management of contractors. 3.4.2 Compliance performance within the PPP Schools has continued at 100% for quarter 4 in 2026. 3.5 Public Buildings - Repairs data 3.5.1 The repairs profile remains as expected, as detailed below: 2026/27 Repairs Education Core Prestige OneRen Total 1005 239 110 47 1401 3.6 Responsive Repairs 3.6.1 The numbers shown below are only the repairs carried out by Building Services on behalf of Housing Services from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. These numbers are very similar to the total numbers at the same point in 2024/25.
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PUBLIC Housing Other categories not included in the figure above – 8948 Public Buildings repairs – 15062 *Assists (Two Operative Visit) – 3023 Therefore, the total number of repairs that Building Services operatives have been deployed to in 2025/26 is 102,867. 3.6.2 Repairs to Public Buildings outcome 2025-26 Building Services carry out responsive repairs across public buildings and OneRen properties across Renfrewshire. Each of the categories of repairs have improved from last year, however further work is required from both Building Services and Hard FM teams on urgent and routine repairs to bring them up to the required target levels. % OF REPAIRS COMPLETED WITHIN TARGET NEW Target comparison previous year 25/26 24/25 Emergency Completed (E) 24 hours 99% 96% 94.63% Urgent Completed (U5) 5 days 95% 59% 48.68% Routine Completed (A) 15 days 90% 82% 73.11% Programmed Completed 90 days 100% 99% 92.63% Planned 247 days 100% 100% 100.00%
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PUBLIC 3.6.3 Compliance - Public Buildings Building Services carry out compliance works across a number of areas. Element of compliance targets Comparison with Previous year 25/26 Electrical ( including MUGA's) 90% No data available 92%* Emergency lighting 90% No data available 88%* Water Management (including showers and swimming pools) 90% No data available 95% Gas 90% No data available 99% HVAC 90% No data available 93% Canopies 90% No data available 97% *48 electrical compliance certificates were still to be added to the system which would have increased the compliance level to to over 95% in both categories. 3.7 Voids 3.7.1 From April 2025 through March 2026, Building Services void team has received 2727 job orders, these are made up of: • lock changes • gas disconnections • full voids • reinstatement works after asbestos removal • gas central heating installations • property clearances and preliminary works 3.7.2 Despite increasing hours in work hours per void received, Building Services has continually performed to a standard which has seen a notable drop in turnaround times. Year Building Services Total Days (minus exceptions) 2022/23 22.3 2023/24 19.48 2024/25 19.48 2025/26 13.3 3.7.3 Building Services continue to use every available resource to ensure the timescales are being met, with reports showing the average void days for Building Services minus exemptions in 25/26 was 13.3 days as detailed above. This is the lowest we have achieved in the last 10 years.
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PUBLIC 3.8 Electrical Testing Programme Building Services has carried out over 4000 electrical tests in 2025-26 in various categories split as per the diagram below. From the electrical testing there is often remedial works to then be carried out below details that there were nearly 8000 remedial certificates issued following remedial works being carried out. 3.9 Kitchen and Boiler Programme 3.9.1 Building Services commenced a 5-year kitchen replacement and boiler renewal programme for Housing Services in August 2025. From the commencement of the programme to the 31 March 2026, Building Services have fitted 140 full new kitchens and 484 new boilers. 3.10 Gas Servicing 3.10.1 From April 2025 to the end of March 2026, the Building Services domestic gas servicing and repairs team carried out 11,867 gas services.
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PUBLIC 4 Soft Facilities Management (Soft FM) 4.1 School Meals 4.1.1 The annual school meal survey response has been received with over 750 individual replies providing insight to opinions regarding future menu choices for the next menu cycle which will be in place in August 2026. The received feedback has been beneficial in making immediate adjustments to some components of the current menu. 4.1.2 Vericool Pre-ordering APP introduced at Gleniffer HS on 20 April 2026. 4.2 Production Kitchens 4.2.1 St Annes PS, St Fillan's PS along with St John Ogilvie PS have been confirmed as returning to fully operational kitchens to improve performance or to manage current high demand. Minor work, with installation of new equipment has been completed and recruitment of new Senior Facilities Operatives- Production Cook’s is underway. This will further increase production kitchens by two with the decision to remove the production kitchen in Inchinnan Primary, due to the small school role and attendance. 4.3 Meal uptake P6-7 4.3.1 Work continues to focus on increasing the number of pupils accessing free school and paid meals in both primary and secondary schools. In primary schools, proposed adaptation to the menus to incorporate equivalent items which are provided in Secondary schools will target these class demographics to improve overall performance figures and address the current trend indicated in data highlighting a gradual decline in participation among older primary year groups. 4.3.2 As detailed in the Service Improvement Plan, the uptake for 2025/26 was: Indicator Target Performance 2025/26 % uptake of free school meals in primary schools 60% 59% % uptake of free school meals in secondary schools 42% 42.5% 4.3.3 At the Council budget meeting held on 26 February 2026, it was agreed to increase all Council fees and charges by 5%. As such, the cost of a school meal will increase across Primary and Secondary schools from August 2026. The price changes are noted below: • Primary School – Increase of 10p (£2.35 to £2.45) • Secondary School – Increase of 15p (£2.70 to £2.85) 4.4 Breakfast Provision 4.4.1 Engagement continues in relation to a free breakfast provision for all primary age pupils by August 2027 along with continued discussions with other Local Authorities and other Renfrewshire Council Departments who would require contributing to delivery such as Children's Service.
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PUBLIC 4.5 Cobotics 4.5.1 Building on the successful introduction of eight Cobotics scrubber dryers, the service has continued to invest in innovative cleaning solutions through the deployment of Cobotics vacuum technology. Seven mobile racks, each containing six autonomous vacuum units, have been introduced across secondary schools to support cleaning delivery. These Cobotics vacuums are designed to assist rather than replace staff by undertaking repetitive, labour-intensive floor cleaning, enabling cleaners to focus on quality-critical tasks such as sanitary areas and high-touch surfaces. This approach supports productivity, staff wellbeing and consistent service standards, while the mobility of the equipment allows redeployment to feeder schools to provide additional resilience during periods of staff absence or recruitment pressures. 5 Technical Services 5.1 Current Commissions 5.1.1 Officers within Technical Services continue to work across the Renfrewshire Council’s property portfolio and given the workload, major projects are reported to the respective Board e.g. Education and Children’s Services Board. Implications of the Report 1. Financial – Any financial elements referenced in this report will be progressed through the Council’s financial & budget planning process. 2. HR & Organisational Development – None 3. Community/Council Planning – the report details a range of activities which reflect local community and council planning themes. 4. Legal – As detailed within the report. 5. Property/Assets – As detailed within the report in relation to work on the Council property portfolio. 6. Information Technology - None 7. Equality & Human Rights – The recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. No negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights have been identified arising from the recommendations contained in the report. If required following implementation, the actual impact of the recommendations and the mitigating actions will be reviewed and monitored, and the results of the assessment will be published on the Council’s website. 8. Health & Safety – Advice and guidance is being given to protect the health and
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PUBLIC safety of employees and service users when carrying out priority services for the Council in line with government and health guidance. 9. Procurement – As noted within the report. 10. Risk – None 11. Privacy Impact – The Scottish Government have introduced legislation to allow the data sharing with local authorities in relation to parents/carers who receive the Scottish Child Payment. 12. COSLA Policy Position – None 13. Children’s Rights – Facilities and Property Services are essential in trying to assist and deliver in support of Children’s Rights. In particular, the report demonstrates compliance by ensuring buildings are suitable provides good educational establishments (Article 28 - Access to Education) and by delivering schools meals and nutritious food (Article 27 – Food, Clothing, and a safe home). 14. Climate Change – Parts of the work undertaken in this report will reduce carbon emissions and assist in trying the reach Net Zero targets by improving efficiency of current buildings and new buildings across the portfolio. List of Background Papers None Author: Gordon McNeil, Director of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure Email: gordon.mcneil@renfrewshire.gov.uk