Facilities and Property Service Update Report - to committee 020924

Renfrewshire Council · 12 September 2024
Back to Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy Board — 12 September 2024 and its agenda

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To: Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy Board
On: 12 September 2024 
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 Property Services delivered by Environment,
Housing & Infrastructure since the last Policy Board in June 2024. 
2 Recommendations
It is recommended that members of the Finance, Resources and Customer Services
Policy Board: 
2.1 Notes the content of this report. 
3 Operational Update 
Hard Facilities Management (Hard FM) 
3.1 Capital/Lifecycle Projects 
3.1.1 Following a review of the Core Facts property condition surveys (5 yearly checks
across the Learning Estate), a prioritised list of work is being prepared to upgrade
some schools. Initial discussions have taken place recently with our Property
Services colleagues on how this may be taken forward. Reports are currently being
reviewed, further inspections by Officers and development of a full scope of works
and program as required in the future. These properties will be added to other

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schools where lifecycle works have previously been identified. 
3.1.2 Core Facts condition surveys commenced throughout the PPP Schools estate in
July 2024 with reports expected soon from Renfrewshire Schools Partnership
(RSP). As well as addressing the Core Facts requirements for the Scottish
Government return, these surveys to be used to plan for long term Lifecycle
Maintenance works. 
3.1.3 Hard FM has identified some work packages that will align with the community halls
investment as agreed within the Council budget in March 2024:
• Langbank Village Hall – Circa £25k on resurfacing of the car park and
installation of external lighting. (Proposed completion - Autumn 24)
• Howwood Village Hall – painting of external doors and render works. 
3.1.4 A further update will be provided to this Policy Board once the process and projects
are known. 
3.2 Lifecycle Replacement works 
3.2.1 The following commissions have been progressed/completed since the previous
Board:
• £250k set aside for Various Council wide minor upgrade works, as below
(this list is indicative - some works have yet to be fully explored and
agreed). 
Site
Type of
Work  Work Required
Status 
Gallowhill PS  New door
Fit new metal external fire
door
Complete 
Mary Russell  Roof works
Fit ventilation to main
corridor and renew felt
Complete
Gryffe HS New door Fit new metal external door Complete 
Trinity HS  Vinyl
Renew carpet for vinyl -
Very poor condition/trip
incident
Complete
Arkleston Residential
Unit  Roof works
Renew Facia and soffits and
maybe gutters
Await Revised
Costs
Barochan Residential
Unit  Roof works
Renew Facia and soffits and
maybe gutters
Await Revised
Costs
Beechwood Community
Centre  Roof works  Roof repair and Canopy
To start (PTS)
Love Street Disability
Resource Centre  Car Park  Resurface Car Park
To start
Johnstone Castle
Community Centre  Roof works  New roof in the stage area
Await Revised
Costs 
Community Meals  Flooring
Kitchen - renew vinyl floor
overnight in a 10 hour
window
To start
Gleniffer Braes Country
Park  Gates  Replace miracle span gate
To start (PTS)

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Lochwinnoch Library  Roof works
Some areas above the plant
room beyond repair / maybe
all roof required
Await Costs
Renfrewshire House
Car Park Barrier  Security  New car park barrier
Complete 
Renfrewshire House
Roof Repairs  Roof works 
Repairs to roof leaks on 5th
floor
Complete –
monitor
outcomes 
St Catherines PS  Flooring
Renew flooring in office area
following drainage leak
Complete 
St Mary's PS  Roof works
Renew section of roofing
above kitchen
Delayed –
structural issues
Mile End Centre Car Park Potholes In progress
Anchor Centre Car Park Potholes In progress
Lochwinnoch Nursery fence gates Alter gate To start (PTS)
Lochfield ELCC fence gates New fence To start (PTS)
Langbank Village Hall Car Park Potholes 80% complete 
Langbank Village Hall
External
Lighting  New bollards, wall lights
To start 
Newmains PS
Lining car
park  Thermoplastic lining
Complete 
Other works include:
• Gallowhill Primary School - Toilet upgrades (complete)
• Lochfield Primary School – Removal of wall and erection of new fence
(or wall) – Status - To be arranged. Resident engagement on going
• Underwood Road Depot – interconnection of all fire alarm panels. Status
– Scope of Works in progress
• Howwood Primary School – historic water ingress. (Ongoing –
roof covering latent defect under warranty noted and fixed but
still water ingress)
• Howwood Primary School – repainting of dining hall (complete – related
to above)
• Bishopton Primary School – Repainting of corridors and installation of
half height wall boards.
• Renfrewshire House – Structural steel replacement (complete) 
PPP Lifecycle works:
• St Andrews Academy – Synthetic pitch replacement
• St Andrews Academy – Main boys toilet refurbishment
• Gleniffer High School – 3 x domestic hot water heaters replaced
• Todholm Nursery – ground levelling & grass reinstatement works
• Todholm Primary School – fence replacement at pitch
• Woodlands Primary School – grass pitch reinstatement works
• All 9 sites – Ongoing flooring replacement & decoration works
• All 9 sites – External render repair and decoration works 
3.2.2 The Hard FM team are currently working on the following commissions:
• Ferguslie Sports Centre – Handover of refurbished building
• Children’s Services – Various upgrades and fencing works within the

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school estate
• Trinity High School – replacement ceiling and lighting within dining hall
(complete)
• West Primary School – Painting of school following rewire (on going)
• Riverbrae School – internal painting
• Unwanted Fire Alarm System (UFAS) upgrade – signaling and fire alarm
panel modification across the estate.
• St Peters Primary School – boiler renewal (complete)
• St Peters Primary School – rebuild of wall and stairs following road traffic
accident.
3.3 Compliance – Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
3.3.1 Overall performance for this period is 84%. Whilst performance remains strong, staff
changes within Building Services (electrical supervision and electrical certification
approvals) have impacted this, however, Officers remain confident figures will
improve, catch up and will align nearer to targets. Removing this specific task
(electrical inspection) from the calculation, results in an overall performance increase
to 89%.
Overall performance for this period continues at 100% within the PPP Schools
estate.
Contractor performance remains an ongoing challenge, however, Officers continue to
proactively manage contracts. To help deliver this, and to drive efficiency and best
value, Officers continue to hold regular contractor review meetings (monthly) to
ensure planned tasks are met and certification is issued timeously.
The Lightning Protection Contract is due for renewal, however, there are ongoing
concerns over contractor performance. Officers are monitoring this, discussed with
the contractor and have insisted standards must improve before any contract
extension is considered (impacting KPI return).
The covered lightning protection pit at Gleniffer High School has been detected, cleared of
rubber tarmac surface to facilitate future testing and has been successfully tested to bring the
lightning protection system to full compliance.
3.4 Public Buildings Repairs data
3.4.1 The repairs profile remains as expected, as detailed below for 2024/25:
2024/25
Repairs
Education Core Prestige OneRen Total
2046 914 238 160 3358

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3.5 Fire Safety
3.5.1 All fire risk assessments in sleeping accommodation have now concluded. Officers
are reviewing the reports and actioning any items that will mitigate and lessen the
overall fire risk for each property.
3.6 Building - Responsible Persons
3.6.1 A review of the responsible persons for properties is currently underway. An internal
Officer Group has been established between Facilities and Property Services (Hard
FM, Soft FM, Property Services), Corporate Health and Safety and HSCP. This will
ensure that all responsibilities are understood, and maintenance is actioned quickly
via the Corporate Asset Management Information System (CAMIS). This is ongoing,
with the service liaising with senior managers with properties details having been
sent to services for them to populate and return.
3.7 Responsive Repairs
3.7.1 The chart below shows the overall volume of repairs for the Quarter 1 of 2024/25
for responsive repairs reported by tenants. In total there were 17,898 individual
repairs for housing clients which is with 6105 of these being classed as an
emergency (attendance within 4 or 24 hours), of these 1706 were attended out of
working hours. These are only the repairs that Building Services attended as there
are other repairs that will be issued directly to other contractors.
3.7.2 Comparing to the same point in both 2022/23 and 2023/24, the total number of
repairs in Quarter 1 in 2024/25 has increased by 9.5%. This is directly due to an
overall increase in the number of repairs reported.
Total
number
of repairs
Financial
Year Quarter
16,482 2022/23 Quarter 1
17,282 2022/23 Quarter 2
21,413 2022/23 Quarter 3
22,121 2022/23 Quarter 4
16,340 2023/24 Quarter 1
16,989 2023/24 Quarter 2
19,397 2023/24 Quarter 3
20,687 2023/24 Quarter 4
Total
number
of repairs
Financial
Year Quarter
17,898 2024/25 Quarter 1
Quarter 2
Quarter 3
Quarter 4

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3.7.3 The productivity across the responsive repairs teams has been monitored and assessed
weekly from November 2023. The graph shows the tracking of the average number of jobs
completed per operative per day. The industry average is 4.5 jobs, per operative, per day and
Building Services have been consistently above this level.

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3.8 Domestic Gas Servicing 
3.8.1 In Quarter 1 of 2024/25, the domestic gas servicing and repairs team carried out
3,158 gas services. This is broadly in line with the gas services carried out over the
same period in 2022/23 and 2023/24. 
3.9 Voids 
3.9.1 The figures below are only for Building Services only and does not include any external
contractors who also carry out void works for our colleagues in Housing Services.
Comparing 2022/23 with 2023/24 shows that the numbers of completed voids has
remained high despite the very large increase in full central heating installs now being
required. 
The average number of days that Building Services takes to carry out all of the void
works required is 15 days despite the average number of hours of work required
within a void house to bring it to the lettable standard remaining consistently high. 
Financial
Year  Quarter 
Total number of
completed voids
*Inclusive
Gas Central
Heating
(GCH) install
*Inclusive
Asbestos
Removal
(ASB RE)
Preliminary
Works
2022/23 Quarter 1 183 25 27 176
2022/23 Quarter 2 199 38 22 138
2022/23 Quarter 3 144 19 20 126
2022/23 Quarter 4 208 19 3 210
2023/24 Quarter 1 245 26 13 141
2023/24 Quarter 2 208 25 25 145
2023/24 Quarter 3 243 34 9 190
2023/24 Quarter 4 225 31 32 264
Total
number
of
services 
Financial
Year  Quarter
2,952 2022/23 Quarter 1
3,533 2022/23 Quarter 2
2,379 2022/23 Quarter 3
3,780 2022/23 Quarter 4
3,083 2023/24 Quarter 1
3,202 2023/24 Quarter 2
2,771 2023/24 Quarter 3
3,701 2023/24 Quarter 4 
Total
number
of
Services 
Financial
Year  Quarter
3,158 2024/25 Quarter 1

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Financial
Year  Quarter 
Total number of
completed voids
*Inclusive
Gas Central
Heating
(GCH) install
*Inclusive
Asbestos
Removal
(ASB RE)
Preliminary
Works
2024/25 Quarter 1 233 48 20 192 
Quarter 2     
Quarter 3     
Quarter 4     
3.10 Electrical Testing programme 
3.10.1 As part of the on-going electrical compliance requirement of landlords, Building
Services, and other external contractors, have been working in partnership with
Housing Services colleagues to carry out the statutory 5-year check of electrics
within every tenanted household across Renfrewshire (approx.12,200 houses). 
3.10.2 On behalf of Housing Services, Building Services have fully electrically tested
4,045 houses since the start of the programme in 2021. Following the initial
electrical test there are often remedial electrical works requiring to be undertaken.
This follow on work is carried out on an appointment basis with the tenant. 
3.10.3 The list of houses that currently require electrical testing has now been exhausted
with only the households that have not yet engaged to make an appointment
following the extensive lettering programme. Therefore, in order to ensure the
councils compliance, the outstanding homes have moved to the forced entry
process. 
3.11 Apprentices/Training 
3.11.1 Building Services has now recruited 6 youth electrical apprentices, 1 youth joiner
apprentice and 1 adult plumbing apprentice and they all commenced their college
training in August 2024. This will hopefully allow Building Services to grow our
own staff and minimize the use of external agencies. 
Financial
Year  Quarter
Number of
electrical
tests
competed
2022/23 Quarter 1 639
2022/23 Quarter 2 280
2022/23 Quarter 3 42
2022/23 Quarter 4 187
2023/24 Quarter 1 77
2023/24 Quarter 2 163
2023/24 Quarter 3 471
2023/24 Quarter 4 382 
Financial
Year  Quarter
Number of
electrical
tests
competed
2024/25 Quarter 1 395 
Quarter 2 
Quarter 3 
Quarter 4

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3.11.2 Building Services have also been working closely with our colleagues in
Economic Development and have also been able to offer to adopt a 2nd year
electrical apprentice recently made redundant.
3.11.3 Two Facilities Technical Supervisors have recently passed their second year of
the Honour degree programme in Business Management.
3.11.4 Building Services are working closely with the Princes Trust and currently have 3
trainees carrying out work experience for a period of 2 weeks.
Soft Facilities Management (Soft FM)
4.1 Capital Works
4.1.1 Additional Capital award from Scottish Government of £1.5 million has been received
to facilitate provision of Free School Meal to pupils in P6-7 whose families are
eligible for Scottish Child Payment (SCP).
4.1.2 This additional Capital funding proposes kitchen upgrades focusing on 5 schools:
• Heriot Primary School, Foxbar
• St Margaret’s Primary school, Johnstone
• Our Lady of Peace Primary School, Linwood
• Kilbarchan Primary School, Kilbarchan
• Howwood Primary school, Howwood
4.1.3 Work is underway with colleagues within Property Services (Technical Unit) to
assess the resource required to commence work as quickly as possible, with a
proposed completion date of August 2025 (resource dependent).
4.2 School Meals
4.2.1 New Primary School menus were implemented in June 2024, previously awarded Bronze
Prov-veg award and currently being reviewed for Food for Life Bronze status. New
Secondary menu was implemented from 1 September 2024. New Primary School menus are
scheduled for implementation in October 2024 within the PPP School estate.
4.2.2 In line with the new Secondary School menu, a new App is being introduced in all Secondary
Schools, which will give pupils the ability to see their ParentPay account balance. This will
encourage responsible spending and reduce negative account balances. The App will also
have the facility for pupils to pre order from the snack menu, allowing the FM staff to prepare
orders in advance, which will reduce queues and waiting times at breaks.
4.2.3 Improvements to Johnstone High School dining hall were completed in time for new school
term in August 2024. Upgrades to flooring and wall decoration along with new, modern dining
room furniture, developed in conjunction with pupils from the school were implemented. The
aim is to improve the dining room experience and encourage an increase in both paid and
free school meal uptake.

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4.3 Collaborative Robotics (Cobotics)
4.3.1 Over the last 6 months, Soft Facilities Management has been exploring the use of Robotic
Scrubber Dryers and Sweepers. The service has been working with contractors to identify the
best machines currently on the market. A facilitated demonstration of two machines has been
undertaken to date, with both machines performing well during the trials.
4.3.2 The plan would be to use the robotic machines to clean large areas, such as games halls,
dining halls, corridors, and large vestibules areas in larger school premises. This has
been shown to provide a more efficient and effective clean of the area and this would also
allow current staff to focus on other areas within the premise. A business case continues
to be worked on to demonstrate the benefits of the additional cost and detail the long-
term benefit of the change to Renfrewshire Council and the associated properties.
4.3.3 Highland Council, Dumfries & Galloway Council and Shetland Council have offered to
provide Renfrewshire Council with an extended trial of their new Scrubber Dryer to
assess effectiveness.
4.3.4 The plan is to trial the Scrubber Dryer for 2 weeks in Park Mains High and gather
feedback on its performance from the Facilities Management staff. Gaining feedback from
staff is essential and will allow the service to understand if the introduction of this type of
technology will support them in their role.
4.4 Montrose Care Home
4.4.1 The service has been working in partnership with HSCP to support the relocation of FM staff
to alternative locations due to the closure of Montrose Care Home. Employee engagement
has been concluded and preferred choice of future work location agreed. The transition will
occur over the coming weeks in line with the rehousing of residents to Hunterhill and Renfrew
Care Homes.
4.5 Soft FM Recruitment Event (Park Mains High School)
4.5.1 Soft FM recently held a recruitment event to promote and recruit for over 40 vacant posts
within Erskine and the surrounding villages. The event highlighted the great collaboration
between various internal and external partners including the Marketing Team, Recruitment
Team, Invest Renfrewshire, the Operational Management Team and the Soft FM support
team.
• The Marketing Team provided communications support to promote the event via
multiple platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Renfrewshire Council web page, My
Job Scotland as well as designing posters and flyers for the event.
• The recruitment team provided assistance on the day helping candidates to navigate
the recruitment process.
• Invest Renfrewshire assisted candidates to complete their application forms if they
hadn’t applied via My Job Scotland.
• The Operational Managers made up the interview panels on the day of the event.

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• Soft FM support team were the link between Soft FM and our internal and external
partners.
4.5.2 As a result of the hard work undertaken by all, the event attracted a high number of
candidates, with 24 posts being filled on the day and a further 7 in the days that followed. Due
to the success, consideration will be given to running these events in other locations where
there are hard to fill posts.
4.6 Increase the use of High School facilities at weekend and holidays
4.6.1 A review of the sports facilities in Secondary Schools is underway by Renfrewshire Council
(Soft FM) and OneRen to increase and staff lets at weekends and holiday periods.
4.6.2 OneRen already manage and staff the sports facilities in the Secondary Schools listed below:
• Renfrew High School
• Park Mains High School
• Johnstone High School.
4.6.3 The 3 Secondary Schools below have outdoor sports facilities that are used at weekends and
holiday periods. The lets are currently staffed by Soft FM, however, weekends and holiday
periods are not part of core working hours for janitorial staff, so all lets are covered using
overtime.
• Trinity High School
• Gryffe High School
• Castlehead High School
4.6.4 OneRen and Soft FM are looking at possibility of OneRen taking over the responsibility of
covering the lets at weekends and holiday periods, as OneRen employees already work shift
patterns covering weekends throughout the year. This would reduce overtime costs and
significantly increase availability of sports facilities at the weekend and holiday periods.
Property Services
5.1 Current Commissions
5.1.1 Officers within Property 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.
5.2 Castlehead High School - RAAC
5.2.1 As previously reported to the Board, the tender for strengthening the RAAC has been
awarded and works commenced on 3 June 2024. Works are well on-track and have
continued throughout the Summer to complete the works by the contract completion
date of end of September 2024.

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5.3 McKillop Institute
5.3.1 Officers have been liaising with Elected Members and hall users to improve the
acoustics within the hall wherever possible. Design solution agreed as acoustic
drapes and all general builders work now complete. Specialist AV installer now due
on site to install brackets, rails and measure for acoustic drapes. These will be
bespoke manufacture and are on four (4) weeks delivery with installation planned by
September 2024.
5.4 Renfrewshire House Car Park
5.4.1 Remedial works to Renfrewshire House car park are now complete and the car park
is now fully operational with all diversions removed.
5.5 Renfrewshire House Ventilation works
5.5.1 Ventilation works to the third floor of Renfrewshire House are now 100% complete,
all relevant officers have been trained in the system and it is fully operational and
functioning correctly. This will allow an increased capacity for training and for Officers
to use these rooms better.
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 – None
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
safety of employees and service users when carrying out priority services for the

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Council in line with government and health guidance. 
9. Procurement – As noted within the report. 
10. Risk – None 
11. Privacy Impact – None 
12. COSLA Policy Position – None 
13. Climate Change – None 
14. Children’s Rights – Facilities and Property Services are essential in trying to
assist and deliver against Children’s Rights. In particular, by ensuring buildings are
suitable provides good educational establishments (Right to Education) and by
delivering schools meals and nutritious food (Measures to Reduce Food Poverty). 
List of Background Papers – None 
Author: Gordon McNeil, Director of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure
Email: gordon.mcneil@renfrewshire.gov.uk