Campus Portfolio Asset Review and Development of Asset Development Strategy
New City College (NCC), a Further Education and Higher Education college group in East London and Essex, sought to develop an Asset Development Strategy (ADS) as a key part of a proactive approach to the College’s campus sites across the capital and beyond. The aims of the strategy were to:
- Ensure the ongoing provision of high-quality services from the asset base
- Explore options to create more educational capacity, and
- Better understand opportunities to divest surplus land.
The college had a clear preference to deliver the ADS through income from surplus land and securing funding from various sources, rather than through the use of borrowing.
31ten was commissioned to produce the ADS, and as part of the approach in developing the strategy, review and appraise individual campus sites to determine the potential to increase student capacity and/or release value from surplus land.
Using Vestega, our proptech land valuation tool, we modelled the estate and the various land holdings, and provided early-stage land value estimates for the NCC campus sites.
The Role
Our approach covered four stages and included the following key tasks:
- Desktop review of key documents
- Meeting with the Curriculum, Management Information System (MIS) and Estates teams to obtain operational data
- Site visits to all campus sites
- Check and challenge workshops to confirm objectives and outcomes, to generate the development scenarios for each site
- Undertaking comprehensive analytics and appraisals on each site
We supported the college in generating development scenarios for each individual site, together with operational considerations for how this development could be enabled, including consolidation of educational provision and car park rationalisation, both on and off-site.
We were able to look at the development capacity of each site and then the portfolio as a whole, and run scenario testing to provide NCC with baseline and optimistic scenarios that captured the potential costs and values of the development scenario over a 10 year period. We also provided analysis of phasing requirements and the prioritisation of capital investment which would be required.
The outputs from our work included a suite of documents:
- Final report
- Asset development strategy
- Individual site-by-site appraisals
- Phasing and development programme
- 10-year cash flow programme
Key Outcomes
Our work provided NCC with:
- A dynamic, live Asset Development Strategy that supports future governance and decision making and improves oversight of the capital programme
- An understanding of the potential development capacity of individual sites and the redevelopment value that could be generated from the disposal of part or all of each site
- The preferred development scenario for each site that will also create better student and educational outcomes through improved facilities for learning
- A prioritised Development and Work Plan that enables the planning and allocation of NCC resources for delivery
- A cashflow forecast as a live tool for financial planning and reporting
- A series of recommendations at a portfolio and individual campus site level to deliver the strategy
The 31ten team delivered an excellent piece of work for New City College. All our objectives and outcomes were clearly understood and the team’s contributions clearly structured, insightful, and positioned within the context of their wider market experience. They brought a rare combination of strategic thinking and practical delivery, consistently adding value through responsiveness and attention to detail. The diversity of skills and backgrounds within the team was a real strength, allowing them to approach the work from multiple angles and exceed expectations. We wouldn’t hesitate to work with them again.
Sogand Howard
Senior Development Manager, Capital Projects – New City College
