LocatED is, at heart, a commercial delivery organisation that aims to achieve both high quality outcomes for schools and value for money
LocatED is led by an experienced Executive Management Team and Board of Directors, who make the most of the knowledge, skills and experience of the workforce and have effective relationships with the market and key partners. The company is organised into the following core functions; acquisitions, asset management, development, technical and planning, legal, finance and people.
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THE PRIMARY ROLE OF LocatED IS TO:
Secure sites for new schools at the best market price
Drawing on extensive property sector knowledge, contacts and networks, the Acquisitions Team leads on the identification, appraisal and acquisition of temporary and permanent sites for new schools, commissioned by the Department for Education.
View our latest site requirements
Deliver school-led mixed-use developments
The Development Team manages the delivery of complex mixed-use developments in support of the efficient and cost-effective delivery of new schools. School-led mixed-use development schemes can make it viable to deliver new schools in dense urban areas, where the cost of land could otherwise be prohibitively high. Capital is generated from the sale of residential dwellings in the mixed-use scheme, which subsidises the cost of delivering the new school.
Manage sites
The Asset Management Team manages a portfolio of sites owned by the Department for Education. These sites have sometimes been acquired for new schools and are awaiting planning permission to be granted and development to begin, or vacant or unused for other reasons.
When the sites are vacant, the team proactively manages the portfolio to:
- Reduce costs associated with security and energy
- Identify properties for enhanced value, income generation opportunities and redevelopment
- Dispose of properties that are surplus to requirements.
Provide advice to the Department for Education and other bodies involved in education on property and site issues
LocatED’s in-house property experts provide advice to the Department for Education, education bodies, local authorities and other central government departments to support the provision of education in an efficient school estate. Examples of advisory work include:
- Working with multi academy trusts (MATs) single academies, faith and local authority schools that are interested in using development to help fund redevelopment and life cycle maintenance
- Providing Landlord advice to the Department for Education to ensure Landlord and Tenant obligations are met
- Engaging with school trusts to review facilities management delivery
- Strategic property advice to local authorities, FE colleges, other government departments and public bodies.
Help decarbonise the education estate
As part of the Department for Education’s sustainability and climate change strategy, LocatED is exploring how to decarbonise the education estate with the Net Zero Accelerator. The concept is to create a new service that will fund and deliver decarbonisation initiatives across the education estate. Still in its early stages, the aim is to provide responsible bodies across the country with a low burden service to address the net zero challenge, whilst reducing running costs and improving condition.
Lead a pilot to explore how surplus land in the school estate can help fund school improvements
In 2018, LocatED and the Department for Education’s Central Capital Unit launched a small-scale pilot to explore how to reconfigure a selection of school properties with surplus buildings or land. This programme will unlock funds to support additional capital investment in school buildings and, in turn, release land for homes. The pilot focuses on areas of England with high or very high housing need, with the potential to include affordable housing. All projects will include improvements to sports facilities and any works will always be the school and landowner’s choice.
We will continue to develop a pipeline of post-pilot projects.
LocatED continues to work with the Department for Education to explore how it can develop its services to support the provision of education.