CP2248-22 One Public Estate Devon Office Hubs Phase 2

Devon County Council (DCC) acts as the legal entity and project management structure for Devon and Torbay One Public Estate Partnership. (OPE) There is currently an underspend within the Devon and Torbay One Public Estate Partnership which is planned to be reallocated to Devon Office Hubs Phase 2.

Devon Office Hubs project looks to rationalise use of the public sector estate by exploring opportunities for colocation of public sector services and partnership working. With the national shift towards hybrid working, the need for office space has reduced, so effective usage of the current provision would allow public sector organisations to release or repurpose excess space.

Devon Office Hubs Phase 1, which was produced by Placemaking as the tendered consultants, produced a series of recommendations and next steps for the second phase of the project. These form the basis of the specification for Phase 2. This includes zeroing in on the four identified opportunities for Office Hubs - Exeter, Tiverton, Barnstaple, and Newton Abbot - to create roadmaps for how each of those projects would come forward. Those roadmaps will include consideration of the individual challenges of each hub, the financing required and how this would be sourced, created a project plan including timescales and risk assessments, and calculating the benefits of each hub.