Further detail

Implementation began in early 2024, overseen by the Estates Transformation team, involving the relocation of staff, operational moves, and property disposals. The process required compliance with all legislative obligations and active engagement with external stakeholders, staff, Trade Unions, and the Scottish Police Federation.

Early in 2024/2025, it became clear that a formal process was needed to guide estates projects from start to finish. A cross-functional working group, including Estates, HR, Corporate Communications, and Strategy, developed and refined a robust process using live projects. Despite some delay in board review due to leadership changes, the process was informally adopted and further amended over the following year.

After a thorough internal governance review and presentation to the Estates Priority Group, the process received formal approval from the National Estates Board on 28 October 2025. This now provides a consistent, transparent framework for managing all estates projects, ensuring statutory compliance, organisational reputation, and consideration for staff and the public.

The draft process received support from Unite and Unison, with recommendations for further review and consultation with the Scottish Police Federation. With formal approval, the next steps are to embed the process across all relevant projects, maintain active stakeholder engagement, and ensure ongoing review.

More detailed information about the process, including its steps and supporting documents, is available in the appendices to this report.