Reshaping the Public Estate: Insights from The National FM in the Public Sector Conference

The National Facilities Management in the Public Sector Conference and Exhibition 2025 in London brought together some of the most influential voices in government, facilities management, and the built environment. Against the backdrop of the Government Property Strategy 2022–2030, the event highlighted both the scale of challenges facing the UK’s public estate and the opportunities for innovation, collaboration, and smarter decision-making.

Setting the Scene: Delivering the Government Property Strategy

The day opened with Meredith May, Deputy Director at the Office of Government Property, who set the tone with an overview of progress on the Government Property Strategy 2022–2030. Her keynote underscored the ambition to deliver high-performing public assets that are sustainable, resilient, and citizen-focused.

Meredith emphasized the urgency of addressing maintenance backlogs, adapting estates to Net Zero goals, and embedding smarter working practices. The vision is not just about reducing costs but about ensuring that public buildings become enablers of public service delivery. For estates and FM leaders, that means moving beyond traditional property management and embracing data-driven planning, flexible workplace models, and cross-sector collaboration.

At YAROOMS, we see this shift in practice every day. By enabling desk and room booking, hybrid work planning, and real-time utilization analytics, our Workplace Management Platform equips public sector organizations to optimize estate use and align with the long-term strategy for a more agile, efficient, and sustainable public estate.

A Wide Range of Sector Insights

The agenda throughout the day brought forward a wide spectrum of challenges and opportunities for public sector estates, including:

• Lessons from managing high-risk and dangerous facilities, with examples from Grenfell and the prison estate.
• Practical interventions to support sustainability, such as retrofitting buildings and making thoughtful design choices.
• Evolving expectations around public sector sustainability reporting and regulatory compliance.
• The critical role of remote monitoring, smart technologies, and IoT in improving efficiency and carbonizing public assets.
• How FM must transform from a reactive service into a strategic partner in delivering excellent public services.

Together, these sessions built a strong case for innovation and adaptability across the sector, supported by digital tools and data-led insights.

Addressing Backlogs and Building Resilience

One of the most impactful sessions came from Maria-Christina Eskioglou, Senior Audit Manager at the National Audit Office (NAO). She examined the scale of maintenance backlogs across public service facilities and their impact on service delivery, safety, and compliance. The risks of underinvestment in the estate are clear: deteriorating assets not only compromise efficiency but also threaten the resilience of critical public services.

Maria-Christina argued that condition-based and preventative maintenance, powered by data and technology, is the only viable way forward. Rather than reacting to failures, public bodies must prioritize investment strategically, supported by accurate data on asset performance and long-term planning needs.

YAROOMS directly supports this shift by offering workplace analytics that provide visibility into occupancy patterns, utilization, and space condition trends. By linking booking behavior with estate data, public sector leaders can make better decisions on where to allocate resources, plan maintenance proactively, and ultimately reduce backlog pressures.

Self-guided tour of YAROOMS workplace analytics. Click on the image to access the Demo Center.

From Bricks and Mortar to Public Service

Equally powerful was the session from Hadleigh Standen, Deputy Director of Property Programmes at the Office of Government Property. He challenged attendees to move beyond viewing estates as “bricks and mortar” and instead see them as critical enablers of public service delivery.

Hadleigh called for a systemic approach to estate management — one that prioritises the experience of citizens and public servants, embraces collaboration, and uses insights from reviews like the NAO’s to drive transformation. He encouraged asset and FM leaders to adopt new ways of working and to see estate strategy as directly tied to policy outcomes and community wellbeing.

This message aligns closely with YAROOMS’ philosophy: estates are not just physical spaces but ecosystems that shape how people work, collaborate, and deliver value. Our platform helps organisations operationalise this vision by providing tools for hybrid work scheduling, visitor management, and digital wayfinding, all underpinned by a secure, GDPR- and ISO-certified infrastructure. By making estates more user-friendly and data-rich, YAROOMS helps the public sector align estate management with public service excellence.

Closing Thoughts

The Public Sector Estates & FM Show 2025 made one thing clear: reshaping the UK’s public estate requires more than incremental improvements. It requires bold thinking, smart technologies, and a data-first approach.

Whether it’s tackling maintenance backlogs, embedding Net Zero, or creating flexible workplaces, the public sector must embrace innovation to make estates safer, more sustainable, and more impactful for citizens.

At YAROOMS, we’re proud to support this transformation. By combining workplace booking tools, analytics, and integrations with a strong focus on security and compliance, we enable public sector organizations to future-proof their estates and unlock long-term value. Schedule a call with one of our workplace experts if you'd like to learn more.