OPE is an established national programme, with over 850 projects, involving 97 per cent of local authorities in England, 13 government departments, as well as local public sector partners such as emergency services and health organisations. Since its establishment in 2013 the programme has gone from strength to strength, supporting public sector partners to generate c.£461 million in capital receipts, saving taxpayers c.£100 million in running costs, helping create over 32,000 new jobs and releasing land for over 20,000 new homes.
Our 72 local OPE partnerships work together to identify greater opportunities for collaboration to meet local and national priorities. Our partnerships cover combined authority, sub-regional and local authority areas. They are united by a common goal to create greater value out of their combined public estate through shared spaces, joined up services and releasing surplus assets.
To find out more about OPE and LRF projects funded through the joint programme, including case studies of successful projects, visit our One Public Estate webpage.
OPE has shown how early stage support, using the public estate as a catalyst for change and investigating opportunities to collaborate across the public sector can deliver successful outcomes. OPE adds value by supporting early stage projects which otherwise may not come forward, or by accelerating delivery of outcomes.
In 2017, the OPE programme implemented a funding model that included a portion of sustainable grant, enabling the recycling of some awards back into the programme. Since then, OPE has distributed £8.3 million in sustainable grants and has continued to successfully recycle grants into new and innovative projects delivered by OPE partnerships.
With well-established partnerships in place across England, the programme is now looking to reinvest a greater proportion of funding to support more projects to come forward.
75 per cent of available OPE9 funding will be awarded as Sustainable Grants, ensuring that - where projects are successful - funding can be recycled back into the programme. The point at which partnerships will be expected to contribute back to the programme will be determined by relevant project milestones, such as a disposal, the end of a lease term, or a co-location. Where projects are not successful and the relevant milestone is not met, the Sustainable Grant will not be expected to be recycled back into the programme.
OPE recognises the investment that project owners and partners make themselves over the project lifecycle. This often includes project management, match-funding, and/or capital funding. Partnerships are asked to include an outline of the investment being made in the early stages of any project within their application.