Beyond co-location: how shared estates can unlock public sector value
Shared estates offer a way for the public sector to unlock value from underused buildings while supporting more integrated services
Public sector buildings are no longer judged solely by how well they function internally. Increasingly, they are assessed by what they signal to the public about efficiency, stewardship of funding and alignment with how work is actually done.
Recent scrutiny of underused government offices has brought this into sharp focus. When high-profile, newly refurbished buildings appear visibly empty, the issue extends beyond space efficiency. It raises questions about estate strategy, hybrid working realities and whether public assets are being used in ways that reflect public need and expectation. In this context, estates management has become a reputational as well as an operational concern.
At the same time, demand for public services continues to rise. Local authorities and the NHS face growing pressure to deliver more integrated, accessible support – from healthcare and social care to housing and welfare – with increasingly constrained budgets. Yet the physical infrastructure underpinning these services often remains fragmented, even where organisations serve the same communities.
This has created a persistent tension at the heart of the public sector estate: extensive property portfolios operating in parallel, alongside stretched services and duplicated costs. The question is no longer whether this model is efficient, but whether it is sustainable.
A fragmented estate serving shared communities
In practice, public sector organisations already share space in many locations. Councils, NHS trusts, government agencies and partner organisations frequently co-exist within the same buildings or estates. However, estate strategies, systems and decision-making structures often remain siloed.
Both the NHS and local authorities manage large, complex and expensive estates while responding to overlapping social challenges. Despite this, opportunities to co-locate services, reduce duplication and improve citizen access are often underdeveloped. Instead, parallel operations persist – multiplying costs while limiting the potential for joined-up service delivery.
This results in a significant real estate portfolio alongside constrained capacity to meet demand.
Why estate sharing remains difficult
Hybrid working has further complicated estate planning. Attendance patterns now fluctuate sharply across the week, creating environments that swing between under-occupation and overcrowding. For organisations attempting to share space, this volatility makes coordination harder rather than easier.
Long-standing structural barriers also remain. Different governance models, funding mechanisms, compliance requirements and risk frameworks make cross-organisational estate management complex. Concerns around accountability, data protection and health and safety are legitimate, while the upfront investment required to redesign buildings and upgrade infrastructure can feel prohibitive in a constrained fiscal environment.
These challenges help explain why estate sharing initiatives often stall at pilot stage, despite clear strategic intent.
Service redesign
Where estate sharing has progressed, the benefits extend well beyond efficiency. Shared infrastructure can act as a foundation for service redesign, not simply placing multiple organisations in one building but reshaping how services are delivered.
Integrated community hubs, bringing together healthcare, social care and council services, have demonstrated how co-location can support faster referrals, earlier intervention and reduced duplication. Underused council buildings can host NHS outreach clinics or mental health services, while surplus healthcare space can be repurposed for children’s services or welfare access points.
In these models, shared estates become enablers of collaboration and continuity, improving access for citizens while making better use of existing assets.
The enabling role of workplace technology
Delivering shared estates at scale requires more than good intent. It depends on visibility, coordination and trust – all areas where workplace technology plays a critical role.
Booking systems, space management platforms and utilisation data provide the operational backbone for shared environments. They enable organisations to manage fluctuating demand, ensure resources are available when needed and generate evidence on how shared spaces are actually being used.
Over time, this insight supports better planning, clearer accountability and more confident decision-making. Technology becomes a governance layer, reducing uncertainty and helping organisations move from informal arrangements to repeatable, scalable models of collaboration.
Making shared estates a strategic asset
As financial and service pressures intensify, estate sharing between the NHS and local authorities is increasingly positioned as a strategic response rather than a short-term cost-saving measure. Vacant and underused buildings represent latent capacity – assets that can be reactivated to support integrated care, improve access and reduce duplication without fundamentally disrupting working practices.
To make this a reality, it requires strategic alignment, cross-organisational cooperation and the systems needed to support shared decision-making. Those that move early will set new expectations for how public sector estates deliver value in terms of efficiency, service quality, resilience and public trust. In an era of constrained resources and rising demand, shared infrastructure is becoming a cornerstone of stronger public services.
