West Midlands Combined Authority

The challenge

The council was at an early stage in developing its transformation approach, with emerging priorities around customer access, community hubs and integrated delivery. However, there was no clear plan for how its property portfolio would support these ambitions. West Midlands Combined Authority wanted to test whether property data could help identify options for shared use and co-location, particularly in relation to the library and family hub estate. The challenge was to understand whether these insights could inform both short-term service redesign and longer-term transformation planning.

The result

We worked with the council’s transformation leads, asset management teams and senior stakeholders to understand how services were currently delivered through property, and how assets might support future ways of working. We also explored the potential for collaboration with other public and third sector organisations.

Two areas were identified for further investigation:

• Redesign or consolidation of the library estate

• Use of community assets to support local, preventative delivery

To inform this, we brought together data from multiple sources, including council asset registers, NHS and charity data, grant funding records, CQC datasets and Land Registry information. More than 2,500 property records were mapped and grouped into locality-based clusters using Power BI to help identify where shared use might be possible.

The work pointed to three options for future consideration:

• Working in partnership with local schools and academies

• Exploring sub-leasing arrangements with trusted third sector organisations

• Retaining services at Elmwood Place in the short term while planning for longer-term change

Outcomes delivered included:

• Locality-based cluster model created to support integrated asset planning

• Options appraisal delivered for Elmwood Place

• Strategic insight provided to inform future One Public Estate pilots

What made it successful

• Clear focus throughout: the work remained grounded in the council’s transformation priorities and focused on how property insight could support change.

• Robust evidence base: mapping and analysis drew on a wide range of public and third sector data to support decision-making.

• Collaborative approach: we worked closely with stakeholders from both the council and West Midlands Combined Authority to shape and test findings.

• Realistic insight: although no quick solutions were found, the work showed why collaboration is difficult without a clearly defined service model.

• Learning for future pilots: the engagement provided practical lessons on cross-organisational design, the need for mature locality strategies and the importance of considering wider geographies where local authority footprints are limited.