Executive Summary

The Police Estate in Scotland has seen significant underinvestment over many years. As a result, in the first 11 years of Police Scotland, the estates approach has been to sell underutilised or excess buildings, and to patch up what has been retained with the limited funding available. This approach is not sustainable and is impacting upon the delivery of operational policing due to building failures and growing need for reactive repair.
The objective of the Estates Masterplan is to create a modern fit for purpose estate that best serves our communities and our workforce. It is not cost saving, nor is it the reduction of police station numbers and the withdrawal from communities. We know that the nature of policing has and will continue to change. Investment should of course see some opportunity costs as buildings become cheaper to maintain and run.
The Estates Masterplan has been developed to a strategic framework for the future development of the estate, to address the issue of sustainability, and has been built around the key following principles;

Maintaining community confidence by having a visible presence in communities and appropriate public access to the police through the estate;
Supporting a thriving workforce through developing a well-designed and maintained estate that is fit for the future;
Ensuring the safety of those in custody by developing custody requirements that are effective and fit for purpose;
Aligning with wider government policy in areas such as a co-location first approach, moving to a smaller modern estate in a move towards Net Zero goals, and freeing up brownfield sites for redevelopment opportunities.

Thus, the Estates Masterplan seeks to re-set the strategic approach to the management of the Police Estate, from a place of reduction and decline, to one of investment in our communities and our people.
In order to take the Masterplan forward, the initial estimate is that £500m of investment will be required over the next 10 years. The Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland does not currently have sufficient resources to take this forward. Endorsement and advocacy of this approach from the Authority will support Police Scotland in seeking a suitable investment or funding model with Scottish Government.

The starting point for the master planning process was to develop an evidence base of the current condition, costs and need for every building across Police Scotland. Understanding the condition, associated costs and operational need provided a platform for engagement and operational understanding of what a future estate might look like.

By engaging with professionals in estates management and development, looking at best practice from elsewhere and through a number of operational workshops and engagement exercises a future direction for the Police Scotland estate has been established.

While maintaining an important community presence, the future model for urban areas will see the introduction of a hub and spoke model. As the population becomes more remote and rural then the estates delivery will be similar to that seen today, where significant refurbishments and maintenance investment is needed.

The hub and spoke model allows policing to stay connected to communities while supporting collaboration across teams and optimising flexible resource deployment. Our ‘spoke’ system supports ongoing community engagement and the delivery of localised policing services.

Whilst detailed planning and design work has not been taken at this stage, the condition of our buildings and immediate need for investment would support the following priority areas;

Glasgow and other parts of West Central Scotland such as Greenock;
Tayside, with a particular focus on Dundee and re-locating from West Bell Street with the priority being a new custody solution;
Relocating from Fettes in Edinburgh;
Replacing Oban police station; and
Undertaking whole building refurbishments in the properties that are still fit for purpose and are therefore planned to be retained.

If the commitment of investment is made, it will allow detailed planning, consultation and community engagement to take place on individual developments within the framework of the Masterplan. No decisions have been taken at this time on exactly how a deployment hub and community touch point model would work in urban areas. In addition, further work is required on the overall national custody and productions model, which would be taken forward if investment is available to address these long-standing issues.

It is the intent of Police Scotland that the Masterplan will act as the framework for all future estates development, and all future business cases brought forward to the SPA for approval will be clearly linked to the principles of, and priorities within, the Masterplan. It therefore supersedes the Estates Strategy that was approved in 2019.