DoH’s Gransha Park 'surplus' 231 acre and land bank valued at £9.8m
The Department of Health holds almost 231 acres of land valued at £9.8m on the Gransha Park estate, most of which has been deemed surplus to requirements, a new audit report has revealed.
Dorinnia Carville’s audit of the health estate in the North considers the management of a £3.7 billion portfolio, which comprises around 1,500 freehold buildings and over 200 leasehold properties across over 400 sites.
The survey focusses on the role of the Department of Health (DoH) which retains overall accountability for managing the estate.
The report finds that, despite its importance, the estate is ageing and increasingly not fit for purpose. Nearly half of it is more than 50 years old, with around one sixth more than 75 years old, for example.
Ms. Carville notes that a significant proportion of DoH’s retained estate is concentrated in older hospital sites and that ‘at around 94 hectares, the Gransha Hospital site represents around two fifths of the total retained estate size and, with a net book value (NBV) of £10 million, just over a quarter of its overall value’.
Her report notes that the Gransha Park complex is partly owned by the Department and partly-owned by the Western Trust.
However, the vast majority of the surplus land and property is in the possession of DoH.
“The Gransha Park estate is managed by the Western Trust and comprises a mix of Trust-owned (approximately 83 acres) and Department-owned estate (approximately 231 acres). The majority of the Department-owned estate is currently let on conacre.
"The Department-owned land includes around 23 acres of woodland (Gransha Woods), as well as a 3.5 acre portion of Lough Enagh Western. The NBV of the Department-owned estate at Gransha Park, the majority of which has been declared surplus, is estimated at £9.8 million. The NBV of the vacant sites owned by the Western Trust on the Gransha Park site is £956,000,” the auditor reports.
The B2 listed Stradreagh Hospital, dating from 1903 and sitting alongside several non-listed buildings on a site of approximately 11 acres at the northern end of the Gransha site, has been vacant since the 2000s when Oakgrove College moved to its new campus nearby.
Ms. Carville notes that steps have been taken towards the disposal of the Department-owned lands at Gransha.
“The majority of the Department-owned estate at Gransha (approximately 178 acres), including the former Stradreagh site, has been declared surplus to health requirements and a process of disposal is currently underway.
"The Department intends to fully divest from all retained estate at Gransha Park, with the remaining 53 acres of Department-owned estate to be transferred to the Western Trust for ongoing health-related purposes,” she writes.
A Gransha Project Board has been set up to oversee this process and the former Health Minister Robin Swann gave the green light for disposal plans in 2022.
Ms. Carville reports that DoH has been working with other ‘public sector bodies with development interests in the Gransha Park site to develop an overall site masterplan and enter into a Pre-Application Discussion with Council planners’.
The disposal plans have, however, been ‘complicated by external factors including the Department for Infrastructure’s A6/A2 road infrastructure project, as well as the resolution of legal title issues’.
Although most of the surplus land on the Gransha estate belongs to DoH some is held by the Western Trust.
"There are nine vacant units within Gransha Park owned by the Western Trust which have been vacant for between 9 and 65 years. The backlog maintenance costs for the Gransha Park site are £19 million.
"In contrast to other Trust-owned sites, the vacant costs per annum in respect of these properties are minimal (£19,000 so far since becoming vacant).
"Information provided by the Western Trust to the Department as part of SOTER [its annual ‘State of the Estates’ report] shows that of the sites, four buildings are to be demolished, three are to be retained but have no current plan for future use, one is to be retained with a plan and one portion of a site is available for disposal.
"The Department has requested that the Western Trust carry out a critical review of its land holdings at Gransha Park and update its Estate Control Plan,” the audit report states.
Much of Gransha Park, of course, remains in use with important services being provided by the Western Trust at facilities including Waterside Hospital, Lakeview Hospital and Grangewood.
Ms. Carville said: "The condition of the health estate is a longstanding challenge, with the overall picture remaining broadly unchanged over the past decade.
"Progress to address these issues has been constrained by limited resources, but there has also been an absence of a clear, long term strategic framework to improve the condition of the estate.
"Many of the recommendations in this report are aimed at supporting the Department and its Arm’s-Length Bodies to develop this more strategic approach and ensure that the estate is aligned to operational needs. The Department already holds substantial data on the performance and condition of the health estate. It now needs to use that data better to improve decision-making and take action to better use the limited resources available and achieve more value for money.”
The Department of Health said it welcomed the report and had already started to tackle some of the issues identified within it.
“The Department recognises the need for wider service and investment planning to inform a more strategic, long-term approach to estate management, and officials will continue to work to achieve this. Officials are also undertaking a review of vacant and underused assets to ensure more timely and strategic decisions are taken to deliver value for money,” a spokesperson said.
DoH said the report will inform the Departmental Strategic Asset Management Plan due to be finalised by March 31, 2027.