The country files

by Duncan Glen — Originally published in the February 11, 2016 issue of FMWorld–The main challenge of rural facilities management can be summed up in one word – complexity. Unlike the built environment, which remains relatively unchanged day to day, the rural landscape has many environmental forces acting upon it, can have multiple uses and will have a range of stakeholders, all with an interest in how it is managed.

The main challenge of rural facilities management can be summed up in one word – complexity. Unlike the built environment, which remains relatively unchanged day to day, the rural landscape has many environmental forces acting upon it, can have multiple uses and will have a range of stakeholders, all with an interest in how it is managed.

Conserving diverse assets against this setting, whether it is managing a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), preserving an ancient monument, or undertaking wildlife conservation projects, poses specific challenges for providers – given that there will be a diverse range of user requirements to take into consideration.

Stakeholder pressures

There are often conflicting pressures on rural FMs and conservation providers because it is likely that the location will have more than one purpose. The multiplicity of stakeholders – from farmers to ramblers to environmentalists to tourists – means rural land can have a wide range of uses and commercial opportunities.

If it is not managed correctly, these opportunities cannot be exploited fully.

This is a challenge felt keenly on rural estates, where there is the need to balance the conflicting pressures from these land users alongside other statutory nature conservation bodies such as Natural England. Balancing their requirements and aspirations for the way this public land is managed while maintaining the primary function of the estate is critical.

In the case of Landmarc, through its National Training Estate Prime Contract (NTEP), the company is responsible for managing the Ministry of Defence’s training estate. This comprises 200,000 hectares of some of the most valuable habitats and landscapes in Great Britain, including over 40,000 hectares of national parks land, 70,000 hectares of nature conservation sites, 20,000 hectares of woodland, 21 million trees, 1,600 hectares of wetlands and 3,500 kilometres of tracks.

In this example the ‘land’ is used by a wide range of stakeholders. A key requirement is to enable the military to carry out a wide range of manoeuvres to prepare troops for operations worldwide, so the terrain must be varied and complex to ensure the best training experience possible with a mixture of woodlands, moorland, coast, open countryside, farmland, lakes and rivers all playing a vital part.

The land is also used by tenant farmers and graziers, the general public, which takes advantage of recreational opportunities on the estate, and third-party users as diverse as film crews and rally drivers.

Wider examples of pressures on land management businesses can be seen through the work of organisations such as the National Trust (NT) and English Heritage. The NT manages more than 350 historic houses, gardens and ancient monuments, and English Heritage owns 58 prehistoric sites alongside a portfolio of castles, ecclesiastical buildings and even London statues.

Each has a duty to conserve these sites for future generations and it is only through charitable funding that these sites remain operational, meaning conservation work has to be balanced carefully against demand from the ‘paying’ public for access throughout the year.

Rural assets

To keep this management process running smoothly, rural providers must have mature and well-developed systems to deal with issues that arise. This is detailed work which, in the example of the MoD training estate, requires each item to be assetised – including every fence, track, SSSI and ancient monument, and then mapped on a Geographical Information System (GIS).

In Landmarc’s case there are 111 SSSIs on the training estate, where it undertakes a vast scope of conservation work, including blocking ditches to protect peatlands, cutting scrub so that grassland flora can thrive, and the creation and maintenance of wetlands.

There are also some 782 Scheduled Ancient Monuments to maintain, ranging from prehistoric burial mounds through to modern military archaeology sites. Many of these need active management to preserve their unique legacy.

Locations such as Otterburn and Dartmoor training areas are also within national parks, where public safety is of paramount importance. There are public rights of way including bridleways and open access land across the estate, so this is a management challenge in itself.

Inspections can then be carried out to a set schedule and any work that arises is either dealt with urgently as a reactive task, logged on a task scheduler for maintenance in the near future, or identified as an additional service if the task falls outside of the core contract.

Yet, even with the necessary management processes in place, providers must possess a diverse range of skills to cope with the challenges of rural asset conservation.

Faced with a shortfall in traditional skills and an ageing workforce, as detailed in the 2005 National Heritage Training Group report commissioned by the government, the NT has instigated a bursary scheme to nurture the building and conservation skills needed to protect its buildings and monuments in the long run.

Landmarc has also been investing in the rural skills needed for the future development of the training estate with its apprentice scheme. The scheme aims to encourage young people to make informed decisions about their first major career, especially in the building services and FM arena.

Community links

Community engagement is a key component of successful rural asset management. Communities in rural areas are made up by small villages and isolated farms, and one of the biggest impacts that FM providers can have on stakeholder engagement is in rural employment.

If young people are offered skilled employment with good prospects for training and development, it allows them to stay in their home areas instead of having to migrate to cities to find work.

Landmarc trainee electrician Chantelle Brown, now in her third year of an apprenticeship with Landmarc, was selected as one of only 14 women in the country to become an apprentice ambassador. The initiative was set up by training provider JTL, and is designed to increase the number of women entering building services engineering apprenticeships.

Similarly, opportunities can be created for self-employed contractors too, with work sourced through the local supply chain of small and medium-sized rural businesses, such as fencing and forestry specialists. With this in mind, Landmarc is investing in rural communities with its Landmarc 100 scheme – to support grassroots innovation in the rural communities around the estate.

It aims to provide both financial business support and practical one-to-one guidance to successful applicants, who must present an idea or innovation that would benefit their local community, the Landmarc business, or the whole nation.

It takes a lot of experience alongside intimate knowledge of each and every area to achieve successful land management. That’s why rural providers need to constantly monitor the environment, and have processes in place to ensure that the land, its wildlife and – perhaps most importantly – its users are managed effectively.