Policies and guidelines

Property NSW operates under the following principal legislation:

• Property NSW Act 2006
• Waste Recycling and Processing Corporation (Authorised Transaction) Act 2010.

The roles and responsibilities documents below reflect the obligations of the parties in conjunction with the terms of any correlating transaction documents (Leases, Licences) for the Premises:

• Premises owned by Property NSW (PDF, 214.4 KB)
• Premises owned by a third party of Lessor or Licensor (PDF, 161.29 KB)

The Property Asset Utilisation Taskforce (PAUT) was established to identify and make recommendations about capturing efficiencies in the NSW Government’s ownership, utilisation and management of its owned and leased property portfolio. The PAUT delivered their report to Cabinet in November 2012.

• The Property Asset Utilisation Taskforce (PAUT) (PDF, 2103.02 KB)

Following a subsequent review of local and international best practice, the government has adopted new principles to improve the management of government property assets and support the delivery of core services.

These principles, which are rolling out across government, include incentives to improve utilisation of government’s property portfolio, separating property management from service delivery to ensure independence and transparency of these respective functions, further developing specialised property systems and capabilities, and undertaking more robust reporting on portfolio performance across whole of government.

The new principles will improve asset utilisation, enhance service delivery and drive savings for government, while increasing transparency across the government’s property portfolio.

In 2017, the NSW Government approved a new policy to assist agencies with the identification of surplus and underutilised real property assets and make whole-of- government decisions on the future use of these assets to support the State’s objectives.

The Property Infrastructure Policy (PIP) will see Property NSW undertake detailed reviews of government’s property portfolio to identify surplus and underutilised assets which may be suitable for transfer to other government agencies or sold to deliver housing or social infrastructure.

The PIP will encourage a whole-of-government approach to the allocation of the state’s real property capital that will ultimately assist the state in delivering its significant infrastructure requirements.

The policy supports the NSW Government’s Housing Affordability Strategy, the Premier’s Priorities and complements the Greater Sydney Commission’s District Plans through the identification of land to deliver on housing and infrastructure requirements.

The NSW Government has approved a policy allowing certain real property not required by the NSW Government for current or future service delivery to be offered to local councils for purchase to help deliver better community outcomes.

Through the Community Use Policy (CUP), Property and Development NSW will work with other NSW Government agencies to provide local councils the opportunity to acquire real property assets for community purposes that are surplus to NSW Government requirements, subject to satisfying specific criteria for community use.

• Community Use Policy (PDF, 954.45 KB)

Accessible Office Design is a performance framework that aims to make workplace design and fit out more accessible in new and existing NSW Government buildings. The framework is for anyone who procures, designs, builds and refurbishes, manages or maintains NSW Government offices.

The guide articulates the required workplace fitout principles for new or upgraded Government commercial office accommodation (PDF, 252.29 KB).

Property and Development NSW and the NSW Government has committed to several environmental programs and policy positions including:

• NSW Net Zero Plan Stage 1: 2020 – 2030 (NSW state emissions reduction of 35% by 2030)
  • Drive uptake of proven emissions reduction technologies
  • Empower consumers and businesses to make sustainable choices
  • Invest in the next wave of emissions reduction innovation
  • Ensure the NSW Government leads by example
• Property and Development NSW Net Zero Strategy and Plan: 2020 -2030 and beyond
  • Achieve Net Zero operational emissions at wholly owned assets with full operational control by 2030 – Scope 1,2 and 3.
  • Achieve Net Zero operational emissions across upstream and downstream scope 3 emission by 2035
  • Achieve Net Zero embodied emissions across all products and supply chain by 2040
• NSW Government Resources Efficiency Policy (GREP) 2019
  • Meet the challenge of rising costs for energy, water, clean air and waste management
  • Use purchasing power to drive down the cost of resource-efficient technologies and services
  • Show leadership by incorporating resource efficiency in decision-making
• NSW Circular Strategic Plan 2020 – 2023 (NSW circular economy driving jobs, economic prosperity, and zero-carbon)
  • Providing transparent and open circular economy evidence, information, statistics to the market
  • Helping to deliver new circular economy markets, infrastructure, and services
  • Working collaboratively to remove barriers and scale the circular economy
  • Empowering people to promote circular behaviours and change
• NSW Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy 2041 (Stage 1: 2021–2027)
  • Phasing out problematic single-use plastic items
  • Having government agencies preference recycled content and invest in research and pilots for recycling innovation
  • Mandating the source separation of food and garden organics for households and selected businesses
• NSW Electric Vehicle Strategy – June 2021
  • 50% EV fleet vehicles by 2026 and 100% EV fleet vehicles by 2030 (relates to provision of EV charging infrastructure at managed buildings)
  • Overcoming barriers to electric vehicle uptake
  • Maximising economic and public health opportunities
  • Consistency with achieving net zero by 2050

Property NSW has demonstrated considerable progress against these sustainability commitments:

• Property NSW's portfolio of large owned offices is now more energy and water efficient than it has ever been in terms of average NABERS Energy and Water performance.
• Nearly two thirds of our larger leased office space (i.e. where Property NSW manages at least 2,000m² NLA) is now within buildings that perform at 4.5 stars NABERS Energy or better – a significant achievement.
• Approximately 200,000m² NLA of the leased office portfolio now has a Green Lease.
• NSW Government has recently been recognised by the Better Buildings Partnership as one of the leading tenants promoting collaboration and sustainability, leading by example with best practise leasing.
• The Property NSW Annual Report 2013-14 highlighted a number of significant portfolio achievements between the 2011-12 and 2013-14 financial years for 49 of our large offices:
  • 10.1% emissions intensity reduction – from 145 down to 131 kgCO_2-e per square metre.
  • 18.1% reduction in natural gas consumption.
  • 8.8% reduction in average electricity consumption per square metre over the same period.

Property NSW will continue to report its sustainability performance annually.

• Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH)
• NABERS
• NSW Government Resource Efficiency Policy
• M2014-08 NSW Government Resource Efficiency Policy
• NSW Energy Efficiency Action Plan