Lisa Commane brings with her experience from local and central government, as well as the private sector, and will take responsibility for supporting ongoing transformation activities at Whitehall property unit

The Government Property Agency has appointed a new operations chief to spearhead technology- and data-led transformation.

Lisa Commane, currently the chief operating at officer at Ofwat, will is to join the GPA in the same role. As well as coordinating delivery of the GPA’s various programmes of work, the new ops head will oversee corporate services at the agency including data and technology, as well as commercial, HR, and legal.

Before joining Ofwat in 2017, Commane spent more than a decade at Coventry City Council in a variety of technology, reform, and finance roles – most recently director of customer services and transformation. She has also spent time in the private sector, having started her career at the professional services firm KPMG, where she trained as an accountant.

Commane is also a board member at the MHA, the UK’s largest charitable provider of care for older people.

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GPA chief executive Steven Boyd said: “Lisa joining us as our new COO further strengthens our executive team as we continue our transformation journey across the government’s office estate. Lisa’s expertise in leading transformational change will help us deliver the outcomes that our clients and customers need, allowing government departments to continue delivering for the communities they serve.”

Commane said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be joining the GPA at this important time in the agency’s growth and development. I’m looking forward to collaborating with the established executive team and others to deliver on our ambition for growth across the UK, the green agenda and to play our part in transforming the civil service.”

The GPA is an executive agency of the Cabinet Office. It was set up in 2018 with a remit to manage government offices and warehouses and now has responsibility for nearly a million square metres of the government’s property estate.

It  now leads on the hubs programme to relocate civil servants in new offices, often in city centres, away from smaller, older offices in towns. The regional hubs being developed around the country are intended to provide some of government’s most “digitally advanced buildings”, offering civil servants high-tech bases to support an increasingly hybrid working environment.

The programme is targeting the delivery of around 30 hubs by the end of the decade – and potentially up to 50. It is also closely aligned to the Places for Growth programme to relocate 22,000 roles away from the capital by 2030.

Recent milestones have included starting construction on the First Street Hub in Manchester, and opening the GPA’s fifth hub in Peterborough.