1.12 Based on the Departments' own projections of need, the contract provides a high level of flexibility, most of which starts to become available from year four of the contract. The Departments can if they wish vacate up to 60 per cent of their estate over 20 years without additional costs. A change mechanism within the
contract has also allowed the Departments to obtain additional space. The contract is intended to allow the Departments to respond more flexibly to changing demands for space (in terms both of staff numbers and of location) than they have been able to in the past. The Departments have classified their estate into three categories - core, intermediate and flexible - according to the likelihood of their future occupation (Figure 7).