The capital expenditure approval process is structured around an approval body called the Estates Committee Meeting (ECM). This meets monthly and is chaired by the Provost. All proposed College Support Services and Academic projects shall be submitted to ECM for review and approval.

The ECM has authority to approve

• Client briefs
• Pre-Feasibility study
• Feasibility study requests (up to feasibility study costs of £100,000 if project 'approved or planned' in the Capital Plan) 
• Projects £150k to £1m (if 'approved or planned' in the Capital Plan)
• Faculty projects £150k to £1m (if 'approved or planned' in the Capital Plan; or if it can be accommodated within the Faculty Small Projects budget)
• Projects more than £1 million can be recommended for approval by the Estates Committee and will then move to the Resource Allocation Board for the next stage of approval
  
• Change outside approved budget up to £100k
• Exception reports
  

All proposed projects must be submitted to ECM for review and approval.

The ECM will review and then escalate proposed projects that exceed its financial authority level to the Resource Allocation Board (RAB), Finance Committee and/or Council for approval provided they are sound financially and academically.

ECM papers and documentation submitted for approval include

• Client brief [Word]‌‌‌‌
• Project Initiation Document (PID)‌ [Word]‌
• Change control - inside budget [Excel]‌
• Change control - outside budget [Excel]‌
• Financial Appraisal Model and Manual
• Exception report [Word]

Papers shall be submitted by the dates shown in the table below:

ECM paper and meeting dates 2018

ECM Papers	ECM Meetings
-----------------	11 January 2018
25 January 2018	8 February 2018
22 February 2018	8 March 2018
29 March 2018	12 April 2018
26 April 2018	10 May 2018
31 May 2018	14 June 2018
28 June 2018	12 July 2018
tbc July 2018	tbc August 2018
tbc August 2018	tbc September 2018
tbc September 2018	tbc October 2018
tbc October 2018	tbc November 2018
tbc November 2018	tbc December 2018