Issue - meetings

Consideration was given to a report of the Deputy Chief Executive People and Place which provided the Cabinet with recommended options for the Alexandra Park Eco Centre project.

Prior to the Covid-19 (CV19) lockdown commencing, the Alexandra Park Eco Centre project had progressed to RIBA Stage 3, and subsequently obtained planning approval on 22^nd May 2020.  An Outline Business Case (OBC) was submitted in June 2020, and following detailed scrutiny of the proposals the project was unfortunately deemed to be financially unviable for delivery as one complete project, as the long-term revenue implications for the proposals needed significant subsidy, which could not be justified given the current financial climate.

However, the ambition for embracing green technologies and sustainable property design solutions remained and due to the severe dilapidation issues noted with the corporate building and accommodation of staff / teams within Alexandrea Park, urgent works had been declared essential to ensure compliance with workplace safety and to provide an early phase of the masterplan on an accelerated delivery programme.

As a result of this, five options were explored to provide an indication of what could be included as part of the initial phase to help rectify the building dilapidation issues. The report to be considered at Item 11 of the agenda would provide significantly more information on each of the options alongside the project objectives, benefits, issues, risks and revenue implication.

Options/alternatives

Option 1 - Do nothing – only undertaking urgent reactive maintenance to maintain the buildings (not considered to be a feasible option given the current deteriorating condition of the depot building).

Option 2 – Do minimum - undertake urgent backlog maintenance on the existing building to ensure it is compliant and safe for teams / services to use.  (This would need significant levels of investment; it would cause considerable disruption to the services and wouldn’t deliver any of the ambitions for green technologies or efficiency / sustainability).

Option 3 – Progress an early phase of the masterplan for the Eco Centre including the green technology power solutions within the new office building.

Option 4 – Build and deliver a new office with conventional/mains gas and electricity supply to help keep construction costs to a minimum (this helps support the building dilapidations, but does not allow opportunities to introduce or accelerate any of the eco / green technologies). 

Option 5 – Install emergency portacabins powered by electricity to provide a temporary / efficient solution to ensure staff were working in safe and compliant accommodation.  (This option fails to tackle any of the longer term building dilapidation issues and doesn’t introduce any of the green or sustainability ambition). 

RESOLVED -That the Cabinet would consider the commercially sensitive information contained at Item 11 of the agenda before making a decision.