HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

BUILDING DESIGN PROJECT APPRAISAL

EXECUTIVE MEMBER - POLICY & RESOURCES

11 APRIL 2002

PROJECT:	ALTON DAY SERVICES
	NEW DAY SERVICES BUILDING
COMMENCEMENT DATE:	SEPTEMBER 2002
COMPLETION DATE:	JULY 2003
PLANNED YEAR OF START IN ACCORDANCE WITH CAPITAL PROGRAMME:		2002/ 03

RECOMMENDATION:

That the building design project appraisal for the new Day Services building in Alton be approved.

1. FINANCE

Capital Expenditure	Current Estimate £'000	Capital Programme £'000
Buildings	866	969
Fees	139	155
Land to be purchased	_	_
TOTAL	1,005	1,124

Furniture and Equipment: subject to the Director of Social Services assessment of need with the Day Services Manager, together with the availability of funding, a furniture and equipment allocation will be made from the block vote in the Social Services Committee's Capital Programme in the appropriate financial year.

Financial Provision for Total Scheme	Buildings £'000	Fees £'000	Total Cost £'000
1. From Committee's own Resources:
a) Capital Programme (Capital Receipt)	862	138	1,000
a) Capital Programme (Additional Capital Receipt)	107	17	124
TOTAL	969	155	1,124

Landlord Funded Work connected with this Scheme

There is no Landlord funded work to be undertaken as part of this scheme.

Value of Land already acquired for this Project

The land at the Park House office site is held for Policy and Resources purposes and will be made available for Social Services purposes without charge, but will be retained by Policy and Resources so as to avoid fragmentation of the site.

Building Cost - Gross Cost = £ 1,123 per m²

- Net Cost = £ 972 per m²

Revenue Implications

	(a) Employees £'000	(b) Other £'000	(a+b) Net Current Expenditure £'000	(c) Capital Charges £'000	(a+b+c) Total Net Expenditure £'000
Revenue Implications Additional+ /Reductions	Nil	Nil	Nil	52	52
Unit cost (£) (e.g. per place)	Nil	0.22	0.22	Nil	0.22
% variation to Committee's budget	Nil				Nil
Number of additional Staff (fte)	Nil				Nil

(a) Energy Costs

It is anticipated that the annual fuel cost for the new Day Service building will be in the order of £6.28 per m².

(b) Maintenance Costs

The detailed design and choice of materials will minimise future maintenance liability.

2. STATEMENT OF NEED/JUSTIFICATION FOR PROJECT

The existing Day Services building is located in Chawton Park Road approximately one kilometre away from the Alton town centre. The building totals 1,088sq metres floor space and is shared with a Pupil Referral Unit. The building was constructed in 1973 when a greater number of service users would have attended at any one time and it is now no longer cost effective to maintain.

A smaller more centrally located building where service users have easy access to shops, recreational and other facilities is required. There is also a need to provide the appropriate accommodation for service users who have high support needs.

The proposed building will meet current and future needs and will improve services to adults with a learning disability as outlined in the policy document Valuing People.

3. DETAILS OF SITE

LOCATION

The new Day Services building will be positioned to the rear of an existing Social Services Office located at the High Street, Alton.

ADJOINING LAND AND BUILDINGS

The site of the new Day Services building is centrally located in Alton town centre and will be bordered to the north by a Bowling Green, playground and public gardens with housing beyond. To the east is the Alton Area Office and housing with two public car parks and the High Street to the north-east. To the south of the site lies residential accommodation and a church with Rack Close Road and further housing to the west.

AREA INCLUDING COMPARISON WITH LOCAL/NATIONAL STANDARDS

The total site area (which will be shared by the existing Alton Office and the proposed new Day Services building) is 0.81 acres (0.33 hectares).

There are no local / national standards for this type of establishment.

PLANNING POSITION

A detailed formal Planning Application is due to be submitted to the County Planning Officer during April 2002.

SUITABILITY FOR PROJECT

The provision of a new Day Services building in Alton will provide specialist purpose built accommodation in a building that is more centrally located in the town of Alton. The new building has been specifically designed with the needs of the users in mind, some of whom may have high support needs.

The proposals outlined is this appraisal have been prepared in consultation with the Director of Social Services and the Day Services Manager.

RESULTS OF TRIAL BORE HOLES

A site investigation was undertaken during March 2000 which revealed River and Valley gravel deposits, overlying upper Chalk formations at a depth of 2.9m below ground. The river and gravel formations in this instance comprise soft to firm fissured clay and medium dense gravel. The desk study of historic maps indicated that the neighbouring site has a history of commercial use including a timber yard and a garage, both being potential polluting activities.

Threshold levels of contamination have been revealed on the site. The design of the proposed building with an underground car park will require removal of up to 2m depth of soil and allowance has been made in the cost estimate for 50% of the removed material to be taken to specialist waste facilities.

The original soil report included a recommendation for further investigation which was undertaken in December 2001. Results of this secondary investigation will be available in due course and will include a recommended limit to the materials which will require disposal at special waste facilities.

Foundations are to comprise a thick car park slab with retaining walls and internal columns capped with a thick ground floor slab supporting the timber framed superstructure.

ACCESS

The vehicular access to this site is from Alton High Street and via a side road to the east of the site.

There is an existing security control point to the east, with a card operated barrier, currently used by the Alton Office which will be retained and used by visitors to the Day Service. Beyond this vehicles will use an existing one way access road, which circles the Alton Office building, to approach the new building. This road will lead to the proposed new underground car park and will be slightly modified to accommodate the Day Services building and a new mini bus drop-off area.

COMMENTS ON SITE LAYOUT

The existing site is currently split with the Alton Office to the east and a disused bungalow and garage to the west. The bungalow and garage will be demolished at the start of the contract and the site prepared for the new building.

The site slopes quite dramatically from west to east and the proposed new building will be constructed to the western most point of the site with the western elevation forming a frontage on Rack Close Road. The northern elevation will face towards the public gardens and bowling green The change in levels on this site will allow an underground car park to be constructed.

MAINS SERVICES POSITION

Existing electrical and gas mains services are considered to be of a sufficient capacity to be extended and adapted as required to serve the proposed new accommodation.

MAINTENANCE IMPLICATIONS

The site will continue to be maintained in accordance with current County Council standards.

LANDSCAPE PROPOSALS

As part of these proposals a courtyard garden will be established over the underground car park. The garden will be of a patio design with hard paving, raised planting beds and seating.

The northern boundary of the building will have a grass boarder, a footpath will run along the western boundary on Rack Close Road and the steps to the courtyard will have a lockable gate from Rack Close Road to provide security for pedestrians.

Further landscaping will be provided to the west of the new building to define pedestrian and vehicular areas and the main entrance to the building.

4. THE PROPOSEDBUILDING/RATIONALISATION/CONVERSION

TYPE OF PROJECT, LAYOUT AND FACILITIES PROVIDED

The proposed new Day Service building will be of a single storey design with an underground car park below. The upper floor of the building will offer the following accommodation:

- multi purpose activity space (with IT facilities, wet area, storage and benching)

- entrance area with seating and roof light

- administration office

- interview room

- kitchen

- group room

- managers office

- resource room

- changing room with shower and ceiling track hoist

- laundry

- five WCs, one with a ceiling track hoist

- link corridor with roof lights

- stairs and lift to lower floor and car park

- courtyard garden

The lower floor will accommodate:

- car park

- plant room

- pump room

- chair store

- cleaners store

- bin store

- water tank

- stairs and lift to upper floor

The upper floor accommodation has been carefully designed to ensure safety and security in the building. The main entrance and lift area are adjacent to the administration office and the open plan design offers views from the administration office to the activity room, the ramped courtyard and the main entrance.

PLACES PROVIDED

Alton Day Services and its two satellites provide a service for approximately 100 users in total, with 35 service users attending Alton on a regular basis and up to 25 service users on any one day.

PRESENT/REDUNDANT BUILDINGS AND FUTURE USE

The existing bungalow and garage to the west of the site have been unoccupied for a number of years and a condition survey has reported that the building is in a poor condition and is suffering from a considerable number of defects.

The bungalow and garage will be demolished prior to the commencement of the building works.

TEMPORARY BUILDINGS

There are no temporary buildings on site and none will be required either during or upon completion of the works.

SITUATION ON SITE AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

The new building has been designed to minimise any adverse environmental effects to the site and surrounding area and consideration has been given to the life cycle of the building from conception and design through to construction and use.

The project will allow the reclamation of a brown field site and will reuse a previously developed site.

The proposed location of the new building has been carefully chosen in order to maximise the available space on this site and accommodate two Social Services buildings in one centrally located area in Alton.

TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION, FINISH AND APPEARANCE

The building will be of a brick construction with a timber structural frame under a pitched roof with a tile covering. All windows will have high performance double glazing with timber frames.

FACILITIES FOR THE DISABLED

The proposed new building will have level access throughout. All doorways will be sufficiently wide for access by those in wheelchairs and light switches will be at a height accessible in a standing or seating position. Two ceiling track hoists will be provided within the building.

HEATING AND VENTILATION SYSTEMS

A plant room in the lower floor of the building will accommodate a gas condensing boiler which will serve a low pressure hot water system feeding under-floor heating.

Ventilation will be by natural means via opening windows with mechanical assistance to all WCs, the changing room, laundry and kitchen.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF BUILDING

The estimated annual energy consumption for the new building will meet that required by the new Building Regulations introduced on the 1 April 2002.

ALTERNATIVE STANDARDS OF PROVISION CONSIDERED

These proposals have been agreed by the Director of Social Services and the Day Services Manager as being the most appropriate form of development to provide purpose built specialist accommodation in a central location in the town of Alton.

In the development of this scheme alternative sites have been considered and rejected. The favoured site to the rear of the High Street in Alton offers a prime location and already has established highways, mains services and good site security.

CAR PARKING

The proposed building will incorporate an underground car park which will provide thirteen parking bays, one of which will be a disabled car parking space. A new mini-bus drop-off and parking space, with a canopy, will be created adjacent to the main entrance of the underground car park. The lift will take visitors from the drop-off area directly up to the Day Services centre on the upper floor.

CONSULTATIONS

The following have been consulted during the development of the project: Director of Social Services, Day Services Manager, County Planning Officer, County Arboriculturlist, Alton Town Council, East Hants District Council, County Surveyor, Estates Practice, Executive Member - Social Care, Local County Councillor.

5. THE BUILDING DEVELOPMENT

This development has been carefully planned to make optimum use of available space on this site and enable the sale of the existing Day Services site at Chawton Park Road to be sold for housing development and the receipt be used to fund this project.

6. BUILDING MANAGEMENT

CLEANING

Existing arrangements will continue in the new building.

CATERING

Existing arrangements will continue in the new building.

7. FURNITURE AND EQUIPMENT

Subject to the necessary approval furniture and equipment will come from the block vote in the Social Services Committee's Capital Programme.

8. STAFFING

Existing arrangements will continue in the new building.

9. FEES

Architectural Services - Property, Business and

Regulatory Services

Quantity Surveying - Grant Associates

Electrical and Mechanical Engineering - Oscar Faber

Structural Engineering - Property, Business and

Regulatory Services

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