Hampshire County Council

Executive Member - Policy & Resources Item

13 June 2002

Refurbishment of Science Laboratories - New Deal for Schools (NDS) Modernisation

Report by the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services

1

Summary

1.1

At the March 2002 Executive Member - Education approval was given to the 2002/03 programme for expenditure of the New Deal for Schools (NDS) Modernisation funding.

1.2

Included in this programme was funding of £600,000, excluding fees, for the refurbishment of science laboratories in secondary schools. This fulfilled the Statement of Priorities under the County Council's Asset management Plan (AMP), agreed by the former Education Buildings Sub-Committee, which identified the need to improve science, design and food technology, music/drama and indoor sports facilities in secondary schools.

1.3

The purpose of this report is to seek approval to the proposals to refurbish science laboratories in five secondary schools and to the preferred packaging and procurement method.

2.

Scope of the Work

2.1

The work will comprise the refurbishment and upgrade of the existing science accommodation at five secondary schools. This will include the stripping out of all existing equipment and services in the laboratories followed by the installation of new lighting, ventilation and services. The laboratories will be redecorated and new benching provided.

2.2

Harriet Costello Secondary School is included within these proposals and at the request of the school additional work to the existing Technology block will be undertaken alongside the science refurbishment work. Additional funding for this work will come from a successful SEED bid, the school's devolved capital allocation, a contribution from the Policy and Resources Committee's 2002/03 Capital Repairs budget and also from a successful Specialist College bid. The remaining four schools have also made contributions from their devolved capital towards works which could easily be included within the science laboratory upgrade schemes. Further details can be found in the attached appendix.

3.

Procurement

3.1

In order to meet the Department for Education and Skills's (DfES) very tight timescale (work will need to be complete by April 2003) it is intended to negotiate this work with preferred contractors. A similar package of science refurbishment work was undertaken at thirteen secondary schools in 2001 as part of the Science Laboratories for the 21^st Century initiative and NDS 2001/02 programme. At the October 2000 meeting of the Buildings Grounds and Contracts Panel Members approved a special procurement strategy which fulfilled the DfES spend profile requirements whilst providing economies of scale and continuity in the work. It is intended to adopt a similar approach for the procurement of the work to be undertaken this year.

3.2

It is proposed to divide the works into two packages, one in the north of the County and one in the south. Package one, covering the northern areas, will include Harriet Costello Secondary, Cove Secondary and Yateley Community Schools. The second package, covering the southern areas, will include Staunton Park Community and Henry Beaufort Secondary Schools.

3.3

The `northern' package is of a similar scale to those completed last year and it is intended to negotiate this package of work with Mansells Plc, the contractor who successfully completed two of the packages of refurbishment works in 2001. The `southern' package is of a significantly smaller scale than those completed last year and best value would not be achieved by using the larger contractors who undertook the previous packages. It is therefore intended that this second package be negotiated with Nolan Davis who has a good track record of completing work for the County within timescale and budget. By partnering the two packages in parallel it is intended to monitor prices between the two contractors thereby ensuring best value.

4.

Funding and Timing

4.1

Package one has a pre tender value of £804,000, excluding fees, and package two is £315,000, excluding fees. The majority of the funding will come from the 2002/03 NDS Modernisation fund. A breakdown of the funding can be found in the attached appendix.

4.2

It is proposed that the majority of the work be undertaken during the 2002 summer holiday period as this will cause minimum disruption to the schools. The contracts will, therefore, commence on site during July 2002 and be completed by September 2002, in time for the start of the new Autumn term.

Recommendations

That:

1

Approval be given to the proposed refurbishment of science laboratories at five secondary schools in Hampshire.

2

Approval be given to the preferred procurement method to negotiate the two packages of work with Mansells Plc and Nolan Davis.

School, Contractor and Works

Current Status

Start

Complete

Pre tender

value

Source of Funding

Package 1 - Mansells Plc

- Harriet Costello - labs and tech block

- Yateley Community - labs

- Cove Secondary - labs

Design

Design

Design

Jul 02

Jul 02

Jul 02

Sep 02

Sep 02

Sep 02

804,000

Education 02/03 NDS Modernisation 350,000

SEED 02/03 43,000

P&R 02/03 Capital Repairs 100,000

Specialist College bid 87,000

Schools 224,000

804,000

Package 2 - Nolan Davis

- Staunton Park Community - labs

- Henry Beaufort Secondary - labs

Design

Design

Jul 02

Jul 02

Sep 02

Sep 02

315,000

Education 02/03 NDS Modernisation 250,000

Schools 65,000

315,000