Hampshire County Council

Buildings, Land & Procurement Panel

4 April 2006

Ashburton Court - Progress Report - Key Issues

Report by the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services

How the conclusion in this report fits with the Corporate Strategy

This scheme will impact on the delivery of the following Corporate Aims

Aim 2 - stewardship of the environment - by providing a refurbished building

that meets sustainable and efficient requirements.

Aim 5 - improving services - by providing good quality accommodation that

provides a flexible working environment and enables improved service

delivery.

1

Purpose of report

1.1

The purpose of this report is to identify for the Panel the key issues which will emerge on this project; explain the need for detailed member involvement at particular stages; and outline how the project will develop given its importance and scale.

1.2

The project team comprising consultants and in-house staff have been appointed. The contractor, HBG, has also been selected and reported to an earlier meeting of the Panel. The project will be managed through a `management board', chaired by the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory. The Board will report to the Panel which in turn will require to inform and recommend to the Leader a range of issues for decision.

2

Project approval

2.1

The Cabinet concluded at its meeting in July last year, that the most cost-effective strategy for the County Council would be to repair and refurbish the existing buildings known as Ashburton Court. The County Council at its meeting on 22 February 2006 approved a sum of £40m as part of the Capital Programme for 2006/07 and 2008/09. It is anticipated that this will cover, principally repairs, refurbishment, decanting, new buildings, car park repairs, temporary car parking, and some furniture and equipment.

3

Next steps

3.1

The next six months will be critical to the project. A large number of technical, management, political and planning issues will converge and major strategies in each of these areas will require to be `signed off' (basically considered by the Panel) and recommended to the Leader. A number of these issues will have specific relevance to elected members eg car parking.

3.2

To give the Panel an early opportunity to comment, it may be helpful to consider those issues that will have immediate relevance inside and outside the County Council.

3.3

On a project of this size and complexity, it will be important over the next six months to consider:

· detailed technical analysis of the existing buildings, their structure and repair

· a strategy to achieve the necessary planning approvals required for the design

· the environmental, sustainability and transport issues to achieve a planning permission

· the brief, scope and functional requirement(s) for the project

· (temporary) car parking

· decanting, and logistics

· Health and Safety and overall risk issues on the project

· the design concepts and solutions

· a strategy for asbestos removal

3.4

The project itself will principally consist of a `contract' to repair and refurbish the building. However, it will not be appropriate to develop a single report for approval - that would take too long to prepare - and would not recognise the need for approvals on many issues prior to work starting. It is proposed to run in parallel a range of issues requiring `sign off' and approval at different stages. The Panel might wish to consider how it can best do this, perhaps a small group of members meeting on a regular basis might be appropriate? This process may not always be consistent with the planned timetable of meetings requiring different processes and meetings to be established, particularly in the coming months up until major construction works start later this year. It is recommended that the Panel (or a group of members) agree to meet on a more frequent basis. Every effort will be made to do this in such a way that the `Panel Meeting' precedes the Leader's decision day but there may be occasions when this is not possible.

4

Communication

4.1

Given the speed at which the project will develop and the significant interest in the project from staff, members, the wider public and other public agencies, it will be important to focus on ensuring that we have an adequate communication strategy. Work is ongoing in this connection.

5

Key decision(s)

5.1

Given the nature of the project, it is recommended that notwithstanding the process for sign-off and approval, a date be set for a major `gateway review' of the project prior to a full presentation to the Panel. It is recommended that this be established on 11 July 2006 where the Panel meeting could be divided into two parts: one part of routine business and the other for a presentation of key issues, project cost, design and planning issues, prior to the Leader and the Cabinet considering the issue on 19 July and 24 July respectively.

Recommendation(s)

That the Buildings, Land & Procurement Panel advise the Executive Member for Policy & Resources that:

1

the nature of the approval process required for the project be approved and that the Panel (or a small group of members) meet as required to consider specific issues;

2

the Panel receive a presentation on the key issues at its meeting on 11 July 2006; and

3

that the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory be authorised to work on the issues raised in 3 above.