Archived decisions

Hampshire County Council Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education) 17 July 2007 Children's Centres in Hampshire Report of the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services

Contact: Steve Clow Ext: 7858 e-mail: [email protected]

1	Summary
1.1	This report sets out the building proposals for the development of Children's Centres within Hampshire as part of the Government's national strategy to develop 2,500 Sure Start Children's Centres across the country by 2008, in order to achieve the objectives set out in the `Every Child Matters' Government programme.
1.2 1.3 1.4	Seven centres were created in Hampshire during an earlier Phase 1, providing services to a total of approximately 5,000 children under five years of age. These centres are complete and operational. A second phase of centres in Hampshire is now being developed, with the aim of designation of a further 53 Children's Centres, providing access to services for an additional 42,600 children under five years of age. Of these 53 Centres in Phase 2, 44 are projects involving construction work. Six of these projects have been approved under previous reports to the Executive Member, leaving 38 projects now presented for approval. The Government target is to establish a Children's Centre for every community. In order to meet this target, a third phase is planned which will ensure Hampshire's remaining under-fives will have appropriate facilities by 2010.
1.5	The Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services has progressed the design of the proposed second phase of Children's Centres and the purpose of this report is to outline the design proposals and seek approval to the attached design project appraisal for the remaining 38 Phase 2 Children's Centre projects.
1.6	The proposals will maximise wellbeing, enhance the quality of place and make Hampshire safer and more secure for all by providing specialist Children's Centre facilities throughout Hampshire.

2

Recommendations

That the Executive Lead Member advises the Executive Member for Policy and Resources that approval is given to: 1. the design project appraisal to provide 38 Children's Centres, at an estimated total cost of £18.7m, excluding fees; 2. the appropriation of 0.05 ha (0.125 acres) at Readon Close, Petersfield, from Policy and Resources use to Children's Services for the construction of a Children's Centre.

3		Scope of the Works
3.1		Under Phase 2, it is proposed to designate 53 Children's Centres throughout the County, located in areas of need. Of these, 44 Centres are building projects, six of which have previously been reported and approved, leaving 38 projects now recommended for approval in this report. The size and model of each centre will vary according to a statistical measure of deprivation in an area, based on Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). In areas of greater deprivation `full core offer' model centres are planned, providing both parental and family support services and day care provision. In other areas, `graduated model' centres are planned providing parental and family support services. The 38 new Centres requiring construction work will be created in a number of ways:
	No.of centres Description Approx gross value £'m (excl. fees) 14 New-build centres using modular construction, the majority located on Hampshire County Council school sites. 8.5 12 Extensions and/or alterations to existing Hampshire County Council school and youth buildings. 7.4 6 Extensions and/or alterations to Community and Health Centres owned by Third Parties and other Local Authorities. 1.5 6 Extensions and/or alterations to Third Party premises, subject to a funding grant from Hampshire County Council and procurement by the Third Party. 1.3 38 £18.7m
	3.2		The attached design project appraisal provides details of the projects within Phase 2 of the Children's Centres strategy, demonstrating the different generic types of solution proposed. It is not appropriate to produce 38 separate appraisals covering each project. The projects have therefore been grouped together into one programme of work (similar to the recently completed ENHANCE nursing home projects) to ensure value-for-money and a consistently high-quality approach to briefing, design, procurement and construction.

4	Funding and Timing
4.1	The total funding, excluding fees, for the proposed schemes is as follows: £'000 Children's Services Capital Programme 2007/08 3,170 Bushy Lease EYC - devolved capital 93 DfES General Sure Start Grant 15,437 Total 18,700
4.2	The DfES had originally set a target of 31 March 2008 for completion of the projects and final funding drawdown. The DfES has recently confirmed, however, that this funding deadline can be extended to 30 September 2008, for an agreed proportion of the projects and their capital costs.
4.3	As noted above, of the 44 Children's Centres to be developed under Phase 2, six have already been reported to Members and are now either complete, under construction or in procurement. A further six are to be procured via funding grants to third parties. The remaining 32 are now being developed by Property, Business and Regulatory Services.
4.4 4.5	In order to deliver this number of individual projects within the DfES time constraints, a single project team has been established to deliver a co-ordinated approach to design and procurement. Prefabrication, using modular off-site construction is proposed for the new build projects. This offers significant benefits with faster procurement, safer construction under factory conditions and cost efficiencies with common design solutions across similar sites. The Executive Member for Policy and Resources approved at the meeting on 29 June 2007 the procurement arrangements for these projects, which will be completed through framework contractors. Works are expected to start on site in the first locations in November 2007, with a series of completions between March and September 2008.
4.6	For each Centre location, signed approval of the feasibility study is required from the respective `host' organisation (ie School Governing Body, Community Centre Board of Trustees, etc), confirming their acceptance of the proposals to locate the new Children's Centre on their site. This process is ongoing, with 25% of the sites signed-up to the initial proposals at the time of writing. The proposed project locations, which are subject to host organisation acceptance, are shown in the confidential appendices.
4.7	Following this acceptance, the design proposals are being developed in further detail for submission to the DfES for funding approval on a project-by-project basis, in parallel with planning applications.
5	Petersfield Children's Centre
5.1	The DfES has confirmed that it is necessary to site a Children's Centre in Petersfield as part of the current programme. Children's Services has investigated a number of sites and premises, both County Council and third party owned, but no agreement with owners or occupiers has been possible.
5.2	A surplus County Council owned site in Readon Close, Petersfield, is the only feasible option remaining. It had been hoped to achieve a capital receipt (in the region of £0.25m), but there are planning policy difficulties to the grant of a consent for housing. The site is held partly for Children's Services use and partly for Policy and Resources. To enable the Children's Centre to proceed on the only available site option, it is recommended that the Policy and Resources part of the site is appropriated.
6	Consultation with Local Member
6.1	Local County Councillors will be consulted on the proposals following confirmation of the locations for the proposed Children's Centres.
Conclusion
The proposals within this report set out the second phase of provision of Children's Centres throughout Hampshire, in line with the Government's national strategy. The scheme will provide 38 new Children's Centres in various locations within Hampshire.

LINK(S) TO CORPORATE STRATEGY
	Yes	No
Hampshire safer and more secure for all	_
Maximising well-being	_
Enhancing our quality of place	_

This proposal does not link to the Corporate Strategy but, nevertheless, requires a decision because:

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1 Published works

2 Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

Title Location

Architect's plans PMIS file

Building Profile Reports TMH

Hampshire County Council

Building Design Project Appraisal

Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education)

17 July 2007

Executive Member for Policy and Resources

18 July 2007

Project:	Children's Centres in Hampshire
	Provision of Children's Centre accommodation
Commencement date:	November 2007
Completion date:	March - September 2008
Planned year of start in accordance with Capital Programme:		2007/08

Recommendation:

That the building design project appraisal for the Children's Centres schemes be approved.

1 Finance

Capital Expenditure	Current Estimate £'000	Capital Programme £'000
Buildings	18,700	3,170
Fees	2,797	475
Land to be purchased	_	_
Total	*21,497	3,645

* The means by which the difference between the Current Estimate and the Capital Programme

allocation is to be met is shown in the table below.

Financial Provision for Total Scheme	Buildings £'000	Fees £'000	Total cost £'000
1 From own Resources:
a) Capital Programme (as above)	3,170	475	3,645
b) Bushy Leaze EYC - devolved capital	93	7	100
2 From Other Resources:
a) DfES General Sure Start Grant	15,437	2,315	17,752
Total	18,700	2,797	21,497

Building Costs @4Q06

Net Cost

· New-build modular = £1,480/m²

· Extensions = £1,740 - £1,940/m²

Gross Cost

· New-build modular = £1,948 - £2,558/m²

· Extensions = £2,318/m²

Landlord funded work connected with this scheme

There is no landlord funding for the proposed schemes.

Value of land already acquired for this project

The land forming the sites of the developments is an integral part of the schools' or other County Council service campus and is incapable of disposal in isolation, with the exception of the Petersfield Centre as set out in the main report and Shepherds Spring Infant School, which has the potential for housing redevelopment and a capital receipt. The land was acquired at historic cost and its current value to the County Council is as part of the grounds of the establishments.

Third Party owned property

The Director of Children's Services has identified the preferred Children's Centre locations. This has included provision in a number of properties not under the control of the County Council, of which around 8 will require consent from third parties for the Council to undertake construction works (a number of these involve community associations).

The Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services is seeking the necessary formal consents from the third parties, as soon as agreement on the principles of the works is reached. These consents can only be finalised once the detailed works are specified and agreed and in some cases there may also be a need to seek a lease of part of the premises. It should be noted that the County Council will be in the hands of the various third parties as to the formal documentation of the consents/leases and the speed at which this work can be completed, but every effort will be made to adhere to the construction programme.

Revenue implications

It is possible that rents will be payable under leases in respect of third party owned properties, but these cannot be quantified until detailed design and working arrangements are finalised, although it is anticipated that the rents levels will be limited.

Energy costs

The estimated annual energy consumption for the new accommodation will meet that required by current Building Regulations.

2 Details of site and existing infrastructure

Location/adjoining land and buildings

The proposed new Children's Centres will be sited in a variety of locations, as follows:

· new-build modular buildings, generally located on County Council-owned school sites

· extensions and/or alterations to County Council school buildings

· extensions and/or alterations to Community and Health Centres owned by other local authorities

· grants to third parties for the development of a Children's Centre in third party premises

The proposed locations are shown on the confidential map at Appendix 1 and the confidential schedule at Appendix 2.

Area including comparison with local/national standards

Three models of Children's Centres are proposed, as follows:

Model 1 (M1): 600m² gross internal floor area

Model 2 (M2): 350m² gross internal floor area

Model 3/4 (M4): 150m² gross internal floor area


These are based on model briefs developed with the Children's Services Department and incorporate area requirements per child where applicable from the National Standards for Day Care.

Access

Proposals for access will vary from site to site. The key issues that have been considered are as follows:

· respecting and maintaining the security of the proposed sites

· the need for safe pedestrian access

· staff car parking provision

· accessible parking provision

· drop-off for day care

· emergency and refuse vehicle access

· contractor's access for duration of works

Existing buildings

The school sites vary from campuses comprising SCOLA built accommodation to earlier traditional construction. The community centres, health centres and third party-owned buildings likewise vary from recently completed buildings to 1960s system-built accommodation.

Results of trial boreholes

Ground investigations carried out on sites where extensions or new-build modular accommodation are proposed indicate that a variety of foundation types appropriate to the local ground conditions will be required.

Mains services position

For the majority of the new-build modular proposals, it is anticipated that new mains services will be provided independently of the school buildings. Where extensions to existing buildings are required, it is expected that some mains provision will be sufficient and some will require upgrading. Separate metering or sub-metering will be installed where appropriate.

3 Scope of the Project

Type of project, layout and facilities provided

A variety of accommodation will be provided either through new-build provision or the adaptation of existing spaces. The following model briefs set out the typical accommodation that could be provided in the different sizes of Children's Centre. These may vary according to the particular site constraints.

Model 1

Reception area:

· welcome/reception area

· main office

· centre manager's office

· `hot-desk' office

· staff room

· staff and visitor toilets

· accessible toilet to include baby changing facility

Multi-purpose area:

· multi-purpose rooms (two large and one small)

· confidential room

· community café area


Full Daycare Nursery:

· nursery office

· children's accommodation/play rooms

· sleep area for babies

· preparation area

· children's toilets

· baby-change facilities


Storage and other accommodation:

· kitchen

· laundry

· general storage

· filing storage

· equipment

· toy library

· furniture storage

External areas:

· pram/pushchair storage

· covered outside play area/terrace

· equipment storage

· hard play area

· grassed area

· staff car parking areas

Model 2


Reception area:

· main office

· welcome/reception area

· accessible toilet including baby changing facilities

· staff/visitor toilets

· centre manager's office

· staff room


Multi-purpose areas:

· two multi-purpose rooms

· confidential room

· community area

Full Daycare Nursery:

· nursery office

· children's accommodation/play rooms

· sleep area for babies

· preparation area

· children's toilets

· baby-change facilities


Storage and other accommodation:

· laundry

· general storage

· toy library

· filing storage

· equipment

· furniture storage

External areas:

· pram, pushchair storage

· covered outside play area/terrace

· equipment storage

· hard play area

· grassed area

· staff car parking areas


Model 4

Reception area:

· main office

· welcome/reception area

· accessible toilet including baby changing facilities

· toilets

· centre manager's office

Multi-purpose areas:

· small multi-purpose room

· confidential room

Creche:

· crèche

· children's toilets

Storage and other accommodation:

· general storage

· equipment

External areas:

· pram/pushchair storage

· covered outside play area/terrace

· equipment storage

· hard play area

· grassed area

· staff car parking areas

Places provided

The different sizes of Children's Centre aim to provide day care/crèche places as follows:

Model 1 - 50 place day care with up to 10 under-two crèche places available

Model 2 - 30 place day care with up to 10 under-two crèche places available

Model 4 - 10 under-two crèche places



4 The Proposed Buildings

Type of construction, finish and appearance

New-build modular buildings:

The modular buildings will be fabricated off-site in a specialist factory, using a steel-framed construction based on a module size of approximately 10m x 3m x 3m. This enables the separate modules to be delivered to site substantially complete, craned into position and connected together to form the complete building, with the generic M4 Centre model requiring six such modules.

The external walls will generally be rendered, with some areas of timber cladding, although on certain sites alternative external materials may be used to complement surrounding buildings. The roof will have a high-performance covering. Windows and doors will be composite, with aluminium on the outside and timber on the inside.

The modular buildings will have a minimum structural lifespan of 60 years and external finishes a minimum lifespan of 25 years. This is in line with buildings of this type constructed elsewhere in the County and nationally.

This form of construction offers a number of advantages that are beneficial to the Children's Centres programme of works:


· fast-track procurement to meet programme deadlines

· shorter on-site period reduces impact on existing site users, eg schools

· majority of construction activities under factory conditions, with significantly reduced H&S risks

· potential for relocation if required in the future.

Generic floor plans for the range of modular buildings proposed are included in this report in the confidential Appendix 3, together with specific plans and elevations of a typical M4 Centre.

Extensions and alterations to existing buildings

Where Centres are located in existing buildings, the alterations and extensions will be built of materials and finishes to complement the existing construction. These will vary from site to site, but are generally of traditional brick construction.

Grants to third parties for the development of a Children's Centre in third party premises

These projects will be designed by Consultants appointed directly by the third parties and therefore are not part of this project appraisal.

Impact Assessment

All the Centres will be designed to provide a level entrance threshold for pushchair and wheelchair access. Automatic sliding entrance doors will be installed in each new-build modular Centre. Each Centre will include an accessible wc. Each Centre will have a minimum of one accessible parking space.

Assessment of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act has been considered in the development of this proposal. No adverse impact has been identified in terms of race, creed or gender.

Heating and ventilation systems

New-build modular buildings:


Heating will be by gas-fired condensing boilers serving low-surface temperature radiators. It is anticipated that some mechanical ventilation will be required, but the majority of rooms will be naturally ventilated.

Extensions and alterations to existing buildings:

In the majority of cases, it is anticipated that the existing heating and ventilation systems will be extended to serve the Children's Centre accommodation.



Fire risk assessment

New-build modular buildings:

In consultation with the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, a fire risk assessment concludes that these are low fire risk category buildings. Therefore a sprinkler system will not be installed.

Extensions and alterations to existing buildings:

In consultation with the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, individual fire risk assessments for the various project locations carried out to date have concluded that these are low fire risk category buildings. Therefore sprinkler systems will not be installed. Modifications to existing compartmentation, means of escape and fire detection systems will be carried out as necessary.

Health and safety

Designers' risk assessments have been carried out and a Pre-construction Health and Safety Information Pack will be prepared, in accordance with the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, for each of the proposed schemes.

5 External Works

Car parking

Car parking provision for each of the Centres has been calculated using the current Hampshire County Council Highway Parking Standards for nurseries. This defines parking space ratios for given staffing numbers and includes for parents, visitors and an accessible parking space. The provision is as follows:


Model 1 (M1) - 7 spaces plus drop-off point
Model 2 (M2) - 6 spaces plus drop-off point

Model 4 (M4) - 4 spaces

These are maximum figures and may be reduced by up to 50% depending on the accessibility of a particular site to public transport links, in accordance with the Parking Standards.

Existing parking provision on each site has been reassessed against the current parking ratios for each site use category, eg primary school, as required by the Environment Group. It is anticipated that any surplus spaces thus identified will be required to be re-allocated for use by the Children's Centres as part of the parking space requirements listed above.

Landscape proposals

Each of the Centres will have access to a secure hard and grassed external play area for the children, sized according to the different Centre models and the numbers of daycare or crèche places. For the larger Centres, this may include some rubberised safety surfacing.

Situation on site and environmental impact

Careful consideration has been given to the siting of each Centre with respect to existing buildings and adjoining properties.


Initial environmental surveys have been carried out, followed by more detailed investigations where required. Where protected species have been identified as present, a licence will be applied for and any necessary actions taken to ensure compliance with all statutory requirements.

6 Planning

Detailed planning applications are being prepared for the new-build modular and extension schemes as required. Some of the smaller alteration and extension schemes will fall under the permitted development criteria.

7 Building management

Arrangements for cleaning, catering, local management and maintenance arrangements are being developed as part of the overall Children's Centres programme.

8 Furniture and equipment

Provision of £1m has been made in the budget for fixed furniture and equipment in the planned Centres. This is approximately 5% of the estimated costs of the buildings.

9 Professional resources

Architectural Services } Property, Business and Regulatory

Quantity Surveying } PB&R and The Selway Joyce Partnership

Electrical and Mechanical Engineering } Property, Business and Regulatory

Structural Engineering } WSP/Gifford/R J Watkinson & Partners

10 Consultations

The following have been consulted during the development of the projects: Headteachers and Governors of the schools, Children's Services Department, Environment Department, Fire Officer, Access Officer, local County Councillors, District and Borough Councils (where freeholders), Community Associations (where applicable), Third Party freeholders.

11 Appendices

1 Map of Proposed Locations

2 Schedule of Proposed Centres

3 Modular Buildings - plans and elevations