Agenda item

            The Director of Improvement submitted for the Committee’s consideration the undernoted report providing an update in relation to the City Hall major works project:

 

“Relevant Background Information

 

      A previous update was presented to the Committee on 16 November 2007, when it was agreed that subsequent update reports be presented on a quarterly basis, with additional exception reports as necessary.

 

      The decant to Adelaide Exchange has been completed and the City Hall was cleared to enable the contractor to commence work on 19 November with a 90 week overall contract period, to be undertaken in two phases.

 

      The formal challenge received from one of the contractors who were unsuccessful in their tender for the specialist Records Removal/Off-Site Storage contract proceeded to court and judgement was recently made in favour of the Council and the contractor who issued the challenge has stated that he will not appeal. Consequently, the contract will be awarded and implemented shortly.

 

Key Issues

 

      Programme

 

      An outline programme is attached for information.

 

 

      Progress to date (week commencing 11 February) is as follows:

 

·         Protection of marble areas in progress;

·         Asbestos removal from the main roof is complete;

·         Re-roofing of the West and South roofs has commenced and is 10% complete;

 

·         All non-notifiable asbestos in the remainder of the building has been removed. An application has been made to the Health and Safety Executive for approval to remove notifiable asbestos. Encapsulation work has also commenced in the roof area of the Rotunda;

 

·         Basement shelving has been removed;

·         Removal of chandeliers & pendants for refurbishment is complete;

 

·         Survey work of existing services installations is complete;

 

·         Stripping out of radiators, pipework and electrical cable has commenced;

 

·         Sprinkler system has been drained down and is being removed.

 

      Progress is currently adhering generally to the programme.

 

      Variations

 

      The incorporation of a memorial to BCC employees to be situated in the courtyard at a cost of £22,800 was approved at SP&R December 2007;

 

      Other potential variations being considered for incorporation into the project are:

 

·         Emergency Room relocation – estimated cost £450,000;

 

·         Control Room relocation to 2nd floor – cost will be dependent on brief which is currently being developed;

 

·         PABX room upgrade –cost will be dependent on brief which is currently being developed;

 

      The variations regarding the Emergency Room, Control Room and PABX Room are dependant upon proposals being finalised, together with costs, by Health & Environmental Services and Corporate Services respectively and presented to Committee for further consideration.

 

 

 

      Depending on the nature of the works there could be a substantial impact on the overall cost and programme which will be alleviated by reaching early decisions on these matters. Final proposals on these variations really need to be signed off or rejected by committee by March 2008.

 

      City Hall: Future Use

 

      The future use of City Hall is a much more fundamental question which directly involves Members. To minimise any potential additional costs, variations and/or delay, Members are asked to engage with this further via the Cross Party accommodation groups as soon as possible.

 

      In broad terms the issue may be stated as follows; ‘What balance do members wish to strike between the various competing potential uses of the City Hall building?’ The main uses are:

 

1.   as a political base, which would involve some/all of the following:-

 

      (a)     hosting monthly Council and Committee meetings;

 

      (b)    hosting political parties in conducting their internal business;

 

      (c)     hosting individual members in dealing with constituency matters; and

 

      (d)    facilitating attendance at meetings with other parties and/or council officers.

 

      The recent members’ survey produced a very clear finding that, in addition to hosting the main political meetings (Council, Committees, DPP etc) members feel that the City Hall is also the best place from which to conduct day-to-day party and constituency work. This has obvious implications for the future use of the City Hall in that it requires a fairly large footprint within the building, whether the parties move back into the areas previously used as party rooms or to a new area within the building specifically designed to reflect party size. (This decision will also presumably be affected by the outcome of the Review of Public Administration, which may increase the number of members who require accommodation).

 

2.   as a civic building, which could involve some/all of the following:-

 

      (a)     maximising tourist potential through enhanced tours and increased public access;

 

      (b)    enhancing access to the prestige functions rooms and other areas of the building;

 

 

      (c)     celebration of the city by way of exhibitions, displays etc;

 

      (d)    providing an historical perspective on the development of the city, including public archives, art, artefacts and other library material;

 

      (e)    incorporating the Visitor & Convention Bureau following the expiry of its existing lease in 2010, which would significantly increase footfall in the building and, in turn, increase the viability of other potential activities including for example a catering franchise; and

 

      (f)     incorporating the Consumer Advice centre.

 

3.   as an administrative building, which would involve:-

 

      (a)     providing office accommodation for essential BCC officers and support staff;

 

      (b)    providing an operational base for a range of citizen?facing services, most notably Births, Deaths, Marriages & Civil Ceremonies, the Cemeteries office, Building Control, Consumer Advice etc.

 

4.   as a source of revenue, which would involve:-

 

      (a)     seeking appropriate external partners to lease areas of the building on a commercial basis, with a view to introducing retail, food & beverage and other private sector facilities.

 

      It will therefore be necessary to engage with members in order to seek a cross-party consensus on the most appropriate split between the political, civic, administrative and economic uses of the building, following which officers can develop detailed alternative layouts and approaches for members’ consideration.

 

      As refurbishment work has commenced in the City Hall, it is important that decisions in respect of the future use of the building are taken promptly, in order that the layout of the building can be appropriately configured and incorporated into the programme for the works, minimise any additional costs and/or delays and to factor in any overall accommodation use which will no longer be catered for in the City Hall.

 

      Site visit

 

      Members may wish to consider visiting the site to view the progression of the works.

 

 

 

      Adelaide Exchange

 

      Members are asked to consider whether a Members Common Room to be formed on the third floor, by the amalgamation of two of the existing meeting rooms. Members are asked to note that there has been significant use of the meeting rooms by Members in Adelaide Exchange as shown in the table below.

 

Month	Working days	Bookings
	October	(13 days)	15
	November	(22 days)	32
	December	(18 days)	14
	January	(22 days)	41
	February	(10 days)	23
	Total	(85 days)	125

 

Resource Implications

 

      The anticipated project expenditure for the Major Works contract, based on the accepted tender, is £11,875,000.

 

      The anticipated final account is projected to be within the approved budget with the exception of the cost of any variations not yet approved.

 

Recommendations

 

      It is recommended that the Committee notes this report and determine:

 

1.   whether a site visit to the City Hall should be arranged;

 

2.   whether a Members Common Room should be provided in Adelaide Exchange.

 

3.   whether Members want to consider alternate options as to use of City Hall, and if so, to agree to an options paper to be considered in April.”

 

            The Director outlined the main aspects of the report and indicated that there were a number of decisions which the Committee was required to take in relation to potential variations which were being considered for incorporation into the project.  With regard to the emergency room relocation, which had been estimated at a cost of £450,000, he stated that an application for funding had been made to the Northern Ireland Office.  However, whilst that organisation had indicated that it would not be providing funding, the Police Service of Northern Ireland had agreed to fund the emergency room in the sum of £100,000, with the remaining amount of £350,000 being provided by the Health and Environmental Services Department from the underspend in its current budgets.  He pointed out that the proposal to relocate the control room had been withdrawn and that a report on the upgrade of the telephone exchange room would be submitted to a future meeting.

 

 

 

            After discussion, the Committee agreed:

 

(i)     to defer consideration of the question of the relocation of the emergency room to enable a report providing details on how the Health and Environmental Services Department proposed to finance the proposal to be submitted to the next monthly meeting of the Committee;

 

(ii)    to undertake a site visit to the City Hall in conjunction with the site visit to Clarendon House which had already been agreed by the Committee;

 

(iii)   that a Members’ Common Room be not provided in the Adelaide Exchange; and

 

(iv)   to an options paper regarding the future use of the City Hall being submitted to the meeting of the Committee scheduled to be held in April.