Agenda item

London Borough of Haringey (Haringey) were seeking to identify and address building condition issues at Bruce Castle Museum. The museum was the only Grade 1 listed building owned by the Council and dated back to the early 16th Century. The building held significant historic importance and was one of the two largest Tudor houses remaining in the Greater London area.

Successive feasibility studies and condition surveys had been carried out over the

years identifying a number of issues at Bruce Castle Museum. A successful bid for

funding was achieved in November 2022 with £588,900 being contributed by the Arts

Council and the remaining match funding from Haringey Council.

This refurbishment and structural improvement project would bring a number of benefits to the Museum building, its staff and the council, with the primary objective of providing essential structural repairs to ensure the building could remain open for the foreseeable future and creating improved Museum exhibition spaces for the local community in line with Haringey’s Corporate Delivery Plan. Procurement of a contractor had been undertaken on a traditional basis, with the works designed to Stage 4 of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Plan.

RESOLVED

For Cabinet pursuant to Contract Standing Order (CSO 9.07.1(b)) to:

1. To approve an award to Contractor A (named in Part B exempt information) up to the value of £916,147.64

2. To approve a client contingency as set out in Part B of this report which will be managed under change control procedures.

3. Approve the issuance of a letter of intent for up to 10% of the contract value, as set out in Part B of this report.

Reasons for decision

MEND (Museum Estate and Development) funding from the Arts Council was

successfully granted in 2022 to undertake a major refurbishment and structural works to the East Wing of the building, which will bring a number of rooms in the museum back to their original beauty, whilst also delivering much need fire safety improvements.

Bruce Castle Museum was a priority within the Haringey Corporate Delivery Plan under High Level outcome 1: Haringey will be a place where arts, culture and heritage is fostered, celebrated and valued, and is woven through everything the council does.

Following the feasibility and successful funding application, a heritage focused design team were brought on board to complete the full design. This scope of the construction contract under consideration is as follows:

Urgent Structural Works to the East Wing

Lath and Plaster/Cornice repairs and full replacements where required

Concealing of cables in MEND areas

New exhibition lighting

Upgrade to an L1 fire alarm (alarm and detector in every room, void/cupboard)

Fire stopping improvements

Minor internal window repairs

Decorations

This construction award report requested a decision on the procurement of a contractor to undertake all the MEND scope of works identified, designed and approved by the project sponsor.

Alternative Options Considered

Do nothing – a decision not to support this award of construction contract would result in the Councils failure to suitably maintain its only Grade 1 listed building by undertaking essential structural and refurbishment improvements. This would increase the likelihood of reactive works which will create greater disruption and cost to the council and potentially result in closure of the museum. All of which would undoubtedly impact on one of the boroughs cultural and publicly accessible assets.