Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Early Years, Children & Families considered the report which sought approval to award a contract to Mulalley and Company Limited up to the value of £3,416,532.90 to undertake building services improvement and external envelope condition works at Lordship Lane Primary School pursuant to contract standing order 16.02 and, pursuant to Contract Standing Order (CSO) 16.02 to approve the issuance of a letter of intent.

It was noted that whilst there was a lot of work to be carried out at the school, there was an extensive project programme in place in order to make best use of the summer holidays.  The contractor had also provided information on their Covid safety plans which were in line with the Council’s approach and Government guidance.  The Cabinet Member requested that the contractor increase the regularity of carrying out their Lateral Flow Tests to help reduce the spread of Covid in schools.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member

i.          Approve an award to Mulalley and Company Limited of £3,105,939.00;

ii.         Approve a client construction contingency of 10% that equates to £310,593.90 which will be strictly managed under change control governance arrangements;

iii.        Approve the issuance of a letter of intent for up to 10% of the contract value totalling £310,593.90.

Reasons for decision

A major review of the condition and suitability of the Children’s Services estate has been undertaken which has informed the Children’s Service’s asset management plan (CSAMP).  This identified condition and suitability deficiencies in the primary, secondary, and wider Children’s Service estate that need addressing in the short, medium, and long-term.  Lordship Lane Primary School is high priority for major works due to issues relating to health and safety or school closure risks.

In 2018 an initial brief was given to undertake the most immediate (short term) health and safety, compliance, and resilience work. These findings included fire compartmentation, fire doors and heating resilience and were subject to a separate award under delegated powers.

In 2019 a further commission was given to further investigate and address urgent works relating to the condition of building services (ie heating, electrics and plumbing), external envelope (ie roofs, windows) and boundary security.

The scheme at Lordship Lane Primary School has been granted an allocation of funding (£539,000) from the public sector decarbonisation programme, a government initiative sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and administered by Salix (Salix works). The grant will be used to part fund the scheme thus reducing the amount of borrowing that the Council will need to undertake. The terms of the grant are that the relevant works need to be completed by the 30^th September 2021. If this date is missed, then there is a risk that the grant allocation will need to be repaid. 

The works at Lordship Lane Primary School has been developed into 2 phases in order to minimise disruption to the school (referenced in 5.2) and achieve the criteria for Salix Public Sector Decarbonisation grant funding.  This construction award report  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10