Agenda item

[Report of the Director for Housing, Planning and Regeneration. To  be introduced  by the Cabinet Member for Finance and Strategic Regeneration.]

The report will recommend the acquisition of the freehold interest in Alexandra House from the Ability Group.

The Leader introduced this report which recommended the acquisition of the freehold interest in Alexandra House.

The Leader informed that the Council’s accommodation needs had changed in the previous twelve months and the Council’s strategic ambition for Wood Green had evolved meaning that Alexandra House now had greater importance to the Council than before.

The Leader highlighted there had always been a strategic case for acquisition to support the redevelopment of the area along the axis of River Park Road/ Station Road but the separate ownership of Alexandra House presented significantly lower risk to this long term vision when Alexandra House was owned by Workspace whose stated intention for Alexandra House was for it to remain as employment space. Now that the alternative is residential development of a nature that could not be supported for strategic reasons, there was a much stronger argument for acquisition on both operational and strategic land use bases.

The Leader closed by noting that, in considering whether to acquire, the Council needed to base a decision on operational and strategic reasons supported by an assessment of the cost implications. Officers had looked at several aspects of this including considering the costs the Council would face if the building was not acquired.

Further to considering exempt information at item 29,

RESOLVED

1. To agree to the acquisition of the freehold interest in Alexandra House, 10 Station Road (as outlined red in the plan in Appendix A) on terms set out in Part B.

2. This resolution is set out in exempt part of the report

3. To give delegated authority to the Director of Housing, Regeneration and Planning after consultation with the Lead Member for Finance and Strategic Regeneration to approve the final Heads of Terms and all other documentations required to give effect to the acquisition.

4. This resolution is set out in exempt part of the report

5. This resolution is set out in exempt part of the report

6. This resolution is set out in exempt part of the report

Reasons for decision

The Council has the opportunity to acquire the freehold of Alexandra House, currently in use as office space by the Council under a business lease that is due to expire in mid- February 2021. The reason for the acquisition is in the first instance operational, to provide the Council with flexible office accommodation over the coming years whilst the medium-term accommodation strategy is approved and implemented, and in the short term to manage decant and works to River Park House.

A number of reports and studies undertaken in the last six months about the Council’s current office accommodation have shown that the Council has a greater requirement for office accommodation in the short and medium term than previously understood, supporting the need to retain Alexandra House for operational reasons. The property is currently under contract to be sold and the new purchaser has indicated that they would oppose a new lease should the Council request one once the existing lease expires in February 2021.

The current purchaser has lodged an application for permitted development rights to develop Alexandra House as residential units (studio flats).

The acquisition is also being recommended for strategic reasons, to consolidate the Council’s land holdings in the area and promote its ability to deliver long term redevelopment of the Station Road corridor, and to take control of the future development of this site, along with other Council sites, so that it can support the Council’s vision for this area as expressed in its Borough Plan and other plans about the Wood Green area.

The recommendation is that the Council now, in agreement with the current purchaser, step in to acquire Alexandra House on the basis of completing the transaction during March and based on the structure set out in the Heads of Terms in Part B of this report.

Alternative options considered

The alternative option is not to buy the freehold interest in Alexandra House. The consequence of this would be that the Council would need to vacate the building if the Council failed in its application for a new lease with a risk now that there would be insufficient temporary accommodation available to facilitate that on time due to recently identified works being required at River Park House.

The need for additional accommodation for staff could potentially be met in other ways. These alternatives are described in detail in the background section and have been considered both in terms of the risks to business continuity and in terms of cost in comparison with the recommended option.

A further possible consequence is that the scheme proposed in the permitted development application might succeed and this would affect the longer term development of this area. The scheme proposed at present would, if implemented, retain Alexandra House for that purpose over a period of c25 years, with future redevelopment only coming forward should demand for this type of accommodation drop making alternative development an option.

An options appraisal has been carried out. The appraisal includes the costs the Council would face if it decided not to buy Alexandra House. Given the Council’s requirements and the analysis of the options, the recommended option is to acquire.