Agenda item

[Report of the Assistant Director for Housing. To be introduced by the  Cabinet Member for Housing and Estate Renewal.]

Cabinet are asked to approve  for housing delivery schemes Harvey House and Finsbury Road (1) the award of the construction contract (sub £500k) (2) the appropriation of the land for planning purposes and (3) noting that the land at Harvey House shall remain in the HRA for this development at neutral costs.

The Cabinet Member introduced the report which sought approval to the conversion of two disused Council-owned shops into two new Council homes: a three-bedroom home in Bounds Green and a one-bedroom home in Hornsey. Both would be let on secure Council tenancies at Council rents.

Further to considering exempt information,

RESOLVED

1. To approve the appointment of Cuttle Construction to undertake refurbishment works to provide two Council rented homes at 27 Harvey House and 43 Finsbury Road for a total sum of £390,398.

2. To approve the property known as 27 Harvey House being appropriated from the General Fund to the Housing Revenue Account to enable the conversion into affordable housing to proceed.

Reasons for decision

The two shop conversion sites, 43 Finsbury Road and 27 Harvey House, were approved by Cabinet to be part of the Council housing delivery programme on 7 July 2019. These schemes have subsequently been granted planning consent and are ready to progress to construction. This report therefore marks the third, and final, Member-led decision to develop these two sites.

Following a competitive tender process, a contractor has been identified to undertake these works, which will help the Council make progress in delivering a new generation of Council homes at Council rents.

The property at 27 Harvey House, which is an entirely commercial space, currently sits within the General Fund, following the July 2017 Cabinet decision to appropriate it for General Fund purposes. The scheme has been granted planning consent to convert it into housing and is ready to progress to construction. This property needs to be appropriated back to the HRA as works to convert the premises to housing will be funded through the HRA and on completion the new home will be let at Council rent levels.

This decision is necessary at this time to support the Council’s COVID-19 response, in as much as it will be part of a portfolio of schemes that are ready to go onsite as soon as the lockdown rules allow – supporting the recovery of the local and wider economy.

Alternative options considered

Not to convert these properties for housing purposes. This option was rejected as it would not support the Council’s commitment to deliver a new generation of Council homes and these premises have no current use for commercial purposes.

To use alternative procurement routes. This option was rejected because there is no viable alternative procurement route for this opportunity: the value is too large to run a competitive tender via the Council HPCS portal, and too small to procure the works via the London Construction programme (LCP) Major Works 2019 Framework Agreement. This therefore leaves the Council’s Dynamic Purchasing Scheme (DPS) as the only route to market.

To retain the land at 27 Harvey House within the General Fund. This option was rejected for two reasons. Firstly, because while a budget for this scheme has been made available within the HRA there is no appropriate budgets available in the General Fund to convert the premise. Secondly, Council homes let at Council rents cannot be held in the General Fund.