Agenda item

Report of the Director for Placemaking and Housing. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Council Housebuilding, Placemaking, and Development.

Cabinet approval to vary the works contract for Lilstone Ltd for the Bruce Grove Public Conveniences.

The Cabinet Member for Council Housebuilding, Placemaking and Development introduced the report which requested approval to increase the Contract Award to Lilstone Limited (no.1) of £1,027,414.08, by £473,934.00 to a maximum of £1,501,400, in order to continue the refurbishment of the Grade II listed former public convenience and transform it into a new café with a social value operator, and remove it from Historic England’s ‘Heritage at Risk’ Register.

Councillor Jogee welcomed the proposal and noted the opportunity for creating local jobs.

In response to questions from Councillor Emery, the following information was provided:

-       Re-tendering the contract was not a consideration, as there had not been any issues with the performance of the existing contractors.  To re-tender the contract would cost more money and cause further delays.

-       The additional costs had occurred as a result of the delays in obtaining National Rail approval, along with unforeseen and unforeseeable heritage repairs.

RESOLVED

1.            To approve a further variation (no. 2), to increase the Contract Award to Lilstone Limited (no.1) of £1,027,414.08, by £473,934.00 to a maximum of £1,501,400.

Reasons for decision

During the construction works, the project has suffered significant delays attributed to the delay in receiving NR technical approvals, unforeseen and unforeseeable heritage repairs, and sequencing of works. This variation Report seeks approval to vary the contract award made by Cabinet on 18^th January 2022, which in itself was, a variation to the original contract awarded in July 2021.

At the end of March 2022 NR advised that the technical approval process for NR had changed. At the same time, officers were made aware that due to the minor design changes to the accommodate the new building extension within our title boundary a new full technical approvals application would be needed.

The delays with obtaining the NR technical approvals have impacted on the construction programme. The contractor has not been able to commence with the demolition or piling works, which are critical path items, as these are located on the boundary line with NR. 

Whilst there have been some movement recently from NR to allow some works to progress with certain elements of work to reduce the impact on the programme, due to the ongoing delays with approvals, the works have reached a critical stage in the project resulting the contractor advising in August 2022 that they had run out of work which could be completed on site.

Due to the nature of the building and dereliction over a number of years, elements of unforeseeable heritage repairs to preserve the Grade II Listed status of the Pavilion Building have been uncovered. Listed Building Consent was also required for these repairs, which has contributed to the delay.

Alternative Options Considered

Option 1: Continue with the refurbishment works

Continue with the refurbishment works whilst the NR and Listed Building Consents are gained; this option was discounted as it would have allowed the contractor to maintain a site presence and charge full preliminary costs whilst they waited for NR approvals and listed building consents to be granted. In addition, the contractor advised on 25th August 2022 that no further works could completed on site until NR approvals and listed building consent are received.

Option 2: Temporarily suspend the works

Temporarily suspend the works, decant site and wait for the NR and planning approvals to be gained. This option reduces the preliminary costs charged by the contractor; whilst maintaining the site compound and storage.

Option 3: Contractor to demobilise & remobilise the site entirely

This option involves the contractor decanting the site with removal of the site compound until the relevant NR & Listed Building Consents are in place. With this option preliminary costs will not apply. However, costs for decanting and remobilising will apply. The risk with this option is that the contractor may not be able to reallocate labour or subcontractors to the project. In addition, allowing for current cost increases in the market place the contractor may want to revisit their construction costs before restarting with the works.

Option 4: Do nothing

To stop the refurbishment works due to cost overruns. As BGPC is a Grade II Listed the council has an obligation to preserve the condition of the building and keep it in good repair. Stopping the refurbishment works now would result in further deterioration of the building fabric where elements cannot be refurbished and require replacement. This will also impact on the Grade II Listing of the building as original heritage elements would be lost. The impact with this option will likely result in grant funding being lost if not spent.

It has been assessed that option 2 offers the Council best value for money.