Agenda item

Report of the Director of Placemaking and Housing. To be presented by the Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure.

The Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure introduced the report. It was explained that on 1 October 2024, Haringey Council insourced leisure services. It was explained that the provision of leisure services was key to helping our residents in the future, to enable them to lead active, healthy lives whilst also tackling the wider determinants of ill health, such as social isolation and loneliness. It was stressed that access to sports and leisure facilities was central to health and wellbeing for residents of all ages and we want to play an important role in tackling health inequalities experienced by many residents and help them lead more active lives.

With leisure services back under Council control, it was explained that the Council would be able to make the changes, upgrades and refurbishments required to ensure the sites were safe, clean and well maintained and are of a standard that all residents deserve and expect. The Cabinet Member highlighted the upgrades at Tottenham Green leisure centre and explained that the Council was also bringing forward improvements at Park Road at the same time and to Broadwater Farm Community Centre too.

It was stressed that, since leisure services were insourced, alongside the existing improvements to the sites, planning work had been taking place to procure the company identified in the exempt part of the report to deliver upgrades to changing rooms, ensure compliance with the Equality Act 2010 requirements and redecorate the centres.

The Cabinet Member noted that the proposed improvements were the second round of improvements to Tottenham Green which would enable a greater use of the centre by a wider group of residents in Haringey and support them to pursue and maintain a healthy and fulfilling life, with dignity by staying active, safe and connected with their local community.

Following questions from Cllr Emery, the following information was shared:

• Officers explained that the location was held in the General Fund, and that any improvements made would therefore be funded through that funding stream.
  
  
• Officers explained that the Council was working on the forward maintenance plan for the building, that it was an iterative process, and that the proposed project formed part of the first stages of the overall forward maintenance plan, which would be developed and reflected in future reports.
  
  
• It was explained by the Cabinet Member that the buildings were in a poor state as they were brought back in house. However, it was stressed that the Council had worked to bring the buildings back into an improved state through investment. It was also noted that the one of the advantages of bringing back in house were that leisure services and strategies would be able to be integrated with parks to allow for a holistic approach.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

1. Approved the award of a contract to Bidder A, for the Phase 2 refurbishments works at Tottenham Green Leisure Centre, for the sum of £687,418.82.
   
   
2. Approved a contingency amount of 10% of the contract value, to be managed by the Haringey Council project manager. 

Reasons for decision

In July 2023, Cabinet took the decision to end the Council’s contract with Fusion Lifestyle Ltd (‘Fusion’) and to review how its leisure services are to be run in the future. As part of the decision to bring the Leisure Service back in house, the council committed to investing to improve facilities offered to residents.

Building condition surveys were undertaken as part of the Leisure Centres insourcing programme for Tottenham Green and Park Road and have revealed urgent works are required across both sites. The condition surveys informed the scope of the phase one and phase two works at both sites, with the most urgent works being included, added to client instructions from Leisure Services.

The scope of works proposed in this report is the second phase of improvements. Phase 1 works were delivered from day 1 of the new service (October 2024) and focused on the most urgent works. These Phase 1 works concluded in December 2024. The Phase 2 works are the remaining urgent works identified.   

Alternative options considered

Do nothing

The option to not proceed with further works was discounted, given the poor state of the leisure centres, and the feedback from service users.

Undertaking a single package of Year 1 Works

This was discounted as it would have led to a significant delay to construction works starting on site due to the procurement process and increased length of construction programme. This option would also have caused significant disruption to the use and management of the leisure centres.  Accordingly, a phase one urgent works package was commissioned to coincide with the hand back of the buildings and has now been successfully completed.

Deliver the works internally

The council does not have the resources or staff with the necessary qualifications to deliver these services in house, it is therefore outsourced to external contractors.