Agenda item

The Director of Schools & Learning introduced the report and outlined the rationale for the report.

Officers explained that the school was required to utilise temporary accommodation facilities in order to continue to deliver its services, due to some classrooms being taken out of commission due to issues with Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) degrading on some buildings on site and rendering them unsafe for use.

Officers explained the long-term solution to the remediation of the building, that the Department of Education would re-imburse costs and that remedial work was expected to be completed in 2028.

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Families, pursuant to contract standing order 0.08, to:

1. Approved, pursuant to contract standing order (CSO) 18.02.2 and CSO 2.01(d), the extension of the rental period of the temporary accommodation contract at Park View School with Portakabin Ltd by 155 weeks at a total contract value set out in Part B of the report.
   
   

Reasons for decision

Following an inspection of teaching Block A at Park View School by an external structural engineer, Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) had been discovered forming part of the structural slab of the roof. On 14 April 2023, due to the risk of failure and collapse of this building element, it had been recommended that the top floor of the building, consisting of 14 classrooms and office space, be immediately vacated. It had been confirmed by the structural engineer that the other floors of the building could be safely used by students and staff. A curriculum and space analysis had been undertaken and it had been determined that the school required temporary accommodation including 13 classrooms, 1 shared office and 4 toilets until the structural issue could be remediated.

Interim teaching arrangements had initially been put in place at the school from Monday 17 April 2023. These had consisted of teaching many pupils in shared/communal spaces such as the sports gym. This had not been considered to be a sustainable solution and had been impacting the quality of teaching and learning. Additionally, the gym had been required to support GCSE exams from mid-May.

A Cabinet Member approval had been granted in May 2023 to award a contract to Portakabin Ltd to provide the required temporary accommodation by September 2023 for an 18-month hire period at Park View School.

Construction and installation of the temporary accommodation had been completed on programme in September 2023. A variation of the Cabinet approval had been granted by the Director of Schools and Learning in January 2025, which had included an extension of the rental period to June 2025 whilst a permanent solution to remediate the RAAC had been developed.

Agreement for funding of an approach for a permanent solution to remediate the RAAC had been received from the Department for Education (DfE) in May 2025, which on completion, would allow students to return to the main building. The permanent remediation solution had assumed students would continue to learn in these current temporary classrooms until the remediation was complete.

The proposed permanent remediation had been to replace the roof containing RAAC. This had included removal of all RAAC panels from the school, then putting a new deck and roof covering on Block A and the section of Block B that contained RAAC. Consequential works, such as removal and reinstatement of internal top floor partitions, windows and services to enable replacement of the roof deck, had been included in proposals. The indicative date for completion of the roof replacement works had been summer 2028. Following these works, students would be able to return to their classrooms in Blocks A and B and the temporary accommodation would be removed from site.

The DfE had agreed to reimburse Haringey for the costs of this temporary accommodation, including ongoing rental costs required to complete the permanent remediation.

This temporary accommodation had been required for Haringey to fulfil its statutory duty to provide sufficient school places. Without the temporary accommodation remaining in place until a permanent remediation was completed, Haringey would have failed to discharge that duty.

Alternative options considered

Do nothing – this had been discounted on the basis that Portakabin would have removed the temporary accommodation if the rental agreement had not been extended. The Department for Education would not have accepted this option as it would not have fulfilled the Council’s statutory duty to provide sufficient school places in an environment capable of delivering the full curriculum to the requisite standard. The Council would, therefore, have been deemed to be in breach of its statutory duty.

Retender the contract – If another contractor had been successful in a further procurement exercise, there would have been additional time and cost associated with design and construction of alternative temporary classrooms, resulting in students going back to short-term teaching arrangements in shared/communal spaces, which would have created severe disruption, impeded the quality of teaching and learning and might not have been compliant with Haringey’s statutory duty to provide sufficient school spaces.

End the contract and relocate the temporary teaching spaces to an alternative location within the school – this had been discounted at the outset of the project following a space and curriculum analysis which had concluded that there had been insufficient space to make up for the loss of classroom and office accommodation elsewhere on site. This would have resulted in the Council failing to meet its statutory duty to provide sufficient school places.

Relocate pupils to other schools – this option had been discounted as being detrimental and disruptive to the children’s education. Additional temporary accommodation would still have needed to be procured due to a lack of sufficient overall space on other sites. This would have incurred additional setup and rental costs.

Purchase the temporary accommodation – this option had been discounted as the temporary accommodation had been situated on a section of the school playground. The rental contract had included decommissioning and removal of the temporary accommodation. The Council would have incurred an additional charge for removal of these should the unit have been purchased. This option had also been explored in the original tender and had not been considered value for money.