Issue - meetings

The delivery of the council’s Estates and Accommodation Strategy will enable the organisation to reduce its exposure to a large and inefficient office accommodation estate, whilst at the same time supporting the development of single council identity where staff work in modern and flexible ways, delivering services that are transformed in order to be as customer focused and financially efficient as possible.

The creation of the BCP Council Civic Centre and relocation of the customer service offer to local libraries represents the first phase in the council’s Estates and Accommodation Strategy and comprises the necessary investment in the Bournemouth campus and libraries, plus the associated work required to allow for the disposal of the legacy Poole and Christchurch civic offices.

It is proposed to focus on the remodelling of the service accommodation as a priority in order to move the project forward promptly, and to establish a Members Working Group in order to allow for appropriate engagement to take forward the development of Civic space as part of a subsequent phase of the project.

The project budget requested reflects the decision to deliver a more pragmatic and financially sustainable solution to the council’s main office requirements that is fit for purpose and appropriate in the context of the significant and ongoing impacts created by the Covid 19 pandemic.

The Leader presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'I' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Leader advised that the delivery of the council’s Estates and Accommodation Strategy would enable the organisation to reduce its exposure to a large and inefficient office accommodation estate, whilst at the same time supporting the development of single council identity where staff work in modern and flexible ways, delivering services that are transformed in order to be as customer focused and financially efficient as possible.

In relation to this Cabinet were informed that the creation of the BCP Council Civic Centre and relocation of the customer service offices to local libraries represented the first phase in the council’s Estates and Accommodation Strategy and comprises the necessary investment in the Bournemouth campus and libraries, plus the associated work required to allow for the disposal of the legacy Poole and Christchurch civic offices.

Further to this Cabinet were advised that it is proposed to focus on the remodelling of the service accommodation as a priority in order to move the project forward promptly, and to establish a Members Working Group in order to allow for appropriate engagement to take forward the development of Civic space as part of a subsequent phase of the project.

In relation to this it was highlighted that the project budget requested reflected the decision to deliver a more pragmatic and financially sustainable solution to the council’s main office requirements that is fit for purpose and appropriate in the context of the significant and ongoing impacts created by the Covid 19 pandemic.

Councillor Diana Butler addressed the Cabinet meeting highlighting the importance of retaining ownership of the Poole Civic Centre, and in relation to this the Leader supported the comments made and advised that there was no intention currently to dispose of the building.

RECOMMENDED that Cabinet:-

(a)         Notes the progress being made on the 3 stage process towards delivering the council’s ‘New Normal’ accommodation ambitions, specifically the BCP Council Civic Centre and associated customer services centres

(b)         Approves the decoupling of the service and civic elements of the Estates and Accommodation Project, and to establish a Member Working Group to inform future civic requirements to be delivered separate from the service accommodation phase of the project

(c)         Approves the project budget set out in Appendix 1 for onward Recommendation to Council and delegates authority to the BCP Council Corporate management Board to approve expenditure from this budget to deliver the project

(d)         Approves the procurement approach for the delivery of the council’s ‘New Normal’ office requirements

(e)         Authorises the commencement of the procurement process and delegates authority to award contracts to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader and appropriate senior officers as appropriate, in accordance with delegated authorities and the council’s financial regulations

Voting: Unanimous

Portfolio Holder: Leader of the Council

The Leader presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'I' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Leader advised that the delivery of the council’s Estates and Accommodation Strategy would enable the organisation to reduce its exposure to a large and inefficient office accommodation estate, whilst at the same time supporting the development of single council identity where staff work in modern and flexible ways, delivering services that are transformed in order to be as customer focused and financially efficient as possible.

In relation to this Cabinet were informed that the creation of the BCP Council Civic Centre and relocation of the customer service offices to local libraries represented the first phase in the council’s Estates and Accommodation Strategy and comprises the necessary investment in the Bournemouth campus and libraries, plus the associated work required to allow for the disposal of the legacy Poole and Christchurch civic offices.

Further to this Cabinet were advised that it is proposed to focus on the remodelling of the service accommodation as a priority in order to move the project forward promptly, and to establish a Members Working Group in order to allow for appropriate engagement to take forward the development of Civic space as part of a subsequent phase of the project.

In relation to this it was highlighted that the project budget requested reflected the decision to deliver a more pragmatic and financially sustainable solution to the council’s main office requirements that is fit for purpose and appropriate in the context of the significant and ongoing impacts created by the Covid 19 pandemic.

Councillor Diana Butler addressed the Cabinet meeting highlighting the importance of retaining ownership of the Poole Civic Centre, and in relation to this the Leader supported the comments made and advised that there was no intention currently to dispose of the building.

RECOMMENDED that Council:-

(a)          Notes the progress being made on the 3 stage process towards delivering the council’s ‘New Normal’ accommodation ambitions, specifically the BCP Council Civic Centre and associated customer services centres

(b)         Approves the decoupling of the service and civic elements of the Estates and Accommodation Project, and to establish a Member Working Group to inform future civic requirements to be delivered separate from the service accommodation phase of the project

(c)          Approves the project budget set out in Appendix 1 and delegates authority to the BCP Council Corporate management Board to approve expenditure from this budget to deliver the project

(d)         Approves the procurement approach for the delivery of the council’s ‘New Normal’ office requirements

(e)          Authorises the commencement of the procurement process and delegates authority to award contracts to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader and appropriate senior officers as appropriate, in accordance with delegated authorities and the council’s financial regulations

Voting: Unanimous

Portfolio Holder: Leader of the Council

To consider the following transformation related reports scheduled for Cabinet consideration on 11 November 2020:

·       Estate and Accommodation Project

The O&S Board is asked to scrutinise the reports and make recommendations to Cabinet as appropriate.

Cabinet member invited to attend for this item: Councillor Drew Mellor, Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Finance and Transformation

The Cabinet report is attached for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

Estate and Accommodation Project - The Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Transformation and Finance introduced the report, a copy of which had been circulated and which appears as Appendix ‘I’ to the Cabinet minutes of 11 November in the Minute Book. A number of issues were raised by the Board in the subsequent discussion, including:

·     A Councillor raised the issue that the original figure of £29million was agreed cross party before the pandemic and the way that the Council responded to it and that the figure for the project three or four months ago had already reduced to about £10million pounds and clarified that the reduction from the original figure to the now £6million figure did not happen overnight.

·     A Board member asked about the decoupling of the civic space from the office space with no indication of what the cost, timeline and impact would be of this work. The public entrance and mayor’s parlour was part of the commitment to make the whole site fully disabled friendly and the Leader of the Council was asked how this would be impacted. The Leader advised that Councillors would be consulted on about this space and a hybrid option would be developed. The Leader also confirmed that disabled access was being championed and he would be working on solutions to this issue.

·     A Councillor queried what would be happening to the annex as it was referred to in one area of the report and then seemed to be omitted in others. It was expected that all staff would fit into the town hall footprint while this is being considered he Town Hall Annex would be retained.

·     The Portfolio Holder was questioned on the choices provided to staff for where people may choose to work, originally there was an intention that staff could work from hubs, at home or in the new civic centre. The Board was advised that the Council would be developing a hybrid option for working with. There was still very much an ambition to have drop in areas for staff within the libraries.

·     A Board Member raised concerns about the financing for the project to borrowing and that a lot of this did not appear to be investment but was in fact restructuring and change. The Leader advised that this deliver a £700k net benefit largely due to maintenance costs.

·     In response to a query about the disposal of the sites the Leader advised that the disposal of the sites was not already decided and there were a number of different options for how the sites could be taken forward at present.

·     A Councillor commented that he welcomed a considered view on the development of the strategy and that a quick sale of the sites may not release best value and that these issues need to be looked at carefully. The Leader agreed with this and commented that he didn’t feel that a quick sale would be best value and want to get long term  ...  view the full minutes text for item 88