Agenda and minutes

1.1       The Leader welcomed everyone to the meeting.

To receive declarations by Members and Officers of the existence and nature of any personal or prejudicial interests in matters on this agenda.

2.1       There were no declarations.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 27 March 2017.

3.1       RESOLVED:

            The Leader, with the consent of the Members present, signed the Minutes of the special meeting held on 27 March 2017 as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

Report of the Executive Director, Growth, Planning and Housing.

4.1       Councillor Tim Mitchell, Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Corporate Services, introduced the item and explained that the proposals were the culmination of a large piece of work that had included a comprehensive procurement process.

4.2       Guy Slocombe, Director of Property Investments and Estates, then presented the report and began by stating that the proposed recommendations had resulted following a previous Cabinet decision on 25 May 2016 to approve option 2 of a previous report to pursue a refurbishment of City Hall through self-development. Since then, temporary accommodation had been secured at 5 Strand and Portland House and the decanting from City Hall to these two locations had been completed. The design for the refurbishment of City Hall and a stage one tender for the construction works and the Pre-Construction Services Agreement for the refurbishment had also been completed.

4.3       Guy Slocombe advised that the Outline Business Case that had been submitted to the 25 May 2016 Cabinet meeting had been reviewed and it had been updated to form the Full Business Case, which had Gate 2 approval. There had also been substantial levels of governance overseeing the programme, including the City Hall Refurbishment Programme Steering Group chaired by Councillor Robert Davies MBE DL, a task group chaired by Councillor Brian Connell and an officer group chaired by the Chief Executive. The report sought the approval to award the building contract to the preferred contractor as set out in the confidential Part B report.

4.4       Steven Mair, City Treasurer, confirmed that all activities undertaken were within the City Hall Refurbishment Programme’s agreed budget which included a contingency and that it was proposed that flexible capital receipts be used to fund qualifying revenue costs.

4.5       Councillor Antonia Cox enquired whether there had been any financial changes since the last assessment undertaken. Councillor Angela Harvey asked whether there were any plans to advertise letting opportunities on the building wrap to go around the City Hall building.

4.6       In reply, Guy Slocombe advised that rent levels had increased for higher floors bur had remained around the same for lower floors. He confirmed that space would be made available at the City Hall Building hoardings to advertise letting opportunities.

4.7       RESOLVED:

1.    That the award of the contract to the preferred contractor within the approved budget as detailed in the Part B report be approved.

2.    That authority be delegated to the Director of Property, Investment and Estates and the Director of Law to award the contract and execute works.

3.      That the use of flexible capital receipts to fund qualifying revenue costs up to a value of £27.1m be approved.

4.8       Reasons for Decision:

Approval of the recommendations contained within this report will enable the City Hall Refurbishment Programme to continue as planned and:

·           Upgrade a building that is not compliant with current environmental legislation in order to support a more sustainable building in the future;

·           Provide professional office accommodation more appropriate to the Council discharging its responsibilities;

·           Improve the Council’s ways  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.1       There was no additional business for the Cabinet to consider.

RECOMMENDED: That under Section 100 (A) (4) and Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business because they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information on the grounds shown below and it is considered that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information:

6.1      That under Section 100 (A) (4) and Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business below because they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information on the grounds shown below and it is considered that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

7.1       The Cabinet considered a confidential report on the City Hall Refurbishment Programme.