Agenda item

Report attached.

The Cabinet considered a report of Councillor Mohammed Younis, Portfolio Holder for Levelling Up, updating Members on the Council’s Levelling Up Funded (LUF) interventions and work on assembling the team required to deliver them

Councillor Younis outlined the main elements of the report,

The Leader commented that this intervention represented one of the most exciting projects in the Borough for a long time.  The programme had been developed with the help of consultants and the MP and had resulted in a significant reward of over £20m.  Councillor Haworth stated that she had a particular interest in the successful rejuvenation of the Market Hall.  Mr Riley commented that the Decant Team for the Market Hall was being put together and the leader noted that market traders would remain in situ until after the Christmas period if they so wished.  Councillor Dad asked if the Decamp Manager had now be appointed and Mr Riley confirmed that the individual was already in post and would meet with the traders next Monday.

Councillor Dad enquired about the consultation methods used and Mr Riley indicated that there had been public consultations, stakeholder meeting and dedicated sessions for those with a direct interest in the Market Hall.  Councillor Dad also asked if the Market Hall intervention would be branded as a food hall or food court.  The Leader responded that the concept would involve half of the floor space used for food, with the remainder for traditional market use.

Councillor Zak Khan thanked the Portfolio Holder and officers for their work and applauded the Council for trying to undertake something new.  Councillor Younis summed up by indicting that the £20m grant was supplemented by some £3m in matched funding and a £5m National Lottery bid, equating to some £28m in total, with the opportunity to realise additional private sector investment.  Councillor Britcliffe considered that this demonstrated the controlling administration’s vision of a prosperous future.

Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

Cabinet had given its formal approval in support of the Stakeholder Board’s recommendations that the Council’s £23m LUF submission should focus around the following three principal interventions:

• Redevelopment to an area within the Indoor Market Hall and outdoor pavilions along Peel Street – the intervention known as Market Hall.
• Improvements and redevelopment to the properties of 43-59 Blackburn Road / 2-4 Church Street – the intervention known as Market Chambers.
• Improvements and redevelopment to the block 61-69 Blackburn Road – the intervention known as Burtons Chambers.

The last formal updates to Cabinet on the proposed Levelling Up Funded projects had been in February, recommending accepting the LUF and LCC’s match funding and the following month in March, recommending the making of a CPO where it not be possible to secure the necessary acquisition/vacant possession by agreement for Burtons Chambers.

Due to the Council continuing to undertake some essential work on the project at a relativity small financial risk before any announcements were made, officers had been in a position to finalise the appointment of the Programme Director within a week of formal notification that the Council would receive funding.  The Project Director would be using the PRINCE2 Project Management methodology agreed for the project, and had prepared a Stage Plan/Report.  The report was set out at Appendix A to the report and explained the work streams that had been progressed during the initial RIBA2 refresh/review stage and proposals for the next stage.

The Royal Institute of British Architects offered an industry standard plan approach which comprised of eight separate work stages that each addressed a required phase of a construction projects progression, from inception through to completion.  Each RIBA work stage had clear tasks and outputs, which offered both a process map and a management tool. This helped to ensure that work was carried out and completed to the high professional standard that was expected.  Whilst an architect was not obligated to use this plan, it had become an unofficial industry standard.

RIBA2 Stage

The key findings from the outputs produced during the RIBA2 stage were:

• To identify the potential for any ‘enabling’ works that might be able to be undertaken ahead of the main redevelopment works starting in 2024, ensuring works started as soon as possible, helping to mitigate programme risks given the extremely tight funding spend deadline.

• A review of the design for the Market Hall offeringcould be explored., identifying a model that was most likely to attract a strong operator interest by investigating an option to introduce complementary use/s, which encouraged customers across a greater spread of the week (weekdays/earlier in the day) and from a wider demographic,

• A review of the design for the Shared Workspace, identifying that the draft layout might have the potential to be more efficient.  The design for additional floor space on the roof should be re-explored, as the extension indicated in the current design might not be the best way to achieve the required outputs.  There was also a lack of infrastructure to generate green energy which if incorporated on the roof space would reduce the financial risk of operating the facility.  Finally, that developing a parking strategy for the facility needed prioritising.

• Whilst the term of any contractual relationship had yet to be decided, there was a recommendation that the optimum contracting model for the Market Hall was likely to be a Lease, and for the Shared Workspace a Management Agreement.

• Identification of the agents and legal advisors team that would be best placed to make recommendations on the procurement of those operators and which had been based on the consultant’s recent experience with working on similar offerings for both private investors and other local authorities.

• A recommendation that whilst the previously adopted procurement strategy be maintained, in that its recommendation for frameworks were to be used, that the frameworks to be considered should be broadened from just SCAPE and NHS SBS to include, for example, North West Construction Hub.  That for each works procurement, a review should take place to ensure the most appropriate framework or Dynamic Purchasing System for that particular requirement was considered and where appropriate was selected.

• A review of the work undertaken for bid submission which had identified design readiness and where further work was required to enable the project to progress to the next RIBA work stage.

• Reaffirming design proposals, which whilst would still be subject to input from an operator and/or planning requirements, would permit the costs consultants to provide a greater level of assurance that the three interventions could still be delivered within the £23m budget envelope.

The report then summarised the plans for the upcoming stage, RIBA3 Design, Refresh and Remobilisation stage, including the team makeup that would be required to deliver it.

The Officer Project Group identified as required in the July 2022 Cabinet report, once funding had been confirmed, had now been established.  This group would be tasked with overseeing delivery which included officers from a number of the Council’s teams such as Financial Services, Internal Audit, and Legal Services, etc.

Property Acquisitions / Leaseholders

Burtons Chambers

• Freehold interest in the building had been secured in February and had received notification of the Competition of Registration from the Land Registry on 25 May.
• One leasehold tenant in process of signing new lease to relocate into one of the Council’s premises along Broadway and would have vacated the building by the end of summer.
• The other leasehold tenant had appointed consultants to search for suitable alternative premises and to advise them on property relocation / disturbance costs and any other relevant costs involved in surrendering the lease.
• At its meeting in March 2023, Cabinet had authorised the making of a CPO where sale by agreement could not be achieved.

Market Chambers

• Five freehold and 18 leasehold interests had been identified within the building.
• Dialogue with three of the five freeholders had progressed sufficiently to achieve sale by agreement.  The remaining two had now entered into a dialogue with the Council’s property acquisition consultant CBRE.
• By the end of May, CBRE had also reached out to all leaseholds within the building, updating them on the Council’s plans and how they could seek further information from CBRE.
• Cabinet being asked, at its meeting in June 2023, to consider authorising the making of a CPO where sale by agreement cannot be reached (Minutes 31 and 42 refer).

The Market Hall

• The Market Hall was within the Council’s ownership.
• All but three existing tenants had signed new lease agreements which expired on the 31 December 2023.  Of those three, one had entered into a dialogue with CBRE to dissolve the company and surrender the lease.  The other two tenants had continued to have a dialogue with the Council to agree Heads of Terms for a new lease.
• A Decant Manager had now been appointed to manage the smooth transition of decanting traders into temporary accommodation in time for the start of redevelopment works in 2024.  Whilst the final cost of this decant work was unknown at the moment, there was a budget within the LUF funding to deliver this.

There were no alternative options for consideration or reasons

Resolved                                    -    That Cabinet note the LUF Update, including the outputs from the previous work stage and the plans for the upcoming work stage.