Agenda item

(To receive a report from Kevin Kendall, Assistant Director – Corporate Property, which invites the Scrutiny Committee to consider the Capital Appraisal for Boston John Fielding Special School, which is due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Resources and Communications between 20 January 2020 and 7 February 2020)

Consideration was given to a report by the Assistant Director – Corporate Property on the capital appraisal for the Boston John Fielding Special School.

The Committee was advised that the Building Communities of Specialist Provision had been approved by the Executive on 6 November 2018.  The Strategy had proposed the expansion and relocation of the Boston John Fielding School to provide sufficient and local specialist education to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the Boston area.  The relocated and expanded school would be sited adjacent to St Nicholas Primary School on Kitwood Road in the Skirbeck area of Boston.  The new school would provide a modern facility to meet all needs and have capacity for 140 pupils.

The design for the new school had been granted planning permission on 4 November 2019 and it was proposed that construction would commence in February 2020.

The proposal was for the design and construction to be procured via the SCAPE National Framework with Wates Construction operating as the main contractor.  This framework was fully compliant with all relevant procurement regulations.

During consideration of the report, the following points were noted:

·         A major benefit of using the SCAPE National Framework over the usual tendering process was that it enabled earlier involvement of the contractor with the school.  Each project was individually assessed on whether it would be subject to tender or would use the Framework, and in this case the Framework had been assessed as the better option, to allow early involvement due to the complexity of the project.

·         The £13.2m cost was built up from individually tendered work packages by Wates Construction.  Each package would receive three tenders which provided confidence that value for money for the scheme would be achieved.

·         The design was efficient and future proof, and provided what the children and the school required.

·         The new build was particularly complex as it involved a special school which required modifications such as for wheelchair access; an academy trust; and a complex build on a current school site which was on a flood plain.  The budget included £1.6m for 'abnormal' items such as flood risk mitigation and a hydrotherapy pool.

·         There was a £713,500 risk budget for the scheme which was already built into the £13.2m budget.

·         This would be the only new build funded through the overall budget for the Building Communities of Specialist Provision Strategy.

·         The scheme would not be carbon neutral due to the costs of constructing a carbon neutral building, but would aim to minimise the carbon footprint.  The Council was working towards a science based approach to measuring the carbon impact of future projects. 

·         A breakdown of the full costs for the new build scheme was available.  As this was not detailed within the report to the Leader of the Council it was suggested that this be presented to him, alongside the Committee's comments, prior to him taking the decision.

RESOLVED

(1)         That the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee's support for the recommendation to the Leader of the Council (Executive Councillor: Resources and Communications), as detailed in the report, be recorded.

(2)         That the comments of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee, as set out above, be submitted to the Leader of the Council (Executive Councillor: Resources and Communications).

(3)         That additional information and assurance, which was presented verbally at the Committee meeting, regarding the costs and value for money of the new build scheme be presented to the Leader of the Council (Executive Councillor: Resources and Communications) alongside the scrutiny comments, prior to him taking the decision.