Agenda item

(To receive a report from Dave Pennington, Head of Property Development, which invites the Committee to consider and comment on a report which will be presented to the Leader of the Council (Executive Councillor for Resources and Communication) for a decision between 19 and 23 October 2020, on the expansion of The Eresby School, Spilsby)

The Chairman advised the Committee that this item was for pre-decision scrutiny prior to a decision being made by the Leader of the Council between 19 and 23 October 2020.  Attached at Appendix 1 to the report was a copy of the Executive Councillor report for the Committee's consideration.

The Chairman invited Dave Pennington, Head of Property Development to present the report.  The Committee was also advised that Sheridan Dodsworth, Head of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Eileen McMorrow, Programme Manager, Special Schools Strategy were also in attendance for this item.

The Committee was advised that this was the third scheme within the overall programme to start construction, the first being the Boston Endeavour which had been approved in January 2020 and the second being The Willoughby Academy, Bourne, which had been approved in August 2020.

The Committee was reminded that the strategy would provide a locality-based sector-wide approach to special education which would enable all special schools to meet the wide range of pupils needs in their local community.  The strategy would enable the special school estate to increase by over 500 places to help address the growing demand, enabling each school to offer places to pupils from within their local communities with all needs.

The Committee noted that the contractor Willmott Dixon had experience of delivering a number of SEND related building projects for other local authorities and were already delivering the Willoughby Academy scheme.

The Committee noted further that this project and others in the programme had been future proofed to allow for an increase in demand for SEND places.  This had been achieved by building in an additional ten per cent capacity beyond the immediate need.

It was reported that the existing school would undergo extensive remodelling work to provide a design/technology and art room, a physiotherapy space, a visiting professional/therapy space, a parent's room, a hygiene suite, a disabled WC and staff/administration spaces.  It was also highlighted that the car park would be extended to provide an improved drop off and pick up area, and further parking for the increased staff numbers.

The Committee noted that the new building block would be a modular design; which meant that it would be constructed in a factory and assembled and finished on site.  It was highlighted that the benefit of this approach was that there would be less disruption to the school.

The Committee was advised that the total budget for the project was £6.59m, with £0.800m of the cost being funded from the Basic Need Allocation, £0.445m from the Department for Education (DfE) SEN Capital Grant, with the remaining balance of £5.335m coming from a Capital Maintenance Grant. A breakdown of the project budget was provided on page 24 of the report for the Committee to consider.

The Committee was reassured that by using technical expertise via the partnership with Kier, all costs were able to be compared with industry averages. The Committee noted that Corporate Property referred to the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS).  Details of BSIS comparison information was tabled on page 25 of the report.

The Committee noted that the final schedule of accommodation was based on the DfE guidance Building Bulletin 104, with input from representatives from Children's Services, Corporate Property and Special School Head teachers to discuss and identify what types of spaces were essential, which has ensured that the local authority was building schools based on the needs of children and young people with SEND, and the education leaders involved were able to provide specialist knowledge regarding accommodation requirements.

Section 8 of the report provided the Committee with information relating to the effect of Covid-19 on the construction industry.  It was highlighted that social distancing had increased costs on site (due to increased cleaning and more facilities being required).  The Committee noted that £40,000 had been set aside in the risk budget specifically to cater for Covid-19 related items. The Committee noted further that there was an overall risk budget for the budget of £560,000 to cater for unforeseen design and abnormalities.

It was also highlighted that Brexit might have a bearing on the project budget.  It was not known at this stage how much this would impact the project.

Members of the Committee asked a number of questions, when the following points were confirmed:

·      The Committee was pleased to see that the Strategy and individual schemes were progressing despite the Covid-19 pandemic and the challenges that this posed, and that the additional information on the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) that was recommended by the Committee when it considered the scheme for Willoughby Academy, Bourne in July had been included;

·      The school was part of a large Multi Academy Trust which the Council was working collaboratively with. The school was being asked to expand at the request of the Council but the school did not have any capital funding in its budget for the expansion and the school was not entitled to receive any funding from the CIF (Condition Improvement Fund) bids. Schools were being asked for a contribution where they had capital funding, but that was not possible in this case;

·      The £40,000 risk budget for Covid-19 related items was part of a wider £560,000 risk budget. Some of the Covid-19 costs were already being incurred, such as for the site operating procedures which had already changed to include the social distancing measures and additional welfare facilities which were now in place, so these costs were already part of the baseline in the gross budget of £6.5M. The £40,000 risk budget was to cover any eventualities above and beyond what had already been costed, such as a shutdown in the supply chain due to a positive case impacting on a whole team. As it was part of a wider budget which was sliced up to cover different unforeseen costs, there was some flexibility to move money around if required to cover any additional Covid-19 costs as some of the other anticipated costs may not materialise. Approximately 10% of the budget provided a good indicator of the amount required for a risk budget but a detailed risk register was fully costed out for each scheme;

·      Post Brexit, it was not anticipated that there would be a massive change to the procurement regulations, but that a UK procurement framework would be put in place which would potentially still follow the EU procurement regulations. The UK had been one of the main contributors to the EU Procurement Framework;

·      In terms of the environmental impact and carbon reduction, the building regulation standards were very high and had tightened over the past few years. The school would meet these standards and would be very energy efficient. There would also be a carbon reduction as children would not be transported long distances to get to school on a daily basis as their local school would be able to meet their needs. With regards to the carbon footprint of transporting the modular building from the factory to the site, it was suggested that this information was included in future reports where a modular building was proposed to be built; and

·      The future capacity of the school was a concern for the Committee as the site was limited which impacted on how much the school could expand. The school would fill over time, but it was anticipated that there would be enough provision at the current time as people moved in and out of the area, and it was not seen as an area of pressure. In addition, mainstream schools were being supported to keep SEND children in their schools where appropriate, so that the places were only taken by those needing it.

RESOLVED

1.    That the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee unanimously agreed to support the recommendations to the Leader of the Council as detailed on page 19 of the agenda.

2.    The Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee agreed that the points listed above should be forwarded on to the Leader of the Council in relation to this item.