Issue - meetings

Report of Cabinet Member for Children and Young People attached.

In the absence of the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People the Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategic Growth presented the report which outlined to Cabinet the latest position and details of the Northwest Construction Hub (NWCH) provisional milestone dates. Indicative budget costs were approved at the February 2025 Cabinet meeting. The report sought approval to proceed to the Pre-Construction Services Agreement stage (PCSA) for the construction of the new wing extension; roofing remedial and other outstanding defects scheme.

The potential value of the full contract enables the Council to utilise for procurement purposes the NWCH High Value Construction Framework Lot 1 (£8m to £25m) pre-qualified panel of Contractors.

Decision:

The Cabinet:

1.     Approved entering into a Pre-Construction Services Agreement stage (PCSA) with the Kier construction the contractor selected

2.     Delegated finalisation of the terms of the Agreement to the Director of Law and Democratic Services in consultation with the Executive Director for Children and Young People.

Reason for the decision:

Approval to proceed to PCSA stage is required for the Millwood scheme to progress. This enables the detail of the project to be developed, enabling greater confidence in the capital cost and programme for delivery. The previous scheme was developed to RIBA Stage 4 but unfortunately the contractors ISG went into Administration in September 2024. Allowing a new contractor time to develop the RIBA Stage 4 is required by the Northwest Construction Hub (NWCH) two stage process. This allows for design responsibility handover and Client Engagement Meetings to take place with the selected Contractor Partner prior to the bid being submitted.

Cabinet approval to proceed to the PCSA stage is needed at the April 2025 Cabinet meeting to ensure a quicker start on site to achieve the tight deadlines for the 4^th wing extension and completion of the roofing remedial/outstanding defects work.

Development of additional capacity at Millwood Primary Special School, as set out in the Project Safety Valve agreement between the Council and the Department for Education, is a key element of the specialist place sufficiency strategy. Taken together, the Agreement and strategy set out the business case for the development of new provision and expansion of existing specialist provision to meet increasing demand within Bury and reduce the reliance on placements in Independent Non-Maintained Special Schools (INMSS). The extension scheme at Millwood Primary Special School is a priority within this strategy.

Urgent completion of the roofing remedial works/other outstanding defects is required. This has already been delayed due to the previous contractors going into Administration.

At the end of the next stage, RIBA 4, the bid will be returned and finalised figures will be available. They will then be reviewed internally and validated by independent quantity surveyors Poole Dick. That firm carried out a similar exercise in respect of the ISG bid last year. This will provide Cabinet with valuable additional assurance. Provided that the bid figures can be recommended a further report will then be submitted to Cabinet in July 2025 seeking approval to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 359