(i)

a Restricted Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) procurement exercise had been undertaken for the selection of the main contract for the Life Centre; the works being procured included the –

(a)

construction of the new facility

(b)

associated externals/highways

(c)

demolition of the existing Mayflower Centre and Central Park pools; 

(ii)

the demolition of the skate park was included in the programme, although the relocation of the facility to a new location would not be within the contract works; this would be undertaken by others under the direction of the Life Centre Programme Board;

(iii)

tenders were issued on 21 July 2009 and all five bidders had returned their bids on 2 October 2009;

(iv)

the Quality and Cost evaluation process adopted by the authority was undertaken and identified Balfour Beatty as the successful bidder;

(v)

the detailed construction programme submitted by Balfour Beatty identified that the completion of the Life Centre facility would be delivered within the timescale;

(vi)

the contract costs would be contained within the approved budget of £46.5m within the overall approved capital programme; the breakdown costs were as follows -

?

capital receipts

£13,769,021

?

supported borrowing

£  4,650,000

?

unsupported borrowing

£19,525,319

?

grants

£  6,328,000

?

other contributions

£  2,227,660

(vii)

the funding streams would be kept under constant review as part of the ongoing review of the capital programme to ensure that any funding changes as they became known would be contained within the overall programme;

(viii)

the timing of capital receipts and any temporary borrowing which may need to be taken as part of the existing capital strategy would be kept under review and further options would continue to be looked at to help minimise the borrowing requirements.

(i)

unsupported borrowing was borrowing in addition to supported borrowing and was only permitted if the authority could afford it;

(ii)

supported borrowing was a grant provided by Central Government to finance borrowing up to a specified amount;

(iii)

a letter had been sent to the Pavilions giving formal notification of the authority’s intention to withdraw its subsidy which would coincide with the opening of the Life Centre; discussions were ongoing for the retention of the arena facility;

(iv)

with the withdrawal of the subsidy to the Pavilions would cover the cost of the unsupported borrowing;

(v)

the authority only borrowed monies from institutions with the highest credit rating; the Treasury Management Board met on a weekly basis to review the Council’s borrowings;

(vi)

capital receipts in the sum of £2m had already been realised against the project’s capital funding programme of £13,769,021;

(vii)

the overall budget of £46.5m allocated to the project incorporated the spend to date.

(1)

the recommendation to award the construction contract to Balfour Beatty is approved and congratulates relevant Members and officers on the thoroughness of the tender evaluation process which has been sound an robust; 

(2)

the impact of change orders and financial risks are outlined in more detail in the regular Project Manager’s report; 

(3)

ways of improving access to the Life Centre for people with disabilities and taking account all six strands of equality, is explored;

(4)

the Customers and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel is invited to further scrutinize the Leisure Management contract, Leisure Ice provision and the Pavilions including the financing at appropriate stages of the process to allow influence prior to the decisions being made;

(5)

consideration is given to ‘incentivising’ the contract with regard to aspects such as timescale, costs and health and safety;

(6)

discussions are held with the view to maximizing advantages for the local economy, within relevant legislation, eg the use of local labour and apprenticeships, local materials and businesses;

(7)

LSP partners are encouraged to contribute to the scheme in a similar fashion to the University’s commitment;

(8)

consideration is given to using an appropriate proportion of developer tariffs beyond those specifically allocated to leisure (eg transport) to support the scheme during its operating life time;

(9)

the Customers and Communities Overview and Scrutiny normally receives a bi-monthly update on various aspects of this project.