(a)

The Box brought together a unique combination of cultural partners and heritage collections including the City Museum and Art  Gallery, the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office and the local historical collections of the Central Library;

(b)

the project would create a major cultural statement and would make a step change for Plymouth’s cultural sector;  it would provide a new cultural attraction that supported the targeted increase in tourism for both the City and the region, increasing visitor numbers from 80,000 to 250,000 per annum;

(c)

four community projects were currently underway and were designed to target a range of key Plymouth audiences and community groups which included the Maker Memories, Plymouth After Dark, Your Recipes, Your Heritage and Plymouth Roots;

(d)

the conservation of the figureheads was the most significant of its kind in a generation and not only secured the future of the Devonport figureheads but identified The Box as a centre of excellence and innovation for the preservation and display of maritime heritage, with one of the largest collections in the UK;

(e)

the construction contract had recently been rephrased due to construction delays from abnormal conditions on the site which had required additional work to St Luke’s Church, as well as the former museum and library buildings; this had resulted in sections being handed over to enable the fit out programme to start whilst separate construction areas remained safely active;

(f)

‘Reload’ was the programme of activities planned over the last 12 months of the programme, leading up to the opening in 2020; this would be a challenging part of the programme, as the collections would be moved from their current locations into the new facility;

(g)

a comprehensive plan for the opening of the new facility had been drawn up which would ensure The Box was ready in Spring 2020; the plan focused on ‘our visitors’, ‘our staff’, ‘our income’ and ‘our building’;

(h)

the latest approved budget for The Box was £44.452m and reflected an ambitious investment in the City for growth, culture and innovation;  whilst the project remained within its current funding envelope, abnormal site conditions continued to be found causing additional pressure on the remaining contingency, such as a significant amount of asbestos and needles found in the ground to the south of St Luke’s Church which required specialist removal;

(i)

the Council was currently holding the project risks whilst the build programme and fit out of the galleries and other spaces within the building were completed; the largest risk was the pressure on the current agreed funding for the project; there was also a reputational risk of the outcome of the project not meeting expectations; however this had been mitigated with a very strong cross party member involvement in the programme, throughout its design and now the construction period;

(j)

the driver for the programme was to open the visitor experience in the spring 2020, in time for the Mayflower celebrations; this was a fixed deadline that imposed constraints to the contract delivery of the buildings and exhibitions.

(k)

what measures had been taken to rectify the culvert issue;

(l)

how much asbestos had been found on site and how had this delayed the project;

(m)

whether the marketing of The Box was being undertaken with particular focus on the cruise ships due to visit the City in 2020;

(n)

seeking an assurance that the disabled access to The Box had been well designed including the provision of parking; currently the Regent Street car park was not fit for purpose for disabled users;

(o)

what measures had been undertaken to mitigate anti-social behaviour in the outside space;

(p)

whether the demographics of people visiting the new facility would be pro-actively monitored, to ensure engagement across all communities;

(q)

how the volunteers would be supported and whether any consideration had been given to accrediting this role;

(r)

how Councillors could support the long term sustainability of community engagement, in particular the 12 ‘cold spots’ that had been identified as having the lowest engagement.