Agenda item

            The Directors of Property and Projects and City and Neighbourhood Services submitted for the Committee’s consideration the following report:

 

“1.0     Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

 

1.1       This report updates Members on the development and implementation of the £105m leisure assets capital programme

 

2.0       Recommendations

 

2.1       The Committee is asked to note the contents of this report and

 

·        note the programme level update in respect of the new facilities under the leisure programme as outlined at 3.1-3.3

·        note the feedback from the Stage 2 consultations for Templemore and Avoniel as attached at Appendix 1 (see 3.4)

·        in light of the professional advice from the Council’s Integrated Designs Teams (as outlined at 3.5 and 3.6) agree the sequencing of the builds at Templemore and Avoniel with both facilities to close following the opening of the new Robinson in 2019 – this will enable the opening of the new Avoniel in 2020 with Templemore following in 2021. In agreeing this Members are asked to note that the Council is already working on business continuity plans, similar to those developed for Robinson, Andersonstown and Olympia, to ensure continued provision for all users of both Avoniel and Templemore and officers are confident that all users can be accommodated in other centres including the new Robinson

·        note the revisions to the proposed facilities mix at Templemore following the consultation feedback to allow for a greater focus on heritage/interpretation space and a consequent reduction in the size of the spa facilities – this proposal has been endorsed by the East AWG at its meeting on 8th March and by the HLF

·        note that an options appraisal in respect of the future management arrangements for Templemore is currently underway following legal advice which has been received that the Council cannot directly award a contract for the running of the new facility to the Templemore Users Trust (TUT).  Members are asked to note that this must be considered by Committee in April in order to ensure that the Council can meet the strict HLF funding deadline which requires the application to be submitted by October.

 

3.0       Main report

 

            Programme level

 

3.1       Members will recall that they have agreed the design cost limits and the citywide USP strategy for the Council’s £105m leisure programme which will ensure that the city has a unique offering in terms of its leisure provision and minimises any duplication of provision ensuring both balanced investment and value for money.  A high level summary of the current status of all the projects is outlined below –

 

CENTRE	USP	BUDGET	STATUS
Olympia	Sports Village	£19m (£21.75m total - £2.75m DfC)	Centre completed.  Works underway on outside phases. Due for completion May 2018
Andersonstown	Family fun leisure water	£25m	Demolition works completed.  Site works underway
Robinson	Aquatic Centre	£20m	Site works underway.  Steels are in place
Brook	Outdoor Centre of Excellence	£15m	Works commencing on site 20th March
Avoniel	Outdoor Centre of Excellence	£8m	Stage 2 consultation undertaken.
Templemore	Spa and heritage	£12m (£17m total - £5m HLF)	Stage 2 consultation undertaken. Options appraisal on the future management arrangements currently underway
Girdwood	TBC	£6m	Discussions continuing with DfC

 

 

            Olympia, Andersonstown, Brook and Robinson

 

3.2       Members will be aware that Phase 2 of the works at Olympia Regeneration Project includes the construction of a new pitch and play park, re-provision of Midgley Park, a new tree lined boulevard leading from the Boucher Road and the development of two commercial sites at the front of the site. Works are well underway and Phase 2 is due to complete in the spring time with an official opening at the end of May.  Further details on this event will be brought to Committee next month. As part of this Members are asked to note that a public naming process is currently underway in respect of naming the new road that will lead from Boucher Road to Olympia Leisure Centre.  This road will provide access for cars and pedestrians to the new 3G pitches, play park area and multi-use games area together with providing access to the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park and Linfield Football Club’s pitch at Midgley Park. This naming process is following a three-stage process and is in keeping with the process used for Connswater Community Greenway.  Members will be kept up to date with the process.

 

            Members are also asked to note that the two sites which front onto the Boucher Road are now ready for marketing.  These sites will be accessed via the new Boulevard. The combined area is in the region of 2.35 acres.  These sites formed part of the initial master plan for the sports village and the marketing campaign will place particular emphasis on uses which would be complementary to the sports village such as a hotel or leisure.  Any deal would be subject to Planning and the purchaser(s) would be expected to develop within an agreed timeframe.  Members are asked to note that a report will be brought to Committee following receipt of offers.

3.3       Members are asked to note that the steel works at Robinson are well underway and that the demolition works have now been completed at Andersonstown with full build works commencing on site. Photos of both projects are attached at Appendix 2. Works are due to commence on site at Brook week starting 19th March. All three centres are on track for opening in 2019 as per programme. The artist’s impressions for the new centres (attached at Appendix 2) have recently been publicised on the Council website, Facebook and via social media and have received extremely positive feedback. A full communications plan is in place for the programme and both Members and the public will continue to be updated on the progress of the new builds.

 

            Templemore and Avoniel –Stage 2 consultation feedback and sequencing

 

            Stage 2 consultation – Feedback

 

3.4       Regular communication and engagement is central to the success of the leisure programme. In June 2015 Members agreed that a three stage approach to consultation and engagement would be used for the capital redevelopment element of the LTP. In line with this approach, officers recently completed the Stage 2 consultations for Avoniel and Templemore. The purpose of the Stage 2 consultation is to test the concepts to ensure they reflect need and demand and to help develop the final design.

 

            In total 9 consultation sessions were undertaken along with a range of focused meetings and an online survey via CitizenSpace.  The Council’s Equality Forum has also been kept up to date. During the consultation respondents were presented with concept designs for the new centres and asked to give their comments. A summary of the feedback is outlined below with a detailed breakdown attached at Appendix 1. Overall the results from the consultation were very positive

 

Templemore	Avoniel
344 responses in total with 97% expressing support Most common comments included – preserving the heritage of the building; preserving swimming provision in East Belfast; request for phased approach to construction and reducing the size of /removing the spa facilities	50 responses in total with 84% expressing support Most common comments included – welcoming the investment in east Belfast and focus on football pitches and objections  to the proposal to remove the pool

 

            Sequencing

 

3.5       As outlined above one of the common issues emerging from the Stage 2 consultations on Templemore and Avoniel was ensuring continued pool provision in the East. Members have already been clear in their desire that the delivery of the Robinson, Avoniel and Templemore Baths projects in East Belfast are phased to ensure continuity of swimming provision. It was therefore previously agreed that neither Templemore nor Avoniel would close until Robinson was opened and fully operational. As above works on the new centre at Robinson are well underway and once opened in Autumn 2019 this new centre will have 2 main swimming pools providing 12 lanes of swimming and a toddler pool.  This is an enhancement on the capacity of the old Robinson. 

 

3.6       Through the consultation, there were a number of requests for the Council to consider phasing the build works at Templemore. The Leisure Project Team, in conjunction with the Integrated Design Team, has assessed what the implications would be for the Council should it proceed with a phased approach. Templemore is a listed building and is in a confined site and their professional advice regarding phasing the project is that this –

 

-       would cause a delay to the project of at least 12 months meaning the new centre would not open until 2022

-       would add additional costs in the region of £750k to £1 million – for which there is no budget allocation

-       The Principal Designer has health and safety concerns relating to phasing the works which would likely add to the cost and time if these were to be overcome

 

            Members are aware that Andersonstown, Robinson, Olympia all had to close completely to facilitate works on the new centres. In addition, Members are asked to note that it is standard practice for other buildings to have to close completely while redevelopments are undertaken e.g. City Hall, Ulster Hall and Tropical Ravine. These facilities were also all listed buildings.

 

3.7       Members will be aware that the decision to make Avoniel a dry facility has already been taken with the agreed USP for the new centre being a focus on outdoor 3G provision reflecting the under-provision of these facilities in the East of the city. Council officers have also considered the potential of keeping Avoniel open for the duration of the build at Templemore and/or checking if works could be sequenced to keep the pool facility open during this time. Given the location of the current building, the professional advice from the Design Team is that it would not be possible to sequence any development on the Avoniel site and still build the new pitches. Keeping the facility open while works are undertaken at Templemore would therefore mean that works at Avoniel could not commence until late 2021 meaning the new facility would not open until late 2022. If the centre is closed following the opening of the Robinson this will mean the new facility, including the new pitches, will be open by late 2020. Given the professional advice from the Council’s Integrated Design Teams, it is recommended that both Templemore and Avoniel are closed once the new Robinson opens - this will enable the opening of the new Avoniel in 2020 with Templemore following in 2021.

 

3.8       It is however recognised that the closure of any facility causes inconvenience and given this Council officers are already starting to look at the business continuity plans for both Avoniel and Templemore. This will be developed with all users of the facility and will be communicated to clubs and users in advance.  Members will be aware that these types of plans have already been successfully implemented at Andersonstown, Olympia and Robinson and that one of the central uses for the £2m Leisure Mobilisation budget is to support business continuity arrangements. Members are also asked to note that, as highlighted above, the new Robinson will have two main pools with 12 lanes and a third pool for toddlers – Avoniel and Templemore between them currently have 10 lanes so there will be additional capacity at Robinson to support business continuity plans.  Officers are confident that all usage can be accommodated in other centres including the new Robinson  It should also be noted that there will also be enhanced swimming capacity throughout the city as the new facilities at Andersonstown and Brook will also be open. Members are asked to note that further updates on the business continuity arrangements will be brought back in due course.  

 

            Templemore – Designs and facilities mix

 

3.9       Members will be aware that the agreed USP for Templemore is spa/heritage and that £5m of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) under their Heritage Enterprise Grant is being sought for the scheme. The Baths are currently the last surviving Victorian Baths in Ireland and one of very few across the UK. Reflecting this, the importance of the heritage of the building and the need to preserve and enhance this emerged strongly in the consultations. A number of comments were also received in relation to the proposed size of the spa area and reducing/removal of this element. 

 

3.10     Taking on board this feedback, officers and the design team have re-looked at the facilities mix and floor layouts for Templemore and it is proposed that the size of the spa area within Templemore is decreased. This will enable an increased focus on heritage and interpretation and will enable the opportunity to fully capitalise on the key heritage features within the centre including the historic slipper baths, the original learner pool and chimney. Importantly this will also allow the opportunity to have more space to tell the wider story of the Baths, their unique role in the history of Belfast and the linkages with the local area and the wider city.  Members are asked to note that this does not cause any changes to the overall size of the facility and it does not change the agreed facilities mix as a small spa area will still be incorporated within the facility. The revised designs were endorsed by the East AWG at its meeting on 8th March and have also been presented to HLF who have welcomed the revised mix of space. Members are therefore asked to note this revised layout.

 

           

 

            Templemore – Future management arrangements – Options appraisal

 

3.11     Members will be aware that the Templemore Users Trust (TUT) manages the existing Templemore Baths – this is currently done by way of a lease which is due to expire in 2019. The SP&R Committee agreed in February 2017 to take forward a service delivery contract approach with TUT subject to a sustainable management model being established for the new facility and the group passing a range of due diligence health checks.

 

            However, the management of Templemore on behalf of the Council constitutes the provision of a Service to the Council, which in turn means that the provision of this Service is subject to the EU Procurement Rules. Changes in procurement rules means that the Council cannot simply provide a contract to TUT to run either the existing or the future facilities. The Council has sought legal opinion on this and the advice is that a direct award to TUT would leave the Council open to legal challenge. 

 

3.12     At the same time however, there is a recognition of the significant work that the Trust has done over the years to keep the existing Baths open. The East AWG members have highlighted that they would like to ensure that the TUT continue to have an active role in management of the facilities. It has been highlighted this needs to be balanced against the fact that the new facility is an entirely different proposition to the existing centre and that the new centre is a core part of the city’s overall leisure offering. The Council has therefore commissioned an independent appraisal in respect of the management options that are available and a key aspect of the commission has been to establish the potential role of the Trust within each of the identified options. (i.e. if they could they be sub-contracted to run an element of the centre) Members are asked to note that this work is currently underway and the consultants have already held a number of meetings with Council officials, the East AWG and the Users Trust.  This work will continue over the next few weeks.

 

3.13     Members will also be aware that the Council is seeking £5m of HLF towards the redevelopment of Templemore. Without this funding the current proposals for Templemore cannot be achieved within the Council’s budget provision of £12m for the centre.  The timescales for the HLF funding are extremely tight and in order to fulfil the HLF requirements the Council is required to have a management contract, business plan and management and maintenance plan for the new centre in place by August before the final submission to HLF in October.  HLF have already advised that there will be no opportunity for an extension to this date.

 

3.14     Given this there is a very tight timescale for the completion and consideration of the options appraisal to ensure that the Council can submit its Stage 2 application for funding to HLF.  Members are therefore asked to note the critical dates for the options appraisal as outlined below and Members will note that the options appraisal will be brought to Committee next month for consideration and agreement.

 

WHO	WHEN
East AWG Special	Tuesday 10th April
Budget Panel	Thursday 12th April
SP&R Committee	Friday 20th April
Council	Tuesday 1st May
East AWG	Thursday 7th June

 

            Any slippage in these dates and/or any other issues which may cause a delay to this programme will seriously jeopardise the potential of securing HLF funding.  It should be noted that this will not only impact the Templemore project but will also have a consequential impact on Avoniel as the two projects are inextricably linked. 

 

3.15     Financial & Resource Implications

 

            Financial – The design costs limits for each centre were agreed by Committee in April 2015 as part of the overall £105m leisure programme.  

 

3.16     Equality or Good Relations Implications

 

            There are no direct equality implications.”

 

            The Committee adopted the recommendations.