Agenda item

RESOLVED:

 

The Cabinet and Insourcing Committee agreed to:

 

·  The award of the Lead Architect contract to Supplier A on a

fixed fee of up to £714,566.51 to deliver the initial phase of the Town

Centre Sites regeneration programme, which consists of the

preparation of architectural feasibility studies for nine Council owned sites in Dalston and Hackney Central.

 

·  Delegate authority to the Group Director of Climate, Homes and

Economy, in consultation with the Group Director of Finance and

Corporate Resources, to award subsequent call-off contracts for future work phases to Supplier A, within the existing £1.84m budget.

 

REASONS FOR DECISION

 

The decision to appoint the Lead Architect for the Town Centre Sites

programme will provide the Council with the required design and engineering

skills needed to complete comprehensive feasibility studies to determine the

best future use and the financial viability of these important sites. In particular this appointment will allow the Council to deliver against Local Plan objectives and corporate priorities.

 

The maximisation of opportunities on Council land and sites will provide an

uplift to Hackney’s two major town centres in terms of new uses and

facilities, new homes, commercial space, and jobs and help to meet the

objectives set out in the Inclusive Economy Strategy and the Local Plan.

Town centres have been identified as key locations to deliver the growth

objectives of the Local Plan, and considering 9 sites in Hackney Central and

Dalston town centres for redevelopment will support the delivery of the

boroughs growth strategy, which includes the delivery of 26,250 additional

homes, 23,000 new jobs, 34,000sqm of new retail and leisure floorspace and

117,000sqm of new business floorspace by 2033.

 

The nine sites that make up the programme are set out in the table included in the published report.

 

The Hackney Central Place Policy in the Local Plan (PP3) sets strategic

principles to strengthen the role of the town centre, to create more

opportunities for retail, workspace, leisure, community uses and to deliver

new homes, including genuinely affordable new homes alongside an

improved public realm and town centre environment. The appointed Lead

Architect will undertake design and feasibility work on four Town Centre

Sites; which in turn will allow the Council to progress the delivery of the

policy aspirations for the area.

 

The Dalston place policy in the Local Plan (PP2), sets strategic principles to

strengthen the role of the town centre, to create more opportunities for retail,

workspace, leisure, community uses and to deliver new homes, including

genuinely affordable new homes. The Local Plan also seeks to ensure that

the creative, cultural and social organisations that give Dalston its distinctive

identity will be sustained alongside the delivery of new homes, jobs and

improved retail facilities. In addition, the Local Plan identifies the need to

extend and improve Dalston’s public realm, green and public open spaces.

 

This procurement also aims to address the transport and development

commitments in the Community Strategy 2018-2028 by supporting the best

options for increasing public transport capacity and connectedness in the

borough, through working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary way in

partnership with key stakeholders such as Transport for London (TfL) and

neighbouring boroughs. The feasibility work will explore the options to create

a long term permanent entrance to Hackney Central Station, to increase

capacity, accessibility, safety and passenger experience.

 

The programme also supports the Council’s Housing Strategy 2017-2022 by

seeking to increase the supply of genuinely affordable homes available to

local people for rent and sale in the borough. Six out of the nine sites are

identified as housing locations, and the feasibility studies will explore the

delivery of new homes on these sites.

 

The Council’s Inclusive Economy Strategy 2019-2025 supports development

and optimisation of Council owned assets for the benefit of the boroughs

economic areas. The three overarching objectives in the strategy are:

 

? Priority 1 - Support local neighbourhoods and town centres to thrive

and to be inclusive and resilient places.

? Priority 2 - Champion and support local business and social enterprise

in Hackney and protect and maximise the delivery of affordable

workspace in the borough.

? Priority 3 - Connect residents to high quality employment support and

opportunities to learn new skills, get good quality, well paid work and

progress their career throughout their working life.

 

The Town Centre Sites Programme will deliver on all three objectives by

helping to support high streets and town centres to diversify and thrive and

be resilient, especially in light of current pressures on the performance of

retail and the acceleration and continued growth of online shopping, the

need to increase the provision of affordable workspace and to provide new

employment opportunities in our town centres.

8.1   The Head of Area Regeneration presented the report updating Members on the progress of the Dalston and Hackney Central Town Centre Sites programme. Expenditure on the programme was first approved by Cabinet in September 2020 and the report seeks approval to enter into a contract to appoint a lead architect for the initial phase of work which will consist of the preparation of feasibility studies for the nine Council owned sites in the programme.

8.2  The Head of Regeneration confirmed that there would be four university/further education work placements would be offered as part of the contract.

8.3  On those sites that for any reason could not be redeveloped, the Head of Regeneration explained that the Council would need to take a view about the programme and adopt a staged approach. Until the Council completed one stage it would not be clear if work could be progressed on to the next stage. Therefore the architectural feasibilities studies would be combined detailed financial testing and if it appeared at that stages that some of the sites were not financially viable the Council at that stage, using the required appraisals, would discuss those sites with the market to determine if there was anything they could offer in terms of the development of those sites. The Head of Regeneration explained reiterated that the programme’s Council’s intention was take a staged approach as the Council had not previously looked at the sites in great details before.

8.4  In terms of the level of risk was to the Council, the Head of Regeneration explained that initially when the work had been undertaken there had been a low level of risk contract.  The work had now been split into different stages of approval was that the only reasons why there was going to be the appointment of one Lead Architect to stage one was that the Council wanted to test the financial feasibility of the work. Some initial work had been undertaken on and the Head of Regeneration was confident that they the sites should be financially viable. The project was previously categorised as low risk but should that change that would impact on the next stage of the work.

 

RESOLVED:

The Cabinet and Insourcing Committee agreed to:

·  To approve the award of the Lead Architect contract to Supplier A on a fixed fee of up to £714,566.51 to deliver the initial phase of the Town Centre Sites regeneration programme, which consists of the preparation of architectural feasibility studies for nine Council owned sites in Dalston and Hackney Central.

·  To delegate authority to the Group Director of Climate, Homes and Economy, in consultation with the Group Director of Finance and Corporate Resources, to award subsequent call-off contracts for future work phases to Supplier A, within the existing £1.84m budget.

 

REASONS FOR DECISION

 

8.4  The decision to appoint the Lead Architect for the Town Centre Sites programme will provide the Council with the required design and engineering skills needed to complete comprehensive feasibility studies to determine the best future use and the financial viability of these important sites. In particular the appointment will allow the Council to deliver against Local Plan objectives and corporate priorities which are set out below

8.5.   The maximisation of opportunities on Council land and sites will  provide an uplift to Hackney’s two major town centres in terms of new uses and facilities, new homes, commercial space, and jobs and help to meet the objectives set out in the Inclusive Economy Strategy and the Local Plan Town centres have been identified as key locations to deliver the growth objectives of the Local Plan, and considering 9 sites in Hackney Central and Dalston town centres for redevelopment will support the delivery of the boroughs growth strategy, which includes the delivery of 26,250 additional homes, 23,000 new jobs, 34,000sqm of new retail and leisure floorspace and 117,000sqm of new business floorspace by 2033.

8.6  The nine sites that make up the programme are set out in the table below:

A	Hackney Central Station car park (and surrounding Council-owned
B	B 333-337 Mare Street (Iceland), 231-237 Graham Road
C	Hackney Town Hall car park (not allocated in the Local Plan)
D	Hackney Housing Florfield Depot (Reading Lane), Maurice Bishop House (17 Reading Lane), Roberts House (6-15 Florfield Road), Vacant plot on Florfield Road / Florfield Passage
E	1-3 Dalston Lane and 1-7 Ashwin Street
F	2-16 Ashwin Street, 11-13 Dalston Lane
G	Abbot Street Car Park, Dalston (not allocated in the Local Plan)
H	Former CLR James Library, 16-22 Dalston Lane, 62 Beechwood Road
I	Birkbeck Mews

 

8.7   The Hackney Central Place Policy in the Local Plan (PP3) sets strategic principles to strengthen the role of the town centre, to create more opportunities for retail, workspace, leisure, community uses and to deliver new homes, including genuinely affordable new homes alongside an improved public realm and town centre environment. The appointed Lead Architect will undertake design and feasibility work on four Town Centre Sites; which in turn will allow the Council to progress the delivery of the policy aspirations for the area.

8.8.   The Dalston place policy in the Local Plan (PP2), sets strategic principles to strengthen the role of the town centre, to create more opportunities for retail, workspace, leisure, community uses and to deliver new homes, including genuinely affordable new homes. The Local Plan also seeks to ensure that the creative, cultural and social organisations that give Dalston its distinctive identity will be sustained alongside the delivery of new homes, jobs and improved retail facilities. In addition, the Local Plan identifies the need to extend and improve Dalston’s public realm, green and public open spaces.

8.9  This procurement also aims to address the transport and development commitments in the Community Strategy 2018-2028 by supporting the best options for increasing public transport capacity and connectedness in the borough, through working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary way in partnership with key stakeholders such as Transport for London (TfL) and neighbouring boroughs. The feasibility work will explore the options to create a long term permanent entrance to Hackney Central Station, to increase capacity, accessibility, safety and passenger experience.

 

8.10   The programme also supports the Council’s Housing Strategy 2017-2022 by seeking to increase the supply of genuinely affordable homes available to local people for rent and sale in the borough. Six out of the nine sites are identified as housing locations, and the feasibility studies will explore the delivery of new homes on these sites.

 8.11.  The Council’s Inclusive Economy Strategy 2019-2025 supports development and optimisation of Council owned assets for the benefit of the boroughs economic areas. The three overarching objectives in the strategy are:

? Priority 1 - Support local neighbourhoods and town centres to thrive and to be inclusive and resilient places

? Priority 2 - Champion and support local business and social enterprise in Hackney and protect and maximise the delivery of affordable workspace in the borough

? Priority 3 - Connect residents to high quality employment support and opportunities to learn new skills, get good quality, well paid work and progress their career throughout their working life

8.12   The Town Centre Sites Programme will deliver on all three objectives by helping to support high streets and town centres to diversify and thrive and be resilient, especially in light of current pressures on the performance of retail and the acceleration and continued growth of online shopping, the need to increase the provision of affordable workspace and to provide new employment opportunities in our town centres.