Issue - meetings

Decision

RESOLVED

1.1           To delegate to the Asset Strategy Manager (Estates), in consultation with the s.151 officer, the existing allocated capital budget to action remedial works as soon feasibly possible to the property, as outlined in the Intrusive Inspection and Damp Investigation Report, subject to the vacation of the tenant (RNLI).

1.2           Delegate to the Asset Strategy Manager (Estates), in consultation with the s.151 officer, to utilise any remaining capital budget to undertake energy improvement works to the property in order to increase the energy performance rating to the required standard for leasing.

1.3           Delegate authority to the Asset Strategy Manager to commence negotiation of terms for a new lease, with the existing RNLI tenant, with a further report back to Cabinet in accordance with governance procedures.  

Reason for the decision:

To address the ongoing issues with damp in the building and increase the energy performance of the building for leasing.

The Chairman explained that following the previous report to Cabinet on 4^th September 2023, detailing the options available, a visit to the property and technical briefing was made available for members. To gain further clarity over the damp issues, at the 8^th January 2024 Cabinet meeting it was agreed to commission further additional investigation into the fabric of the building to identify the cause of damp, establish remedial options and budget costings.  This investigation has since been completed and officers now sought approval to use the existing capital budget and move forward with repairing the building. He added that the energy efficiency of the building needed to be improved to save costs and meet net zero goals. It was hoped to complete the works within 32 weeks and within the allocated capital budget. He said that it was hoped that a joint press release could be released with the RNLI, following discussions about the heads of terms of the lease for the museum.

The Estates & Asset Strategy Manager advised members that if approved, a 32 week programme would be commence in the autumn to remediate the damp and undertake the energy improvement works. The cost would be £828k plus some additional costs for the energy works. A capital budget of £1m had already been approved by Full Council and it was intended to keep within that budget.

The Chairman invited members to speak:

Cllr C Cushing said that he was surprised by the lack of detail included in the report. He said in district terms, this was a large project costing almost £1m and he sought clarification as to whether the funding included the cost of repairs to the lift. Cllr Cushing added that at the September meeting of Cabinet, all of the reports and accompanying appendices were exempt and not in the public domain. This caused some concern as the public were keen to see the RNLI museum retained and would want reassurance regarding discussions over the heads of terms for the lease. He then asked for some assurance regarding the future resistance of the building to storm surges, if the proposed work was undertaken. He asked what would happen if the RNLI did not choose to take on the lease for the museum.

The Chairman replied that there was another tenant in the upper part of the building operating a very successful restaurant. He reiterated that the capital budget for this project had already been approved and several options were being presented. Regarding guarantees, he said that it hard to be certain that a major storm surge would not cause damage. That said, in terms of the long-term damp issues, a guarantee that this would not reoccur would be expected. He added that there was also an intention to update the public toilet provision on the site.

Cllr Cushing said that there were several building across the district that required a substantial amount of money spending on them and he felt that there was nothing in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52