1-3 George Street comprises a vacant mixed use building in a prime city-centre location. The building’s condition has deteriorated internally and in its current condition does not meet minimum regulatory energy performance and other standards. It now requires significant works to refurbish the building to provide a rental income to the council.

The project will deliver an increased level of refurbishment and will improve the attractiveness of the building to the market. Works are to include a new external lift servicing all floors, internal layout improvements to support flexible working, enhanced services, and fabric improvements to improve energy efficiency, a rear external terrace and internal lightwell.

The proposal aims to secure a BREEAM Very Good, sustainability standard through further improvements to the building fabric, both air-tightness and insulation, enhancement to triple glazed windows, as well as the use of PV at roof level.

To appoint the preferred bidder, and agree contractual terms with the bidder for 1-3 George St, with an option to manage Cave St if this scheme goes ahead with the agreement of Council later in 2021. Appointment at Cave St will require the Council to be satisfied with performance to date and agreement of terms for this site both parties. The bidder will lease the site/s and operate it under Management Agreement. This will deliver income against the George St Scheme from 2021-2 onwards and Cave St from 2023 onwards

Full procurement exercise undertaken following repeated soft market testing. The preferred bidder was selected by a broad panel of Council officers across property, finance, regeneration and economy, supported by procurement and independent advice from managed workspace experts. All known risks related to the operator offer have been considered and addressed through the procurement process. 

A full business case and range of options were considered as part of the project development process. Five other tenders were also received, but did not score as well on a combination of financial and quality measures.

Tom Bridgman, Director of Development

Decision taken in consultation with Councillor Cllr Susan Brown, Economic Development Portfolio-holder; Alex Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Delivery; Councillor Ed Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance and Asset Management, Nigel Kennedy, Head of Financial Services and Susan Sale, Head of Law and Governance.