The Executive Director (Communities and People) has submitted a report to provide an update on progress of the project to deliver the development of The East Oxford Community Centre at Princes Street in upgrading the main building and providing a modern new build extension in a single place.  The report also sets out, for approval, options to address the unprecedented construction inflation.

Cabinet is recommended to:

1.      Approve option 1;

2.      Recommend to Council to increase the project budgetby£1.298m (from £5.496m to £6.794m);

3.      Delegate authority to the Executive Director (Communities and People) in consultation with the Head of Financial Services/S151 Officer; the Head of Law and Governance; the Cabinet Member for Finance and Asset Management; and the Cabinet Member for Inclusive Communities to award the construction contract to Oxford Direct Services Ltd (ODSL) for the sum of £5.9m and enter into the contract;

4.      Approve (subject to Council’s agreement to recommendation 2 above) that the 2023 construction contingency budget is applied to the East Oxford Community Centre project, to make up the budget increase required as set out in the report.

The Executive Director (Communities and People) had submitted a report to provide an update on progress of the project to deliver the development of the East Oxford Community Centre at Princes Street in upgrading the main building and providing a modern new build extension in a single place.  The report also set out, for approval, options to address the unprecedented construction inflation.

Councillor Ajaz Rehman, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Communities, reported that of all the options considered, only one (option 1) was considered to be feasible: consultation with users of the centre had indicated that it offered the minimum space which they wanted, and value engineering on material and methods had allowed the effects of very high construction inflation to be mitigated.

Councillor Ed Turner, Deputy Leader (Statutory) – Finance and Asset Management, highlighted that situations such as the current very high construction inflation environment required challenge and judgement to be made as to whether projects which were feasible at one price remained feasible when costs were substantially higher.  Councillor Turner commented that in the case of the East Oxford Community Centre an alternative scheme would likely involve a full re-design with a new planning application (which would involve risk of refusal), as well as risking disappointment to the local community.  It would be likely to result in a scheme which was similar to the current one but at an even higher price, or alternatively a smaller scheme which did not meet the community’s needs.  Therefore, he recommended the increase to the project budget, whilst highlighting that officers would need to proactively continue to manage costs at all stages of the construction.

Cabinet resolved to:

1.      Approve option 1;

2.      Recommend to Council to increase the project budgetby£1.298m (from £5.496m to £6.794m);

3.      Delegate authority to the Executive Director (Communities and People) in consultation with the Head of Financial Services/S151 Officer; the Head of Law and Governance; the Cabinet Member for Finance and Asset Management; and the Cabinet Member for Inclusive Communities to award the construction contract to Oxford Direct Services Ltd (ODSL) for the sum of £5.9m and enter into the contract;

4.      Approve (subject to Council’s agreement to recommendation 2 above) that the 2023 construction contingency budget is applied to the East Oxford Community Centre project, to make up the budget increase required as set out in the report.