Agenda and minutes

To appoint a Chair.

Councillor Edwards was nominated and agreed as Chair. He confirmed  that this was the first meeting of the Leisure Complex Programme Board and the purpose was to confirm the formation of the Board and receive a presentation on the update on the progress of the Exeter Active Project to date.

Councillors are reminded of the need to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests that relate to business on the agenda and which have not already been included in the register of interests, before any discussion takes place on the item. Unless the interest is sensitive, you must also disclose the nature of the interest. In accordance with the Council's Code of Conduct, you must then leave the room and must not participate in any further discussion of the item.  Councillors requiring clarification should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer prior to the day of the meeting.

No declarations of discloseable pecuniary interest were made

The draft terms of reference were presented, and the final copy would be appended to the minutes.

Councillor Leadbetter had supported the appointment of Councillor Prowse as the Conservative representative on the Board. 

To receive a presentation from members of the Exeter Active Project Team and the architects of the project AFLS & P.

The following presentations were made on the feasibility options for the new Leisure Complex.

The Project Manager, Leisure Operations provided a brief overview of his work and progress with the procurement strategy for securing an Operator for the new Leisure Complex to date.

The Client Lead, Estates and Acquisitions provided an overview of negotiations and progress with Crown Estate and Stagecoach.

The Client Lead, Build referred to the appointment of the Project Management and Cost Consultancy Team, EC Harris following an OJEU tender process. (Official Journal of the European Union).  She also provided a timeline overview, details of the project brief and the Project Control and Governance measures that had been put in place. The Design Team were appointed in January 2015,  following an OJEU tendering exercise and reported that they had spent the last six months developing and concluding on their Feasibility and Options Study. The Design Team were introduced and included Mark Thomas from AFLS+ P Architects, David Gale and Tomas Gartner of Gale & Snowdon Eco Design, (low energy specialists).  Other members of the Design Team (not present) included LDA Design, (Landscape Architects and Planning Consultant) ARUP (Structural and Services Engineer) and Continuum Sport and Leisure. Mark Thomas, from AFLS + P Architects outlined the project needs and presented the four key options for Members to consider. The presentation set out in detail the options considered along with the design and business case analysis of each option. 

          The Chair thanked the Design Team and Exeter City Council officers for their presentation.

To pass the following resolution:

RESOLVED that, under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press excluded from the meeting for item  7 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

RESOLVED that, under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of the following item on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part I, Schedule 12A of the Act.

To consider the verbal report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Exeter Active Senior Responsible Officer.

The Client Lead for the Build work stream introduced colleagues from EC Harris, who provided a presentation on the business case for each of the four options.

A Member enquired if a contract stipulation could be made to use local contractors or at least to employ a local workforce. The Project Manager Leisure Operations stated that every effort would be made to include this in the new Leisure Contract along with an assurance that the workforce would be paid a living wage.

          The Board Members discussed the four options, and concluded that Option 2, which was a scheme integrated with the Crown Estate development and inclusive of all the Environmental factors (Passivhaus) was the preferred option.  The Board instructed the Project Team to progress with Option 2, through the Project Control Point.

The Project Manager,  EC Harris presented the Board with the opportunity to add some additional commercial features to the Leisure Complex design in order to generate a significant increase in revenue. The Board received this information with interest and it was agreed that further meetings within the City Council Committee cycle be arranged to give consideration to this potential enhanced offering.

It was noted that a Members’ Briefing for all Members of the City Council had been arranged for 13th July.

RESOLVED -   

(1)     that the Project Team progress with Option 2, through the Project Control Point; and

(2)     meetings would be called of Scrutiny Committee - Resources, Executive and Council, to enable a further report on the potential enhanced offering for the Leisure Complex to be considered.  Dates of these meetings were identified and would be held on 29^th July, 11^th and 12^th August 2015 respectively.

The next Programme Board meeting would be timed to coincide with the next programme gateway, and the date of this would be determined in due course.