Agenda item

10:35

The Committee will receive a presentation on how the Schools Structural Maintenance Programme (SSMP) is compiled and the methodology used, including the information that has been transferred from Carillion and how this information has been utilised to provide a robust programme of works based upon the most urgent priority rating.

Accordingly, George Eleftheriou will present details of progress against the 2018-19 programme of works as well as details of the proposed projects for 2019-20. Outlining the main issues/mitigations, opportunities and way forward.  A handout to accompany the presentation will be circulated prior to the meeting.

The Committee is asked to receive the presentation.

At a previous meeting, the Committee had requested to receive a presentation on how the Schools Structural Maintenance Programme (SSMP) was compiled and the methodology used, including the information that had been transferred from Carillion and how this information had been utilised to provide a robust programme of works based upon the most urgent priority rating.

Accordingly, George Eleftheriou, Assistant Director Community Facilities Management had been invited to the Meeting to present details on the progress against the 2018-19 programme of works, together with details of the proposed projects for 2019-20. Outlining the main issues/mitigations, opportunities and way forward.

Mr Eleftheriou explained that the County Council, as part of its strategic asset management plan, carried out a programme of condition surveys on all its buildings every 5 years. The County Council considered the conditions survey data they held, together with intelligence held by local managers of buildings and its own maintenance teams to prioritise the expenditure of funding received from central government under the Schools Structural Maintenance Grant. The last Asset Condition Survey had been undertaken by Carillion in 2016.   

The School Structural Maintenance Programme (SSMP) was primarily based on the County Councils PUF rating (Performance, User, Fabric) and the intent was to deal with the highest priority repairs and maintenance needs. Those needs were considered against:

a)      The condition survey data,

b)      Existing repairs and maintenance programmes,

c)      Basic need programme,

e)      Programme and compliance pressures because of the devolution of DSG funding to maintained schools

The 2018-19 programme of works was identified using the above criteria following the collapse of the Carillion contract.  Unfortunately, limited information was transferred to the County Council when the Carillion contract ceased, however the condition data for the majority of maintained schools that was collected under the Carillion contract was available. This high-level condition data identified major repair/life cycle replacement items.

This information was used to draft an initial programme. To ensure that the data used was robust, a programme of inspections were undertaken by County Council Building Surveyors and Engineers, of the highest priority items. This inspection detailed the urgency, scope and budget cost of the works initially identified.

This collected information was then re-assessed from a PUF rating perspective to identify the most urgent items to be delivered within the budget allocated.

The 2019-20 programme of works had been identified and was awaiting approval in April.  Once the programme was ratified the schools would be contacted to notify them of their inclusion in the programme and relevant timings.

The agreed programme for 2018-19 consisted of 14 major projects, some of which had been carried forward from the Carillion contract.  Seven operationally critical projects had been successfully completed by the County Councils project delivery team.

o      Blewbury School – Heating pipework and boiler replacement.

o      Bloxham School – Structural repairs to roof.

o      Crowmarsh Gifford School - Pitched roof replacement due to structural failure.

o      Fir Tree School – Pitched roof replacement due to structural failure.

o      St Francis School – Hot and cold-water pipework replacement.

o      St Swithuns School – Replacement lintels.

o      Windmill School– Boiler replacement.

The remaining projects from the 2018/19 programme had been carried over and scheduled to be delivered within the 2019-20 programme. This rescheduling of works would have minimal impact on the school’s operation as the projects were predominantly condition based and re-profiling would not cause any major inconvenience.

The main issue faced following the Carillion collapse was to establish stability and at the same time carry on with the set programme of works minimising any service disruption. This included various resource issues, permanent delivery model applied and overall long-term strategy. The team had done a fantastic job carrying on delivering as per the programme under the circumstances i.e. moving on from an outsourced delivery model to now re-establishing an in-house long-term delivery team.

This situation had presented an opportunity for the County Council to re-evaluate the way services were being delivered, including the current on-going development of an in-house FM and Construction unit.

In answer to questions from Members, Mr Eleftheriou confirmed that he was satisfied that the condition data from Carillion was reliable and that he was confident that the 2019/20 programme could be delivered on time.

Following discussion, the Committee made the following points:

The Committee expressed the importance of communicating with schools (particularly those that were not prioritised under the 2018/19 programme but were moved to the 2019/20 programme) about when their works were to be undertaken so that they could have a reasonable view of when they could expect works to be carried out.  Feedback from Schools was that there had been no dialogue from OCC leaving schools frustrated.

The Committee established that the 7 school projects that had been carried over to the 2019/20 programme had not been business critical.  The more urgent of the 7 (Tier 2) had been prioritised for this year and were being progressed.

The Committee welcomed the service coming back in-house and the opportunity this presented to maintain the schools building to an appropriate standard.

The Committee expressed the importance of schools understanding what maintenance fell within their budgets and what fell with OCC budget.

Following debate, the Committee AGREED to:

(a)      receive the presentation;

(b)      ask officers to provide members with an update in relation to St. Andrews School Chinnor;

(c)       email members with the report references which point to the overall cost of the collapse of Carillion to the Council;

(d)      receive a report back on progress in six months’ time.