Decisions

To grant £1.52m to Stonewater Limited for the provision of 10 Houses to provide tenancies with affordable rents for Afghan refugee resettlement and Temporary Accommodation for homeless people as nominated by BCC for ten years, and thereafter as general needs affordable housing.
In June 2023 The Department for Homes, Levelling Up and Communities (DHLUC) launched the Local Authority Housing Fund round 2. BCC has accepted the Local Authority Housing Fund grant of £1,520,000. The council agreed to utilise the grant under the Affordable Homes Policy. The LAHF Programme is delivering homes under Project 1000 Affordable Housing Programme with Executive Director for G

To grant £1.52m to Stonewater Limited for the provision of 10 Houses to provide tenancies with affordable rents for Afghan refugee resettlement and Temporary Accommodation for homeless people as nominated by BCC for ten years, and thereafter as general needs affordable housing.

Bristol City Council employees are on occasion, required to travel to perform their duties.
Travel agency services are needed to provide a cost-effective way for the booking of rail tickets, flights, other transport and accommodation.
A corporate travel contract affords the Council the following benefits and therefore the reason for the decision:
1.It saves colleagues time and cost when making business travel arrangements.
2.The system will ensure the Council’s travel policy is applied to all bookings.
3.It will help ensure the safety of colleagues by using only reputable providers of travel and accommodation.
4.It helps track and reduce travel spend. All invoices are consolidated. It removes the need for the use of corporate procurements cards for travel and accommodation purposes. Through economies of scale the supplier can access favourable rates. We will receive detailed reports of expenditure and have greater oversight of approval processes. We can also ensure all VAT costs are saved through itemised reports.

Procurement of a corporate travel booking system.
Bristol City Council employees are on occasion, required to travel to perform their duties.
Travel agency services are needed to provide a cost-effective way for the booking of rail tickets, flights, other transport and accommodation.
With the benefit of professional procurement advice, a direct award has been made to Click Travel (Travel Management Solutions) for a period of 2 years with the option to extend for a further year.

If the bid is successful, the SHAP grant funding will ensure that we are able to continue to fund the accommodation services that are keeping citizens safe in accommodation. In addition to being a place to stay, these services also provide appropriate support, and contribute to preventing and reliving rough sleeping in the city, in line with the government’s Rough Sleeping Strategy and the Bristol City Council Corporate Strategy 2022-27.

Approval was given to submit a bid to the Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme, in partnership with St Mungo’s. The bid is for three years of revenue funding to increase the amount of support offered across 37 units of accommodation, currently run by St Mungo’s under Bristol City Council’s Homeless Pathways 2 and 3.

This development is part of the on-going Council House New Build programme and forms part of the overall Mayors ambition to increase council house numbers as part of Project 1000. If this contract is not approved, and if Welling Partnership are not appointed this would have implications on the build programme and council house delivery.

Bristol City Council wishes to commission a suitable company to deliver Employers Agent, Principal Designer and Cost Consultant for 5 sites:
Cameron Centre, Cameron Walk, Lockleaze, Bristol BS7 9XB
Greville EPH, Lacey Road, Stockwood, Bristol BS14 8LN
Filwood Cinema, 20 Filwood Broadway, Knowle, Bristol. BS4 1JL
Branwhite, Branwhite Close, Lockleaze, Bristol BS7 9XJ
Former Florence Brown School, Leinster Avenue, Knowle West, Bristol BS4 1NW

As set out in the Cabinet paper of October 2022, the Temple Quarter project partners are aiming to create a Joint Delivery Vehicle (JDV) to deliver the regeneration of the area around Bristol Temple Meads Station and St Philip’s Marsh.
Homes England (HE) has appointed Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (“Deloitte”) and Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP (“Eversheds Sutherland”) to provide services in relation to the regeneration project and creation of a Joint Delivery Vehicle and future procurement strategy. This decision is to sign up to an agreement between HE and the council to agree that the liability for the payment of fees payable to Eversheds Sutherland will be shared between HE and the council.
This funding covers the work required in order to develop the strategy to take forward BTQ and the creation of the JDV (including further funding) that will be brought to Bristol City Council’s Cabinet for endorsement.

Approval to increase the cost sharing agreement with the Homes and Communities Agency (trading as Homes England) relating to the payment of professional fees incurred in relation to the Bristol Temple Quarter Project, by £210,670 from £194,000.

As set out in the Cabinet paper of October 2022, the Temple Quarter project partners are aiming to create a Joint Delivery Vehicle (JDV) to deliver the regeneration of the area around Bristol Temple Meads Station and St Philip’s Marsh.
Homes England (HE) has appointed Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (“Deloitte”) and Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP (“Eversheds Sutherland”) to provide services in relation to the regeneration project and creation of a Joint Delivery Vehicle. This advice includes strategic property advice, financial modelling and the procurement and delivery strategy for taking forward BTQ. This decision is to sign up to an agreement between HE and the council to agree that the liability for the payment of fees payable to Eversheds Sutherland will be shared between HE and the council.
This funding covers the work required in order to develop the strategy to take forward BTQ and the creation of the JDV (including further) funding will be brought to Bristol City Council’s Cabinet for endorsement.

Approval to increase the cost sharing agreement with the Homes and Communities Agency (trading as Homes England) relating to the payment of professional fees incurred in relation to the Bristol Temple Quarter Project, by £126,506 from £316,763.

This funding support enables the Council to fast-track site feasibility work on sites intended for 3rd party delivery where there is no current budget to de-risk development or determine the most appropriate use for the development opportunity. This funding supports the Council’s Community Led Housing programme and supported housing development opportunities and will progress other potential sites to support the delivery of affordable housing.

To enter into a Grant Funding Agreement with Homes England for the sum of up to £325,000 to support the costs of ground investigation, site and other surveys and feasibility studies, and the capacity to manage the workload, to further the development potential of BCC land in the City and improve affordable housing delivery.

To mitigate the expected increased pressures on local authority homelessness as sponsorship/family placements arrangements come to an end by increasing the provision of affordable housing available to local authorities to support Afghan refugees and Ukrainian families who are homeless and at risk of homelessness.
In December 2022 The Department for Homes, Levelling Up and Communities (DHLUC) launched the Local Authority Housing Fund round1 . Bristol City Council has accepted the Local Authority Housing Fund grant of £4,180,912 . The council agreed to utilise the grant under the Affordable Homes Policy. The LAHF Programme is delivering homes under Project 1000 Affordable Housing Programme with Executive Director for G

To grant £3.252m to Stonewater Limited for the provision of 20 Houses to provide tenancies with affordable rents for Afghan refugees from Bridging Hotels and Ukrainian resettled people as nominated by Bristol City Council for ten years, and thereafter as general needs affordable housing.

To mitigate the expected increased pressures on local authority homelessness as sponsorship/family placements arrangements come to an end by increasing the provision of affordable housing available to local authorities to support Ukrainian families who are homeless and at risk of homelessness.
In December 2022 The Department for Homes, Levelling Up and Communities (DHLUC) launched the Local Authority Housing Fund round1 . BCC has accepted the Local Authority Housing Fund grant of £4,180,912 . The council agreed to utilise the grant under the Affordable Homes Policy. The LAHF Programme is delivering homes under Project 1000 Affordable Housing Programme with Executive Director for G

To grant £1.038m to Ashly Community Housing for the provision of 12 flats to provide tenancies with affordable rents for Ukrainian resettled people as nominated by BCC for ten years, and thereafter as general needs affordable housing.

The decision enables Underfall Yard Trust (UYT) to make the site safe, mitigate the risk of further deterioration of the condition of the building and provide the best possible access to public realm for Bristol citizens using insurance funds awarded to the Council by Zurich for the reinstatement of the Underfall Yard. The decision is to carry out of initial capital works to make the area safe and clear, carry out repairs and reopen the Harbourside walkway. It includes professional fees for initial design work for the full rebuild.

Approval to take all steps required for the Underfall Yard Trust (UYT) to carry out initial capital works to Underfall Yard.

The Collaboration Agreement will define how the Council and the Underfall Yard Trust (UYT) will work together to reinstate the yard after significant fire damage. The decision sets out the commitment of the Council to pass insurance funds awarded by the insurer to the UYT to enable them to meet their reinstatement obligation under the lease. The decision sets out the terms on which the funds are made available and the roles of the UYT and Council in the process.

Approval to enter into a Collaboration Agreement with the Underfall Yard Trust (UYT).

The asylum-seeking families are, in the main, newly arrived in the UK and have very few possessions so the charities can help with providing essential and second hand clothing, footwear and school uniforms. Asylum seekers are not allowed to rent accommodation or to work (except in a restricted number of occupations) and it is important that people have an opportunity to undertake meaningful activities for mental wellbeing and to contribute to society. To support community cohesion, resilience work to strengthen relationships with the host community can mitigate misinformation and create positive relationships.

The decision is to allocate £119,500 from the Asylum Dispersal Fund to provide support for 12 months to up to 450 asylum seekers in a city centre Initial Accommodation hotel which opened on 1 September 2023. The hotel is contracted by the Home Office and staff are provided through this contract to meet basic subsistence needs. This additional funding will be allocated to voluntary sector organisations with experience of working with asylum seekers to provide essential clothing, advice and guidance, support to attend medical appointments and to organise a weekly calendar of activities to harness community offers of support. The funding allocations will be obtained in line with financial and procurement regulations.
Further discussions will take place with stakeholders to develop a local grants programme to encourage integration activities. Some funding will be used for interpreting costs for local agencies working with families.
This offer is complimented by support from statutory organisations: The Haven Primary Care Service and Refugee Resettlement Team organise initial triage days, the BCC Attendance and Belonging Team will organise school places and the City of Bristol College will register asylum seekers for English classes when they have been in the UK for more than 6 months. Public Health convene weekly partnership meetings to work with partners to meet needs and mitigate risks as needed.

In line with the requirements set out in the Delivering Better Value (DBV) in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Grant from the Department for Education (DfE), Bristol City Council (BCC) has procured a delivery partner to lead Workstream 2 of the programme. Workstream 2 is focused on reviewing the use of High Needs Block (HNB) funding, developing a fully costed set of options for changing the existing model, running a city-wide consultation process, and presenting the preferred option to Cabinet for a key decision. The HNB is used to fund children with SEND in Bristol schools. Any proposed changes to this process will result in high levels of interest from members of the public and local Councillors. Failure to follow a legally compliant process could result in legal consequences for Bristol City Council. A fully compliant procurement process was followed with applicants scored on the quality of technical answers, cost of delivery and social value. The applicant with the highest combined score has been awarded the contract to deliver Workstream 2.

To procure a delivery partner in line with the requirements set out in the Delivering Better Value (DBV) in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Grant from the Department for Education (DfE),

To enable the highways access scheme for the new Ashley Down Station which is due to open in 2024.

•Approval of the final access improvement scheme design to deliver the approved scheme and associated landscaping which are based on the draft scheme designs set out in Appendices A1 and A2 of 6 June 2023 Cabinet Report.
•Agreed the terms of the Grant Offer Letter and enter into a grant agreement with the West of England Combined Authority.
•Agreed the spend of the funding (including procuring and awarding contracts over the key decision threshold) to deliver the approved scheme and associated landscaping.

To seek additional funding to contribute to the achievement of council and city climate goals

Bristol City Council has submitted a funding bid to Innovate UK’s Net Zero Living Programme Pathfinder Places Competition Phase 2 Demonstrator call, to contribute to the achievement of Bristol City Council’s and the city’s climate goals. This is in line with the decision of Cabinet on 5 September 2023 to “Authorise the Executive Director Growth and Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Climate, Ecology, Energy and Waste to take all steps required to submit a bid to Innovate UK’s Net Zero Living Programme Pathfinder Places competition Phase 2 Strand 1 ‘Pathfinder Demonstrator’ of up to £5m deliver a Demonstrator Project to contribute to the achievement of council and city climate goals.

To seek additional funding to contribute to the achievement of council and city climate goals

Bristol City Council has two opportunities for funding from Innovate UK’s Net Zero Living Programme Pathfinder Places Competition Phase 2. Full £5m of funding for a “Demonstrator” and a bid has been made to that under another Decision. And up to £150,000 of “Pathfinder” funding to continue to develop our proposal if the Demonstrator application is unsuccessful, with the aim of securing funding from sources other than Innovate UK. It is this Pathfinder bid which this decision relates to.

To maintain the supply of electricity for the large BCC sites and continue the sleeving arrangement.

To extend the current electricity supply contracts for the large BCC sites and continue sleeving arrangements for a further 12 months to September 2024.

This development is part of the on-going Council House New Build programme and forms part of the overall Mayors ambition to increase council house numbers as part of Project 1000. If this contract is not approved, and Stride Treglown are not appointed this would have implications on the build programme and council house delivery.

Bristol City Council wishes to commission a lead designer, Stride Treglown, who will undertake architectural and multidisciplinary services for RIBA stage 4a (detailed design) on the Cameron Centre and former Police Station site in Lockleaze, Bristol.

The Council must undertake these road improvement works to ensure that the access road can be used for emergency access to Temple Island when the future development comes forward. This package forms part of the Enabling Works Condition under the Development Agreement with Legal and General. The budget for these works has been included in the WECA EDF funding agreement. The proposed procurement route is award to Colas Ltd via a Call off from CCS Framework Lot 1.2.2: Civil Engineering Works and Minor Associated Building Works and Services–South England. The call-off mechanism used is a Direct Award procedure.

The works are road re-surfacing, local rebuilding of parts of the road that have failed, kerb replacement, fence replacement, edge protection and signage and road markings on the A4 Access Road that runs down to Temple Island. It is one of the packages of Enabling Works required to be undertaken under the Development Agreement with Legal and General.

As set out in the Bristol Beacon Jan 23 cabinet report the Bristol Beacon Transformation project has faced significant challenges due to unforeseen issues with the building structure and Covid-19.
Since the February 2021 Cabinet paper, the project has gained significant momentum and made great strides towards completion but has faced further pressures and continued challenges as reported and approved by Cabinet on 16th January 2023. The impact of inflation and external influences on the budget has been significant and the complex and flawed fabric of the building has continued to cause problems negatively effecting time and cost. This has resulted in an agreed practical completion date at the end of August 2023 with an opening period through the Autumn of 2023 with a full commercial opening on 30 November 2023.
In order to secure completion of the project, Cabinet approved an increase in budget to Complete the project with full opening Autumn 2023 – Total cost of £131.9m. The project requires a Senior PM resource seconded to Bristol Music Trust to support with implementation of the integration project, associated soft landings and operational support.
The resource requirements have been clearly set out by the Project Director. Arcadis the Council’s Strategic Partner have provided a public procurement regulations compliant proposal to provide these services that is acceptable to cost, quality and time requirements. This decision will secure the professional services needed to manage the implementation of the integration project, associated soft landings and operational support through the practical completion period.

Approval to enter a contract with the Council’s strategic partner for the provision of professional services support for BMT from July 2023 – December 2023.

The Council must pay the Crown Estate (TCE) for the Right of Air being granted over TCE land in order to provide the St Philips Footbridge connection between Temple Island and Albert Road. The Valuation Report produced for BCC relies on comparable transactions for rights acquired from TCE for similar bridges/crossings of their land to assess the value of this levy charge. The proposed sum includes for back payments of rent plus a final capex lump sum for 999 year/in perpetuity lease. This has been in discussion between TCE and BCC since 2018. It is recommended that now is the right time to finalise the negotiation, as more construction work begins the TQ area.
TCE originally requested £300,000 in 2021. In August 2023 TCE agreed to a sum of £117,500 plus costs, based on a £/m2 as agreed for their Cardiff bridge and making a 50% discount for our bridge.

Approval to make payment of air space levy and associated legal and professional surveyors costs to the Crown Estate for the St Philips Footbridge using the Temple Island Enabling Works project contingency budget.

Bristol City Council wishes to commission Domestic Sprinklers to install and maintain 3 sprinkler systems at Millmead House, Middleford House and Hayleigh House, Silcox Road, Hartcliffe.

Direct Award Lot 1 of the sprinkler installation programme

Decision will have significant impact on BCC responsibilities to remove the Waking Watches from High Rise buildings clad with EPS systems.

Direct Award Lot 1 of the temporary alarm installation

Decision will have significant impact on Bristol City Council responsibilities to remove the Waking Watches from High Rise buildings clad with EPS systems.

Direct Award Lot 2 of the temporary alarm installation.

To admit suitably qualified contractors onto a framework to carry out Landry Refurbishments in Bristol City Council Properties.

Award a framework contract for the refurbishments works to Bristol City Council laundries.

Decision made to purchase an existing ICT software system.
Confirm software is used to keep digital records of council assets. Records against any given asset include maintenance undertaken on the asset, the condition of the asset when inspected, public enquiries raised against the asset, and any street works or licence permits granted or refused against the asset. From the information gathered in Confirm we can predict the best time within an assets life to repair/replace it before it becomes costly and a danger to the public. Inspections and repairs on an asset are date stamped and evidenced photographically within Confirm which provide essential information for insurance claims in court.
Accessing Confirm on mobile devices has saved staff the doublehanding task of returning to the office and typing up their on-site work for the day. Most assets have an interest for multiple teams within the council and, by using Confirm as a single source system, duplicated or out of sync records between different teams have been removed. I.e., everyone sees the same picture and everyone has access to the information.
Confirm is critical for several teams to meet statutory duties and reporting. These include but are not limited to: Highways receiving and responding to public enquires under its duties of section 41 of the Highways Act. Bridge Condition Indicator scores submitted annually to Whole Government Accounts. Energy Extract report of all the council’s highway electrical assets to Western Power Distribution. Statutory export of National Street Gazetteer records monthly.

Approval for the extension of the existing Confirm software G-Cloud contract into the optional 4th year.
Confirm is the asset management and maintenance reporting software used by teams across the Growth and Regeneration directorate. The existing contract was procured in December 2020, via the G-cloud platform. We are in the 3rd year of a 4 year (2 + 1 + 1) G-cloud contract with Brightly to provide us with the Confirm software. To ensure the continuation of this critical service, we have approved activation of the final 12 month extension of the contract. The 4th year of the contract will run from 1st February 2024 to 31st January 2025.

To ensure compliance with current legislation and PAS 2035 requirements.

In line with Housing Investment Programme 2023/24, contract to install new A1/A2 cladding system, new windows, new roof and Automatic opening Vent to stairwells ensuring compliance with current legislation and PAS 2035 requirements.

To maintain our stock to safe standard and to meet current legislation

Approval to award a contract to carry out refurbishment work at Vincent Close. To secure the services of an architect to design the refurbishment and upgrade of 4 no low-rise blocks at Vincent Close.

To maintain our stock to safe standard and to meet current legislation.

Approval to award a new framework contract to carry out communal minor refurbishment works worth up to £6,000,000 in total (including options).