Manchester City Council Item 6 Finance Scrutiny Committee 13 December 2012

Manchester City Council Report for Resolution

Report to: Finance Scrutiny Committee – 13 December 2012

Subject: Town Hall Complex Transformation Programme Update

Report of: Geoff Little, Deputy Chief Executive (Performance) Richard Paver, City Treasurer

Summary

This report includes: an update on ways in which the THCTP can be used to bring about greater public engagement; an update on progress on the works to the Council Chamber; a further update on the work to relocate the Manchester ; details of how much the apprentices working on the programme are being paid.

Recommendations

The Committee is recommended to note the Town Hall Complex Transformation Programme update.

Wards Affected:

All

Contact Officers:

Name: Geoff Little Position: Deputy Chief Executive (Performance) Telephone: 0161 234 3280 E-mail: [email protected]

Name: Richard Paver Position: City Treasurer Telephone: 0161 234 3564 E-mail: [email protected]

Name: Dave Carty Position: Acting Director, Capital Programme Division Telephone: 0161 245 7240 E-mail: [email protected]

Name: Fiona Worrall Position: Business Partner (People, Strategy and Neighbourhoods) Telephone: 0161 234 3926 E-mail: [email protected]

47 Manchester City Council Item 6 Finance Scrutiny Committee 13 December 2012

Background documents (available for public inspection):

The following documents disclose important facts on which the report is based and have been relied upon in preparing the report. Copies of the background documents are available up to 4 years after the date of the meeting. If you would like a copy please contact one of the contact officers above.

Town Hall Complex Transformation Programme Update 8 September 2011, report to the Resources and Governance Overview and Scrutiny Committee from the Deputy Chief Executive (Performance) and the City Treasurer

Town Hall Complex Transformation Programme Update 8 March 2012, report to the Resources and Governance Overview and Scrutiny Committee from the Deputy Chief Executive (Performance) and the City Treasurer

Town Hall Complex Transformation Programme Update 6 September 2012, report to the Finance Scrutiny Committee from the Deputy Chief Executive (Performance) and the City Treasurer

48 Manchester City Council Item 6 Finance Scrutiny Committee 13 December 2012

1.0 Introduction

The Town Hall Complex Transformation Programme is an ambitious programme which will not only see some of Manchester’s most loved buildings sympathetically refurbished but will also help to:

 Transform the way in which public services are provided to customers, delivering efficiencies together with an excellent customer experience, and improving outcomes for customers in line with the Community Strategy.

 Create the ‘workplace of the future’, transforming the working environment for staff, improving employee culture and ensuring that the Town Hall complex is regarded as a great place to work.

 Create a world-class library offer, of international significance, that the people of Manchester will love to visit and can rightly be proud of.

The last report to Scrutiny Committee, in September 2012, provided a general programme update and a specific update on the work to relocate the Manchester Cenotaph.

The Committee requested that this report includes: an update on ways in which the THCTP can be used to bring about greater public engagement; a further update on the work to relocate the Manchester Cenotaph; details of how much the apprentices working on the programme are being paid.

The next Programme Update, including a general update on progress, is scheduled in March 2013. This will coincide with a tour of the buildings.

2.0 Increasing Public Engagement

The Committee asked for an update on increasing public engagement, including the option of using a room in the Town Hall Extension for scrutiny committee meetings, and an update on progress with the developments to the Council Chamber and members’ rooms.

The design of the Town Hall Extension provides opportunities to improve the quality and quantity of meeting spaces that support public participation in local decision making. The work in the Council Chamber will include provision of audio visual equipment and a new delegate voting system. A system to record meetings for internet broadcast will be included.

Member’s rooms will remain in the Town Hall, and the former Members accommodation on the second floor of the Town Hall Extension will be made available as public meeting spaces. New public meeting spaces will also be created on the ground floor of the Extension. Central Library will also include public meeting spaces on the second floor and a new multi-purpose event space on the ground floor with audio visual equipment that could make an ideal space for public meetings. Members will be able to book these facilities through Members Services.

49 Manchester City Council Item 6 Finance Scrutiny Committee 13 December 2012

The room currently used for scrutiny meetings is Committee Room 11 in the Town Hall. The room offers around 200 m2 of space, and includes: a large committee table with seating for c30; a microphone and PA system; audio visual display screens; a public seating area that seats c40.

The refurbished Town Hall Extension includes a variety of meeting spaces of varying sizes, but only three rooms that could provide similar facilities to the existing provision in Committee Room 11. These rooms are: the former Members Common Room, the Ante Room, the Council Chamber.

Room former Members Ante Room Council Chamber Common Room

Size c115m2 c130 m2 c350 m2

Table seats c160 (theatre style) 28 28 - 30 c29 (inner bench)

Public seats c30 c30 Infrastructure for PA & Yes No Yes (built in) screens Multiple use room, to maximise use scrutiny set up would be dismantled between Room set up could be meetings. New Access via Ante Room retained between furniture may be (members) and THX meetings. required (public)

Access via the Town Access via the Town Format is fixed – no Hall bridge link. Hall bridge link table set up, but the

inner ring of benches Notes Display screens would Narrower table format creates a similar have to be located at than existing in CR11 committee table format the far end of the room

rather than centrally. Would prevent use of Built in AV includes

Council Chamber while facility to record Narrower table format in use. meetings for internet than existing in CR11. broadcast

Minimal power and fixed data provision possible as this is a heritage space

50 Manchester City Council Item 6 Finance Scrutiny Committee 13 December 2012

These options will be presented to a future Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinating Committee and a decision will be made in due course.

The Programme also creates the opportunity to consider the function of the buildings in the Complex, and to ensure the Town Hall at the heart of delivering the Council’s democratic functions. The creation of the Public Service Hub in the Extension will bring together a range of public facing services to deliver excellent customer service in a high quality environment. There is however a group of public facing services that have so far remained untouched by the integration and co-location of Council and partner services and these are the Registrations Service (based at Heron House), which has the largest footfall of any of our customer services (with 60,000 to 70,000 visitors per annum), the Coroners Court and Medical Examiners (based at Magistrate’s Court Spinningfields) and the Electoral Services Unit (based at the Town Hall). Together these form a core group of civic functions, involving services that will be accessed by the majority of Manchester residents at key stages in their lives.

The Town Hall would provide a fitting for the civic functions, providing appropriate surroundings for services which deal with such important moments in people lives, and collocation of these services would generate tens of thousands of new visitors each year, bringing them into direct contact with the heritage of their city.

Bringing these civic functions together in one building would make access easier for customers and also create benefits and efficiencies for the civic functions concerned.

In addition to the above, the Programme is working with Children’s Services to find a location in the Town Hall for the Manchester Youth Council (MYC). It is envisaged that the MYC will use the Council Chamber to accommodate full Youth Council meetings, and the space in the Town Hall will be used for smaller meetings and for members of the MYC to meet and engage young people.

By combining Members accommodation, Democratic Services and the MYC accommodation in the Town Hall, the building will be placed at the heart of delivering the Council’s democratic functions.

These proposals are under still under development, and further updates will be provided to the Committee through the twice yearly Programme Updates.

3.0 Council Chamber and Members Rooms – Progress Update

The Committee requested an update on progress on the restoration of the Council Chamber and Members’ Rooms which is included in the scope of the Town Hall Extension refurbishment works. Originally the scope of the refurbishment programme included replacement of the asbestos impregnated ceiling in the Council Chamber, replacement of the mechanical and electrical engineering services with a ‘light touch’ refurbishment only to other areas.

3.1 Council Chamber

During the progress of the works, asbestos was discovered under the floor and an area of the existing ceiling collapsed as a result of vibration coupled with a poor

51 Manchester City Council Item 6 Finance Scrutiny Committee 13 December 2012 original construction detail releasing asbestos into the area. This has significantly increased the scope of the Chamber works and the programme related thereto, compounded by the need for asbestos control measures until the area could be certified free of asbestos fibres. The existing Delegate Voting Panels were contaminated during the ceiling collapse and had to be destroyed due to asbestos contamination.

To take advantage of the need to remove and replace the floor and as a result of the contamination of the Delegate Voting Panels the opportunity to improve Audio Visual facilities in the Chamber has also been taken. This will replace the Delegate Voting Panels with new fittings incorporating improved speaker facilities and named voting facilities. In addition, electrical socket outlets will be provided to enable at seat charging for mobile appliances on a ratio of one per two seating spaces. We are also incorporating high quality audio visual presentation facilities with speakers projecting broadcast sound throughout the Chamber. Cameras will be incorporated enabling direct web cast transmission of meetings held in the Chamber. These facilities are designed to enhance the Members’ benefits in using the Chamber but also to make the Chamber much more useable in the broadest sense and increasing the opportunity for commercial income from external use.

Whilst the remainder of the Chamber will still only be subject to light touch refurbishment, as a result of the additional works the Chamber will not be completed until late August 2013 allowing Council Meetings to reconvene in the chamber commencing with the October session. The chamber will be available for other meetings from September 2013.

3.2 Former Members’ Corridor

Work to the heritage rooms on the former Members’ Corridor is progressing according to programme with the scope still as originally described, i.e. replacement of carpet, mechanical and electrical services installations and a light touch elsewhere. In order to minimise impact on heritage wall and ceiling finishes, under floor heating is being incorporated. The former Members’ Common Room is under consideration as a location for Scrutiny Meetings (see elsewhere in this report). The remaining rooms on this corridor are planned to become bookable meeting rooms under the operational meeting room management regime. As with the Council Chamber, these rooms will be available from September 2013.

4.0 Apprentice Pay Rates

The Programme is making a significant contribution to employment and regeneration, including creating opportunities for apprentices. Around 400 people are expected to work on the Programme, with one in five jobs going to apprentices honing their skills in areas from general construction to ultra-specialist restoration work. The target is to recruit 66 apprentices to work on the construction programme. Currently, 55 apprentices have been employed, with three other positions being recruited to.

The Committee requested details of how much the apprentices working on the programme are being paid. The apprentices are not employed directly by the Council, but by the companies working on the Town Hall Complex Transformation Programme

52 Manchester City Council Item 6 Finance Scrutiny Committee 13 December 2012

(either the principle contractor, Laing O’Rourke, or one of the sub-contactors they use). The companies who employ the apprentices pay a rate ranging from £5.00 per hour (for younger apprentices) to £11.92 per hour. The average rate paid by the companies is £6.58 per hour.

There are major advantages in the supply chain directly employing the apprentices, taking responsibility for their training and increasing the chances of future employment with these companies.

The National Minimum Wage is currently £6.19 (or £4.98 if aged 18-20). The rate used by the Council as a ‘new starter induction and training rate’ for new employees and apprentices is SCP 6, which has recently been increased to £7.00 an hour (this was £6.84 before September 2012).

5.0 Relocation of the Manchester Cenotaph

The Committee requested an update on progress on the relocation of the Manchester Cenotaph. is a Grade 2* listed structure located in St Peter’s Square, designed by Sir to commemorate the end of the First World War, the foundation stone being laid in 1923.

The expansion and realignment of the Metrolink through St Peter’s Square necessitates the repositioning of the Cenotaph with a location to the north of the Square adjacent to Cooper Street and Princess Street proving to be the most suitable, consolidating both the event and the Cenotaph association with the Town Hall. The Council has agreed the strategy for the relocation of the Cenotaph, following public consultation on the proposals.

The detailed Planning Application was considered by the Council’s Planning Committee on 22 November along with the Application for Relocation of the St Peter’s Cross and the adjoining Memorial Gardens and the associated Listed Building Consent Applications. The planning Committee issued a ‘Minded To Approve’ decision subject to confirmation by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), the outcome of which now rests with DCLG for final resolution. There is every possibility that the Application to Relocate the Cenotaph will become the subject of a Public Inquiry due to objections to the Applications having been received from the War Memorials Trust. English Heritage had initially also objected to the Applications but withdrew after receipt of additional substantiation information in connection with the public benefits and the confirmation of available funds to develop Metrolink’s Second City Crossing.

The design for the relocation of the Cenotaph and its new setting are completed and shown on the following illustrations. Work on dismantling the structures was programmed to commence immediately after the conclusion of the 2012 Remembrance Sunday Ceremony but as a result of delays to the Planning process was not able to commence on time. As a result of the potential for the Cenotaph relocation to become subject to a Public Inquiry, work cannot commence until we have clear guidance of those intentions. It is therefore impossible for the relocation of the Cenotaph to be completed prior to the 2013 Remembrance Sunday Celebration.

53 Manchester City Council Item 6 Finance Scrutiny Committee 13 December 2012

On the assumption that Planning Approvals and Listed Building Consents will be confirmed by DCLG, or as a result of any Public Inquiry that may be held, the earliest work could commence on the new setting is likely to be March April 2013. Relocation of the Cenotaph will then be programmed to commence immediately after the 2013 Remembrance Day Service with the bulk of the work to the new setting completed. In this way, we are confident that the Cenotaph can be relocated to its new setting earlier than November 2014 allowing time for the public in general and the Veteran’s Groups in particular, to become familiar with the new location.

The new setting for the Cenotaph consists of an elliptical site, inspired by Lutyens’ original design. The site accommodates a new memorial wall, new setting, pathways and paving, new steps, proposed lighting, soft landscape and the memorials relocated from the existing setting at the Memorial Gardens. The immediate setting of the Cenotaph is marked by an elliptical border in the darker Welsh Blue Pennant Stone. This border and the entire paving of the setting are to be flush (and coordinated with) the surrounding paving for St. Peter’s Square public realm works designed by Latz and Partner as part of the St Peter’s Square international design competition.

The remainder of paving areas, steps and general floor finishes will be in Yorkstone, following the materials palette of the original Lutyens design. Placed on the western end of the elliptical Cenotaph setting, the proposed low Memorial Wall is comprised of 4 sections, interspersed with openings that make the proposed setting highly permeable and universally accessible for pedestrians. This proposed ashlar stone wall is a ‘ramp and twist’ structure, which is curved in plan and sloped, to a proposed maximum height of 1260mm. At this height, the wall will successfully provide a sense of closure, clearly define the ceremonial setting with the proposed seating designed as ashlar blocks of . At the joints of the stone blocks, anti-skate devices can be installed. The anti-skate devices might be custom designed and, if proven feasible, fabricated with bronze recycled out of redundant windows from the refurbishment of the Town Hall Extension. The use of the grass area within the Memorial Gardens adjacent to the memorial at the foot of St. Peter’s Cross was careful considered for appropriateness during the Remembrance Day Parade. Wooden Crosses are placed on the grass as a meaningful celebration of the memory of the fallen soldiers by family members and the general public.

The overall design looks as follows:

54 Manchester City Council Item 6 Finance Scrutiny Committee 13 December 2012

Aerial Computer Generated Images:

6.0 Conclusion

This report includes: an update on ways in which the THCTP can be used to bring about greater public engagement; an update on progress on the works to the Council Chamber; a further update on the work to relocate the Manchester Cenotaph; details of how much the apprentices working on the programme are being paid.

The next Programme Update, including a general update on progress, is scheduled in March 2013. This will coincide with a tour of the buildings.

7.0 Recommendation

The Committee is recommended to note the progress being made on the Town Hall Complex Transformation Programme.

55