Barnfield College Relocation Project Strategic Outline Case (SOC) Version 0.8 17 May 2016 1 Document Management Version Author Description Issue Date 0.1 T Warrs Initial draft for review drawing on 3YDP and other information. 0.2 Tim Eyton-Jones Review and additions 8th Feb 2016 03 Tim Eyton-Jones Addition of sections 2.5, 10th Feb. ‘16 04 Tim Eyton-Jones Addition of sections 2.9, 2.11 and 3 15th Feb. ‘16 05 Lisa Milligan Editing 19 February Lisa Milligan Editing 20 February Lisa Milligan Editing 21 February 0.6 Trevor Warrs Options appraisal and other edits 06/04/16 0.7 Lisa Milligan Editing and writing 6/9 May 2016 0.7 Lisa Milligan Editing and writing 16/17 May 2016 0.7 Tim Eyton-Jones Editing and Writing 17/18 May 2016 0.8 Lisa Milligan Editing and Writing 18 May 2016 2 Contents Executive Summary . 5 Introduction . Key Drivers . Options . Affordability . Commercial & Management . 1. Introduction . 7 Background . Rationale . 2. Strategy . 8 Stakeholders . The Business Need . Organisational Overview . Key Objectives . Key Stakeholders . Existing provision . The Scope of the Proposal . Constraints . Dependencies . Expected Strategic Benefits . Strategic Risks . Critical Success Factors . 3. Options Appraisal . 20 Short-list of Options . Summary Financial Appraisal . Summary Non-financial Analysis Ranked Options 4. Affordability . 23 Budget (Capital and Revenue) . Expected Life of the Asset/Length of the Service Contract . Impact on the Income and Expenditure Account . Impact on the Balance Sheet . Impact on Cash Flow . NEW Updated Relocation Project SOC version 0.8 3of 26 09 November 2017 5. Commercial . Market Assessment . Procurement Strategy and Timetable . Evaluation Strategy . Contract Principles . Risk Allocation and Transfer . 6. Management . Project Management . Change Management . Risk Management . Contract Management . Benefits Realisation . Post Implementation Review . 7. Recommendations . Appendices NEW Updated Relocation Project SOC version 0.8 4of 26 09 November 2017 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction Barnfield College is a medium sized General Further Education College that is undergoing a transformation in terms of its quality and size of provision. Previously the College was one of the largest in the county of Bedfordshire and recognised across the education sector in England as a Beacon provider with an outstanding quality rating. More recently, it embarked on a process of rapid expansion by taking on several schools to create a multi-academy trust (MAT) and establishing a Free School and a Studio School. During this time the quality of provision at the College started to fall as the leadership focus turned to the schools. Additionally, following a whistle blowing accusation citing issues of inappropriate financial control and poor governance across the Barnfield Federation investigations by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and Education Funding Agency (EFA) were instigated. A new Board was appointed in September 2014, which took the decision to separate the College from the MAT and schools. A new Principal was appointed with the sole purpose of improving the quality of provision and reclaiming the excellence of the past. The Principal joined Barnfield College in February 2015 and immediately set about developing, with the Board, a new mission, vision and strategic objectives for the College; detailed in a transformational Three-year Development Plan (3YDP) titled ‘Reclaiming Excellence’. Part of this plan considers the College's estate and sets out a longer-term aspiration to renew the estate to provide facilities commensurate with the outstanding provision the College expects to deliver within three years. Before any type of appraisal was made regarding transformation of the estate the Board decided to look into the feasibility of acquiring a site in the centre of Luton that was closer to the College's community, offered better transport links and hence a wider travel to learn pool. Strategy The Board commissioned a report to look at the possibility of acquiring a site in the centre of Luton as a first step. Following positive identification of a suitable site it was decided to undertake a deeper exploration of the possibilities and complex abilities of such a move and build. A strategic outline case was prepared for the Board, which then deliberated as to its findings. As sufficient expertise does not exist in the College a tender specification was prepared for a project manager to take the lead in purchasing the new site, disposing of the current properties and building a new College. Governance arrangements will also be bolstered to ensure that the correct scrutiny can be applied to this project. Key Drivers The key drivers for this project are to provide a high quality learning environment in a central location for the students, local community and businesses of Luton and the surrounding area. NEW Updated Relocation Project SOC version 0.8 5of 26 09 November 2017 A new College will instantly provide an outstanding learning environment as well as a location that will enable better access to the communities and businesses the College serves. The existing estate is generally old and does not afford the learning environment young people and employers now expect as the norm. Nor does the College currently compare well to competitor organisations with newer estates. To be genuinely responsive, offer a twenty-first century curriculum and secure growth the College needs to develop a learning campus designed around current and future employment and training needs, with the flexibility to be agile and responsive to new developments. The current estate has suffered from a maintenance regime that can at best be described as reactive. Recent planned maintenance and refurbishment has brought about improvement, however, it is not sufficient in and of itself to deliver the learning environment students' expect or the curriculum vision the College holds. There is no doubt that failure to develop the estate to enable curriculum innovation responsive to employers, local skills' needs and learners' aspirations will result in a decrease in student numbers as the market will dictate. Options The preferred option is to purchase a new site, off Bute Street, in the centre of Luton opposite the railway station - affording a direct line to St Albans and London in the south and Bedford in the north and to build a state-of-the-art new College. Other options are to remain on the existing two campuses, investing in the learning environment to improve as and where possible and third to sell the Enterprise Way (EW) campus, consolidating on a single redeveloped (in part or full) New Bedford Road (NBR) campus. Affordability The College holds significant reserves, which may be set against the new build. The current estate is 35 acres at New Bedford Road and 5 acres at Enterprise Way which will yield in the region of £48M (as per a calculation offered by Glenny LLP on the 16th March 2015). Commercial and Management The Project will be subject to OJEU procurement procedure. It is intended to appoint a Project Manager to oversee all aspects of the project including site acquisition, design and build. The appointed Project Managers will report through the Project Sponsor to the Board. All strategic decisions relating to major capital spend are the province of the Board. NEW Updated Relocation Project SOC version 0.8 6of 26 09 November 2017 1 INTRODUCTION Barnfield College is a medium sized Further Education College situated in the north of Luton in the county of Bedfordshire. The College’s mission is ‘Barnfield College will realise the entrepreneurial, skills and educational needs of the community and employers through inclusive, outstanding, innovative programmes of study’. At the end of 2007 Ofsted inspected Barnfield College and graded it Outstanding for overall effectiveness. Records show that at this time the College had an income in excess of £25m and about 12,000 learners. Then in April 2012 following a full inspection of the College it dropped to Satisfactory for overall effectiveness. During this period the College had set up a multi-academy trust and had recruited several local schools into the trust. This period also saw a rapid decline in the performance of the College and a whistle blowing accusation which prompted an investigation by both the SFA and EFA into issues of the Barnfield Federation's Financial Controls and Governance. Further deterioration in performance of learner recruitment and quality of learner outcomes continued until Ofsted inspected the College in November 2014. The outcome of the 2014 inspection was overall effectiveness judged inadequate with no significant strengths reported. The period from 2012 to date also saw many changes in Principal and management - a product of several restructures to the whole College as it struggled with declining enrolments across all age ranges and levels. In February 2015 the new Principal joined the College and in June 2015 the final appointment to the new Senior Leadership Team was made. The Corporation approved a new three-year development plan titled ‘Reclaiming Excellence’ which sets out a clear vision for the College again to become outstanding within a three- year period. Part of this plan asks the College to review its current estate and set plans in place to design and build a new purpose built facility that will enable the college better to meet its mission and strategic objectives for now and the foreseeable future. The College was inspected in March 2015 resulting in an improved judgement of ‘Requires Improvement’ across all aspects of provision. As the end of year one of the three-year plan – Reclaiming Excellence approaches, the College has realised the quality improvement goal set. Background Barnfield College is located on two sites in close proximity in the north of Luton. The largest (New Bedford Road) is located in the ward of Barnfield, North Luton and is made up of a collection of buildings ranging from the original 1960’s design to the newest 2012 built Higher Education Centre.