The Corporate Director Communities presented a report which sought approval from Cabinet to modify the Maesteg Town Hall re-development construction works contract in accordance with rules 3.3.2 and 3.3.3 of the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules, and to update Cabinet with delays to the programme timescales.

She provided background to the project as detailed at section 3 of the report. The works started on site in March 2020, just 2 weeks before the national lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst works were able to continue to some degree during this period, delays to date have been unavoidable due to a number of factors including; a reduced workforce because of pandemic working restrictions and staff self-isolation requirements; difficulty in securing materials and sub-contractors as a result of pandemic closures and changes in the economic climate; Contamination to areas of the site covered by original structures. None of these could have been foreseen at the outset. Further details were at section 4 of the report.

The Corporate Director Communities explained that due to this, there was an increase in project costs over the current contract limit of £7,027,011. Therefore, in order to enable the construction to proceed without further delay and to prevent a stop to the works, authorisation was required to modify the contract to include the anticipated and any further unforeseen elements. This would increase the works contract value to a limit of £7,708,418.

The Cabinet Member Wellbeing and Future Generations explained that it was important to remedy issues early on and do it properly, so that future generations can benefit from it. He asked that given the delays, however, have we worked with AWEN to ensure that events that were usually held at the town hall were able to be held elsewhere. The Corporate Director Communities confirmed that AWEN had worked with local community groups to find other areas to host events and this has been important to the community to ensue that inclusiveness with decision making. 

The Deputy Leader added that she advised at a Cabinet/CMB meeting that a Delegated Power would be more appropriate to ensure timeframes as well

The Cabinet Member Regeneration asked why a delegated power was needed. The Corporate Director Communities explained that at the end of October the project managers had discovered problems with the line plasterwork. The cost of the work was over the contracted sum that was in place and so a DP was necessary to ensure there was no delays in the works. The Cabinet Member Regeneration asked further questions relating to the works which were answered by the Corporate Director.

The Leader added that it was important to learn from the process and welcomed engagement with the overview and scrutiny committees in the future. The Corporate Director Communities agreed that an important part of the process was the review. A completion report will also be undertaken once the works have been finished and this would include a review on the process, what went well and what could be improved in the future.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet:

1. Authorised the modification of the Maesteg Town Hall re-development construction works contract to include additional works and services by the contractor which have and continue to be necessary since the initial procurement and increase the contract value to £7,708,417 in accordance with rules 3.3.2 and 3.3.3 of the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules.

2. Note the delays in the project timescales and that a revised timetable is being developed with the contractor as part of on-going discussion.