Accommodation for Harrow Borough OCU headquarters

Report: 7
Date: 18 September 2001
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report considers the short and medium term accommodation requirements for the Harrow Borough OCU Headquarters and seeks approval to the medium term Borough accommodation strategy through leasing a building adjacent to the existing Harrow Police Station together with refurbishment and alteration works there. This will rationalise the OCU Headquarters accommodation at a single location and together with the provision of a front office at Pinner and offices at Wealdstone and Edgware, improve operational efficiency.

A. Recommendations

1. That members note the business case for the improvement of accommodation at Harrow;
2. That members determine whether to endorse the recommendation in support of option one in the Investment Appraisal, and if so, to:
3. support the requirement to acquire a lease for a property near to the existing Harrow Police Station,
4. undertake works to the leased property, and
5. sell the existing Wealdstone, Edgware and West Street buildings and agree that a new front office is provided at Pinner and police offices are acquired and fitted out at Wealdstone and Edgware.

B. Supporting information

1. This paper summarises the Business Case and Investment Appraisal for rationalising accommodation for the Harrow Borough OCU, leasing new premises and undertaking the necessary alteration and refurbishment works at Harrow police station.

2. The Business Case produced by Harrow Borough OCU is attached at appendix 1. It details the current deficiencies in their accommodation and resulting operational inefficiencies.

3. The Investment Appraisal (appendix 2 - exempt) explains the long-term strategy for the Harrow Borough OCU Headquarters that envisages the construction of a new centrally located building. However, capital funds are not available and although this might be included in a future PFI project for Northwest London buildings, it is not likely to materialise during the next decade. The Appraisal therefore, considers a 15-year period covering the short and medium term needs of the Borough OCU. It concludes that the best value option is to lease premises.

4. Several options were considered by the Investment Appraisal, which for reasons explained in the Investment Appraisal were reduced to the following three:

• Option one: Acquire the lease for a property near Harrow Police Station, and undertake refurbishment and alteration works to provide additional accommodation for the Harrow OCU headquarters.
• Option two: Purchase a site close to the Harrow Police Station and construct a new building for the additional accommodation for the Harrow OCU headquarters.
• Option three: Purchase an existing building close to the Harrow Police Station and alter as necessary to suit the additional accommodation for the Harrow OCU headquarters.

5. The recommended option to lease a nearby property (option one) was based upon the following factors:

• Only a small amount of capital expenditure is required. The sale of Edgware, Wealdstone and West Street buildings will offset this cost and leave a balance available for other capital expenditure (estimated at £550k) even after new offices have been provided for Edgware and Wealdstone.
• The accommodation can be provided quickly since the identified property for lease is empty and the alteration and refurbishment works which will be necessary can be undertaken more quickly than a new build,
• It suits the short and medium term accommodation needs of the Borough, in conjunction with the leased Northgate House,
• If the long-term plan for a new Borough OCU were not achieved, then the three buildings would be capable of providing suitable accommodation for a further period (subject to negotiating extensions to the two leases).

C. Financial implications

1. The user Business groups have consulted together and confirmed that the project remains of high priority. The costs have been included in the current and future year budget bids with necessary adjustments to the overall programme agreed with users. The project is included in the Finance Planning & Best Value (FPBV) Committee approved capital programme for 2001/02 and in the quarterly update submitted to the FPBV in May 2001.

2. The capital cost (including fees and an allowance for DoI infrastructure works) for refurbishment and alteration works to the leased premises is subject to competitive tender and the estimate is in the exempt paper. The works to provide Police Offices in Wealdstone, Pinner and Edgware is also subject to competitive tender and the estimate is in the exempt paper.

3. The lease cost for is subject to negotiation, and is identified in the exempt paper. Funding will need to be included in the budget for 2002/03 and thereafter. Lease costs for offices at Edgware and Wealdstone are also included in the exempt paper.

4. The annual running costs for the accommodation of the Borough will be £798,000, which is £196,000 higher than current cost.

5. The sale of Edgware, Wealdstone and West Street buildings is identified in the exempt paper

6. The cost of fitting out the leased premises has been included in the capital programme for 2001/02. The costs of forming a front office at Pinner and the fitting out of premises for a Police Office at Wealdstone and Edgware will have to be added to the programme and offset against the receipts from the sale of the redundant buildings.

D. Background papers

• Single Stage Investment Appraisal, (Appendix two - in the Members Room)
• Operational Building Strategy (OBS) - 1990
• OBS Annual Review and Update - 2001/02

E. Contact details

The author of this report is the Director of Property Services, 020 7230 8370

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Appendix 1: Minor building works proposal (NW area) business case

Title of project: Leasing of Additional Building
Full location of works: Acquisition of premises near to Harrow Police Station
Name of originator: Paul Bambridge
Originator reference: PB/QA/1/2001
Date request sent to Grade 8: 14th March 2001
Building works reference: ........................

Overview

To acquire additional premises to order to better implement MPS policy on leadership and supervision, to improve our service to the public, and adhere to Health and Safety Regulations.

Received by:

OCU Commander
Grade 8, NW Area

Introduction

Harrow is a borough consisting of approx. 23,000 square miles and has residential commercial, industrial and green belt areas. There are six police buildings on the borough:

• Harrow police station
• Pinner Police Station
• Wealdstone Police Station
• Edgware Police Station
• West Street Police Office
• Northgate House (leased accommodation)

Background

Harrow has been a borough division for some time and is deficient in accommodation both in amount and quality. A new police station has been in the building programme for many years and a site was acquired some years ago. However, that land has now been sold as it was found to be too small for Harrow’s purposes.

Option appraisal

In April 2001, the remainder of Northgate House (2nd and 3rd floors) will be occupied by various offices creating space within the main building. This space will be taken by the CID, which is currently in cramped accommodation. The Crime Squad and Training Unit will be moved from Edgware to Harrow Police Station and Northgate House respectively.

Currently the majority of uniform officers are based at Wealdstone, and are operating in conditions that do not comply with Health and Safety Regulations (i.e. inadequate space).

The acquisition of additional premises will enable to move all the officers based at Wealdstone to the main police station. This will have the following advantages:

1. improved communication between all departments.
2. better use of equipment (especially IT)
3. less time spent travelling between Wealdstone and Harrow, therefore better use of officers’ time.

Our preferred option would be to have a new purpose built police station sited in the centre of the borough to enable all personnel to work together and have reasonable access to all parts of the borough. We have been informed by PSD that it will be at least ten years before this can be considered. Therefore, other options have to be considered i.e. additional premises near Harrow police station.

Financial appraisal

The cost of leasing Northgate and additional premises may be offset by the sale of Wealdstone, Edgware and West Street building. As the area is quite widespread, it is proposed to retain Pinner police station as a police office and acquire a shop in the Wealdstone area to also serve as a police office. Consideration could also be given to acquiring a shop in the Edgware area and possibly sharing the cost jointly with SX (Barnet Borough Division). This would appear to be a useful public relations exercise as the local community would have lost both their stations at Edgware and Mill Hill.

Non-financial factors

In order to fully implement the MPS Leadership Strategy, it is essential that line managers are located in close proximity to their staff. The current structure of Harrow police buildings means that many units are currently based in separate locations to their line managers

Briefings and de-briefings are hinders by the inability to brigade our operational police officers. There is also a detrimental effect as many support staff have to travel to Wealdstone to deliver the briefings and then return to their offices at Harrow.

Various risk assessments have been conducted in relation to Health and Safety Regulations, and serious concerns have been identified regarding working conditions and overcrowding. We have tried to do our best to improve the conditions but currently we have no spare capacity. The acquisition of additional premises will ensure all departments are provided with enough space for each department to work effectively.

Conclusion

Without the provision of additional accommodation, Harrow Borough Command Unit will not be able to sustain the professional and efficient service expected of the Metropolitan Police Service. The public’s perception could be seriously damaged and best value principles would not be properly implemented.

In summary the advantages of a closely located unit are:

• improved briefings
• intelligence led policing
• improved exchange of Information
• enhanced supervision.

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