Accommodation for Lambeth borough

Report: 13
Date: 15 May 2001
By: Commissioner

Summary

Lambeth Borough Command Unit requires additional accommodation to support its operations. It has not been possible to identify a site for a new Borough HQ and central charging centre. A building has only recently been identified for lease to provide accommodation for the administration and CID functions. Other organisations are actively interested in this same property. Brixton police station could then be extended to form the operational HQ and Borough charging centre. Cavendish Road and Clapham police stations could be disposed of with Clapham being replaced with a sector base and public office. Concern over the continued availability of the recently identified property makes the timing of this report critical. The paper has been passed in parallel to MPS Resource Allocation Committee on 15 May. The MPA Estates Sub Group has not had the opportunity to consider this report.

A. Recommendations

Members are asked to consider and authorise:

1. taking a lease of the premises and converting it for the administration and CID functions of the Lambeth BOCU;
2. extension and amelioration of Brixton police station to form the Borough operational HQ and charging centre.

B. Supporting information

1. This paper summarises the business case and investment appraisal for the acquisition of an office building to house the administrative support functions and CID for the Borough of Lambeth. It also covers the enlargement of custody facilities at Brixton together with its refurbishment and extension to form a new Borough operational headquarters.

Background

2. Lambeth Borough originally comprised four divisions with police stations at Brixton (1959), Clapham (1907), Streatham (1912) and Kennington (1955). Kennington and Clapham amalgamated in 1994 with the remaining three brought together under Borough based policing in 2000. Brixton was extended and refurbished (including a new custody suite) in 1984. Streatham was last refurbished in 1986 and Kennington in 1982.

3. As individual divisions both Clapham police station and Streatham police station featured in the building programme from the mid 1980's for replacement stations. Sites were acquired for them in 1991 and 1994 respectively. Schemes were prepared and planning permission obtained with Streatham being brought to tender in 1995, and Clapham reaching that stage the following year. In 1995 the Deputy Assistant Commissioner (DAC) for South West London conducted a strategic review of Lambeth and concluded that a new Streatham police station could no longer be justified. The scheme was abandoned and the site sold. The DAC planned to amalgamate charging for the Borough at the proposed new Clapham police station and the scheme was enlarged to accommodate 50 cells. This was strongly opposed by the local residents who were supported by the planners for the Borough and the proposal had to be abandoned at this location.

4. In 2000 the Borough Commander, with the support of Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing (ACPT), determined that Clapham was not a suitable location for a Borough headquarters and a site closer to the centre of Brixton was required. The Clapham site is now one of the options being considered as a potential location for one of the centres for C3i.

5. Lambeth BOCU is amongst the MPS Boroughs with the least accommodation (6sq m per police and civilian officer), only Haringey has less. Clapham and Streatham are over 90 years old and its two smallest stations (Cavendish Road and Gypsy Hill) were built in 1891 and 1939 respectively. In addition the Borough has only half the cells it requires. These are spread between three custody suites at Brixton (12), Kennington (7) and Streatham (5).

Options

6. A search for a new station site has been underway for 12 months but has found nothing of suitable size. A contingency plan has been prepared which remodels and extends Brixton police station, supplemented by a new building to house administrative support and CID for the borough.

7. Agents were commissioned and they have identified a small site close to Brixton police station that could be developed to provide offices. They were unable to locate an office building within the area of search originally specified by the Borough Commander who has extended the area of search. A property, close to Oval Tube Station, has been identified as possible alternative accommodation for lease and is referred to in Option iii in paragraph 9.

8. The business case anticipates the disposal of Cavendish Road and the replacement of Clapham police station by a sector base with public counter. Brixton will be the principal operational and central charging site. The police stations at Kennington and Streatham will respectively serve the north and south of the Borough with the new office building housing administration and CID.

9. The investment appraisal considers six options, to meet the shortfall of accommodation in the borough:

• the acquisition of a site and construction of a new Borough HQ;
• constructing a new building for the administration and CID functions and refurbishment and extension of the existing Brixton police station;
• leasing a building for administration and CID with amelioration and extension of Brixton police station;
• acquiring a freehold site to construct an administration and CID building and the amelioration and extension of Brixton police station;
• acquiring a freehold site in Coldharbour Lane, Brixton to construct a building to maximise the use of the site and supplement this with an additional leasehold acquisition for administration and CID and the amelioration and extension of Brixton police station;
• leasing a building on the Coldharbour Lane site and another building to accommodate administration and CID and ameliorate and extend Brixton police station.

Phasing

10. Whilst this appraisal considers the provision of accommodation for an entire new Borough headquarters, any scheme which retains Brixton police station would need to be undertaken in two phases.

11. The work to Brixton police station cannot begin until the identification parade (ID) suite and stables have been relocated to the new Lewisham police station in 2004. (The ID suite occupies the area needed to extend the custody suite and the stables will need to be demolished to enlarge the yard).

12. Accommodation is urgently needed to resolve the pressure on the existing operational buildings in Lambeth that cannot await the new Lewisham police station. The early leasing of the property will address this requirement.

13. The disposal of the surplus buildings under this proposal must await the completion of the Brixton scheme, as they will be required to assist in the decanting of Brixton police station during the amelioration works.

Consultation

14. Consultation has taken place with Borough representatives who are satisfied that the leased property/Brixton police station amelioration and extension option will meet Borough needs.

15. The Department of Information has been consulted on running and capital cost of infrastructure and equipment.

16. Finance Department has been consulted. Their concerns focus on affordability as neither capital nor revenue expenditure has been included in the approved programme 2001/02. Funding has been included in the future year's programme, which has yet to be approved. Costs associated with this provision would be at the expense of other priorities.

C. Financial implications

The investment appraisal shows that to lease the property, extend and ameliorate Brixton police station; dispose of Cavendish Road police station and replace Clapham police station with a sector base is the best value for money solution, although it does not have the lowest Net Present Value. It does however, require one of the lowest amounts of initial capital investment. Lack of capital resources is the constraining factor and therefore any option that minimises the capital requirement will be favoured.

The Net Present Value and capital cost of each option is shown below:

The third option is considered to be the best value but the annual revenue costs and fitting out costs will need to be considered for affordability. No capital costs would be incurred in 2001/02 but there will be a future annual commitment.

Rent for the property will be about £1.13m, rates £200k, energy, cleaning and maintenance £400k. DoI running costs are £250k. £36k will be required to lease additional parking, therefore revenue costs at £2m per annum are anticipated.

Fitting out will require capital expenditure. It may be possible to have part of this work undertaken by the landlord with the cost spread over a number of years as a second rent. This may still count against capital allocation, but it could get the work undertaken more quickly. The initial estimate for the capital fit out is £2m inclusive of DoI infrastructure costs and equipment, excluding desktop computers, where the existing provision will be relocated from the current offices.

Work to upgrade Brixton police station is extensive including a new floor on the front block and the cellblock extended across the rear of the yard. The work cannot be undertaken until the new PFI Lewisham police station is built, because of the need to demolish the identification parade suite and the stables, both of which move to Lewisham. The initial estimate for the work to Brixton is £8m. The occupants of the building will have to be decanted whilst the work is undertaken and the sum includes for works to facilitate this.

In the context of the medium term financial position the following table summarises the additional levels of capital and revenue provision required for the preferred option (option 3) over that currently existing in approved budgets.

The property element of the approved capital programme for 2001/02 is substantially already committed because of the number of pre authority approved schemes. The capital requirement for the current year could be funded by either reducing the capital budget for technology and transport and redirecting funding or increasing the funding envelope of the 2001/02 programme by £2m to £87m. Such a growth could be met from existing capital reserves with a corresponding reduction in the capital funding available for future years. Funding would also need to be earmarked for the years 2004/5/6 to enable the necessary upgrade work to Brixton police station. These capital costs will have to be reflected in the five year capital programme and contained within the overall funding envelope.

Revenue budget growth (or equivalent savings) of £2m (£1.8m after the property configuration changes are completed in 2006/07 will also be required with effect from 2002/03. This will have to be reflected in the revised medium term financial projections.

D. Background papers

• Investment Appraisal (Business Case)

E. Contact details

The author of this report is Trevor Lawrence, MPS Director of Property Services.

For information contact:

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

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