Future provision of section house accommodation

Report: 22
Date: 19 June 2001
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report considers the future demand for Section House bedrooms in the light of the increased level of recruits joining the Service. It recommends re-opening section houses at Brentford, East Ham and Greenwich, the costs being met from receipts from the sale of Trenchard House and surplus housing stock. In the short term the use of hostel accommodation owned by others will be necessary.

A. Recommendations

• That approval be given in principal to the use of Maurice Drummond Section House, Norman Kendall Section House and Brentford Section House for housing recruits and for;
• Schemes be drawn up for the renovation of these buildings with funding to be met from increased capital receipts in 2002/3.
• To seek tenders for the supply of hostel accommodation to enable increased demand from single officers to be met.

To approve the disposal of Trenchard Section House, with part of the funding to be used to assist with future upgrading of section house accommodation.

B. Supporting information

1. The February 2001 MPS Resource Allocation Committee and MPA Estates sub-group received a report on the "Review of the Residential Estate Strategy" which identified the projected increases in recruits joining the Service resulting in an increased demand for single accommodation. A revised schedule see Appendix 1.

2. About 35 per cent of new recruits have traditionally sought section house bedroom accommodation, staying on average about 9 months before making alternative arrangements. There is a shortfall forecast, which commences in October 2001. By September 2002 (when Sir Robert Mark Section House closes), the shortfall provision will rise to 400 bedrooms and peak at over 500. (Sir Robert Mark Section House in Marylebone is due to be converted to supplementary office space for use in conjunction with the local police station.)

3. The following Section Houses are either closed or currently used for alternative purposes but could be brought back into use.

• Brentford Section House:
  (99 Bedrooms). Public Order Training (POT) currently uses it for 2 nights per week. The use will transfer to Gravesend when the new PFI contract works are complete in 2003. It requires refurbishment at an estimated cost of £600K. POT would require the provision of some Hotel accommodation as replacement until the new facility becomes available.
• Maurice Drummond Section House, Greenwich:
  (128 Bedrooms) Now closed. Previously leased to Knights Institute for Sport. It requires refurbishment, at an estimated cost of £1.25m; or £3.6m if upgraded to en-suite accommodation and other areas converted to 'bed-sits', providing 102 rooms.
• Norman Kendall Section House, East Ham:
  (90 Bedrooms). Currently closed pending sale in conjunction with East Ham Police Station, shares the same site and some services. Its re-use would require refurbishment and separation from police station at an estimated cost of £1.75m; or £2.5m if upgraded to en-suite accommodation – reducing the capacity to 60 bedrooms.

2. Figures used in Appendix 1 include for these three properties being brought back into use without any reduction in size (ie without en-suite facilities) commencing with Brentford Section House in November 2001 and followed by Maurice Drummond and Norman Kendall in May 2003. However, no funds are yet included in the budgets for 2001/02 or 2002/03.

3. There are other former section houses not presently in use. These are being used in conjunction with their adjoining police stations at Tooting, Limehouse and Kensington. Feasibility studies are underway to see if some of this accommodation can be taken back into residential use but they would not be available for use in less than 3 years (assuming the Borough Commanders can release the accommodation).

4. The immediate problem, is the shortfall in bedrooms to meet demand before the end of this calendar year. The Public Order Training Unit, who currently use Brentford to provide overnight accommodation for officers training at Hounslow, do not wish to surrender the use of the property.

5. An alternative would be to seek accommodation from other suppliers to supplement the need. The National Health Service Trusts have adopted this procedure with companies such as Peabody Unite. Depending on location they charge £80-£100 per week, for modern, well fitted hostel rooms often arranged as flatlets with 3-6 rooms sharing a kitchen. (Current MPS Section Houses Room Charge is £72.70 per week.) The companies accept "block bookings"; tenants occupy the rooms and pay their own rent but the booking organisation them underwrites the rent of any unlet rooms.

6. Because it is not possible to bring MPA owned premises back into use within the time available and to meet the expected demand, procurement of additional accommodation would have to commence immediately.

7. Trenchard Section House
Trenchard Section House in Soho has 215 Bedrooms. Its refurbishment would cost approximately £2.25m (without en-suite facilities) and works could not be completed until June 2003. The MPS had previously decided to sell this section house and that decision was endorsed in principle by the MPA, but pending a review of the Residential Estate. The anticipated capital receipt would be in the order of £25m. The Estates Sub-Group recommended the endorsement of the sale of Trenchard House from its May meeting and also recommended a first call on receipts to fund the refurbishment of the Section Houses and any other initiatives to provide housing for recruits.

8. Other hostel buildings in less expensive parts of London are available on the market which could be acquired should the MPA wish to remain a provider of single person housing accommodation.

9. Given the fluctuating demand it may be more effective to establish a partnership with a specialist provider. Housing Associations and private companies operate in this market. The MPA could consider competitive tenders leading to a partnership to contract out the refurbishment of existing premises and acquisition of new property with the accommodation being available on a nomination basis. Ownership of property could either remain with the MPA, with an agreed profit share; or the company could acquire the property outright, with the MPA obtaining a capital receipt along with nomination rights - or block booking accommodation and funding any vacancies. A similar process has been adopted by a number of NH Trusts. An outright sale would not be appropriate for either Brentford or Norman Kendall since they share sites with police stations making separation of title difficult, but leasing could be considered.

C. Financial implications

The refurbishment costs of the three section houses, without upgrading to en-suite facilities, approximately £3.6m. The costs could be funded from part of the capital receipt of Trenchard Section House, estimated to be £25m. Alternatively the costs could be covered by the sale of approximately 20 houses. The MPA Treasurer has stated that the capital receipt from Trenchard House would be useful funding for the MPA.

Any income derived from a partnership arrangement will offset the loss from current income arising from the service charge (totalling £1.4m per annum), but the MPA would also save the running costs associated with Section Houses. The overall effect would be approximately cost neutral.

There will be an increased cost for overnight hotel accommodation for approximately 30 months amounting to £546K per annum (i.e. assuming all 99 beds at Brentford Section House are replaced by 2 nights in hotels for 46 weeks per year), until alternative facilities become available.

There is no specific funding allowed for these works or to lease additional accommodation in the current financial year. However, works at Brentford could be provided from the maintenance and improvements budget and afforded a high priority: the hire of additional units should be largely cost neutral through management of allocations.

D. Background papers

None.

E. Contact details

The author of this report is T G Lawrence, Director of Property Services.

For information contact:

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

Appendix 1: Section Houses Demand Forecast

Available from the MPA.

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback