Accommodation for Harrow Borough OCU Headquarters

Report: 15
Date: 4 October 2001
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report considers the short and medium term accommodation requirements for the Harrow Borough Operational Command Unit (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 improvement of the front office at Pinner and the provision of offices at Wealdstone and Edgware, improve operational efficiency. 

The Estates Sub Committee considered the report on 18 September 2001. The principle was endorsed but further, clearer, financial data was requested.

A. Recommendations

Members are asked to:

1. Note the business case for the improvement of accommodation at Harrow;

2. 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, either through local partnership or acquisition, police offices are provided and fitted out at Wealdstone and Edgware and the police office at Pinner is renovated.

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 is summarised at Appendix 2 of the exempt report:. Members of the Committee can view the full investment appraisal by contacting the MPA Secretariat - details at the foot of the report. It 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 North West London buildings it is not likely to materialise during the next decade. The appraisal therefore, considers a 15-years 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 are considered in the investment appraisal (which follows Home Office guidelines), which for reasons explained in the 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 is 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).
• However it should be noted that this option requires an increase in annual revenue expenditure.

6. The opportunity to acquire suitable premises is market driven. A suitable property is currently available and the opportunity may not arise again for some considerable time. In consultation with all MPS user groups this option has been endorsed as of high priority. Users also accept that the additional revenue cost will adversely affect revenue expenditure on other properties. The consequences will be identified in detail and agreed with users.

C. Financial implications

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 in principle with users. The project was provisionally included in the Finance Planning and Best Value Committee approved capital programme for 2001/02 and in the quarterly update submitted to the Finance, Planning and Best Value Committee in May 2001. However, timing is such that works and expenditure can now not start until 2002/03. The next quarterly update report will reflect this.

The capital cost (including fees and an allowance for MPS Department of Information infrastructure works) for refurbishment and alteration works to the leased premises will be subject to competitive tender and the estimate is in the exempt report. The works to provide Police Offices in Wealdstone and Edgware and the works to Pinner will also be subject to competitive tender and the estimates are in the exempt report.

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

The annual running costs for the accommodation of the Borough will be £840,000, which is £161,000 higher than current cost. (Details can be found at Appendix 1 of the exempt report.)

The estimates are based upon a worst case scenario of no financial benefit accruing from local partnership initiatives.

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

The cost of fitting out the leased premises has been included in the proposed capital programme for 2002/03. The costs of improving the 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 (available to Committee Members only)
• Operational Building Strategy (OBS) - 1990
• OBS Annual Review and Update - 2001/02

E. Contact details

Report author: Trevor Lawrence, MPS Director of Property Services

For information contact:

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

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

Introduction

Harrow is a Borough consisting of approx. 23,000 square miles and has residential commercial, industrial and green belt areas. There are 6 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 who are 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 which 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 will not be able to sustain the professional and efficient service expected of the Metropolitan Police. The publics perception could be seriously damaged and Best Value principles would not be properly implemented.

In summary the advantages of a closely located unit are:

1. Improved Briefings
2. Intelligence led Policing
3. Improved Exchange of Information
4. Enhanced supervision.

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