MD2431 Procurement of City Hall Capital Infrastructure Projects

City Hall is held on a 25-year full repairing lease, meaning that the GLA has to fund necessary works on the building. The original design was to accommodate 426 people and provide publicly accessible meeting and conference space as well as private office accommodation. Over the past 19 years the responsibilities and focus of the GLA have broadened, requiring an expansion of the workforce to over a thousand, largely based at City Hall and Union Street. The growth in both the use of City Hall’s public spaces and office facilities has placed pressure on the building infrastructure leading to over usage of equipment and systems that are coming to the end of their working lifecycle.

The £736,000 of capital expenditure would pay for a new mobile elevated working platform, new fire alarm panel and voice alarm racks, new borehole pump, new high definition cameras and new security gates, at the entrance to the 9th floor London Living Room. This will ensure that the GLA continues to provide a safe and secure environment which meets the needs of the diverse range of the building’s users.

New mobile elevated working platform. Approval is sought to replace the original mobile elevated work platform (MEWP) at City Hall, which is used for window cleaning, repairs and maintenance of the building façade. It is no longer maintainable due to the lack of spare parts because of its age. It was removed from site for a full condition survey report to determine viability to repair following increasing failures of the vehicle. The report concluded that the MEWP was no longer maintainable. It is a condition of the City Hall lease agreement that the façade of City Hall is cleaned on a regular basis to meet the GLA’s contractual obligations.

In addition, the vehicle does not comply with current emissions targets. Due to the unique design of the building, the GLA sought expert advice from Arup to recommend a suitable replacement MEWP. The JLG 1500 AJP vehicle recommended by Arup meets all current legislation and has lower carbon emissions. Under the GLA lease the vehicle is a landlord’s fixture and constitutes part of the premises demised to the GLA as tenant. The replacement and maintenance of the vehicle is the GLA’s responsibility and therefore at the GLA’s cost.

New fire alarm panels and voice alarm racks replacement. The existing fire alarm system and voice alarm racks have been in City Hall since 2002. The passage of time has necessitated the upgrade of the main fire alarm panels and voice alarm racks, which are at risk of failure and parts are not repairable or replaceable. Whilst still functional, the current systems are coming to the end of their serviceable life. It is imperative that they are replaced in the very near future to prevent a situation where they become inoperable in an emergency, potentially leading to the safety of staff and visitors being compromised.

In the event of the need to evacuate the building a failing system could be the cause of injury or in the most severe of cases, loss of life. A new up to date system would reduce any health & safety risks and would provide a fully serviceable system for the protection of staff and visitors who use City Hall.

Existing fire alarm panel and voice alarm racks locations will be retained, the existing fire alarm panels will be replaced with the proposed Cerberus pro panels and the voice alarm racks will be replaced with Baldwin Boxall racks. The main fire alarm panel control panel in the Security Control Room will provide the primary control and indication for operations of the fire alarm system for all day to day tasks such as system status and isolation tasks.

Updating the existing obsolete panels which are only maintainable by one supplier removes all reliance from the manufacture for any software changes and provides City Hall with a choice of service and small works providers as the proposed panel can be supported by the approved agents.

Borehole pump replacement. A recent survey of the borehole pump which provide chilled water for the cooling system and water for the flushing of toilets, noted that the west borehole pump was beyond its 10-year serviceable life cycle and should be replaced with a new pump as soon as possible. The current pump has been in constant use for 18 years and so to maintain an extended supply of chilled water to City Hall, it is advised that the pump is changed as a matter of urgency. Without this supply, habitation of the building would not be possible.

High definition cameras committee rooms 4&5. The cameras used for filming in the Chamber are 19 years old and when filming is required in the Committee Rooms these cameras must be moved; if there is something being filmed in the Chamber then filming in the Committee Rooms is not possible. This reduces the transparency of London government when for example an Assembly Committee meeting clashes with the TfL Board.

Having fixed cameras in the Committee Rooms would provide greater coverage to stream broadcasts, which would be of a much better quality. It would also eliminate the need for constant movement of the cameras from the Chamber. The new cameras would be high definition and provide better quality coverage of GLA events and speed up set up times. New cameras in the Committee Rooms would allow a better viewing experience for anyone who wished to view a broadcast. It would also protect and lengthen the life of the cameras currently used in the Chamber, as they would not need to be moved.

Installation of security gates, 9th Floor. The existing entrance to the 9th Floor event space known as London’s Living Room is controlled by a single gate barrier which is increasingly prone to failure. Due to its age spare parts are becoming unavailable for repair. Replacing the lanes with the two-lane types found on floors LG, G, 1st and 2nd the 2 gates will provide quicker entrance and egress for staff and visitors using the space. Both lanes would be compliant with the current access legislation.

The objectives of the expenditure are to provide a secure, safe and statutory compliant environment to all building users, enhanced by a clean and well-maintained building.

Renewing the mobile elevated work platform will enable the GLA to clean and maintain the exterior of the building in line with the lease requirements. This will help present a consistently good image to the people who use the building and all who pass by.

The upgraded fire alarm panels and voice alarm racks will ensure statutory compliance and provide a modern interactive system with its open protocol technology allowing it to be maintained by a number of companies. Spare parts will be readily available should the system suffer any failures.

The new borehole water pump will add extra resilience to a system that provides water for cooling the building including the Main Computer rooms, IT Facilities and water for flushing the toilets. By replacing a pump which was only designed to have a ten-year life span and has been used continually for 18 years it will give the GLA a more robust system guaranteeing a continued supply of borehole water.

New fixed robotic cameras in committee rooms 4-5 will allow a better-quality recording for viewers of broadcasts as well as enable meetings to be broadcast in parallel to meetings in the Chamber.

New security gates on the 9th Floor will replace the existing gates that have become obsolete. This will give a better level of security consistent with the rest of the building and allow smoother access and egress to all users.

Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the Mayor of London must have due regard to the need to (i) eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; (ii) advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not. (iii) foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.

By considering the 5 core questions posed in the GLA’s document, “Guidance on mainstreaming equality, diversity and inclusion in the decision-making process” it has been determined there will be no impacts on those with protected characteristics under the public sector equality duty arising from delivery of these services. Consideration has been given to new security gates on the 9th floor, London’s Living Room. The gates would improve security access and egress from the area for all, as well as complying with the Disability Discrimination Act.

A Disability Access Consultant was used to design the original security gates on the ground floor and this advice has been incorporated into the 9th floor system.

TFL procurement will be consulted on the most appropriate route to market for each of these Projects.

The Decision is seeking approval to spend £736,000 on the five City Hall infrastructure projects as detailed above. This will be funded from the expected to be incurred in 2019/20.

The decisions requested of the Mayor (in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code) concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation, social development or the promotion of the improvement of the environment in Greater London; and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;
• consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and
• consult with appropriate bodies.

In taking the decisions requested, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010 and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

Officers should ensure that the works be procured by Transport for London Procurement who will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidder(s) and the GLA before the commencement of the works.