DMFD48 London Fire Brigade Museum Project

The London Safety Plan 2017–21 contains a commitment to deliver a new London Fire Brigade Museum. The Mayor of London’s Culture Strategy, published in December 2018, includes an action to support delivery of the new London Fire Brigade Museum.

In September 2015 the London Fire Brigade (LFB) Museum was closed to the public following the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) decision that the Museum should form part of the plans for the 8 Albert Embankment development. In the summer of 2016, the Museum collection was placed into long-term storage, awaiting the redevelopment of the new Museum.

Winchester House, which is on the same site as the former Southwark Fire Station, was the previous home of the Museum collection. The operation of the Museum on this site was restricted in a number of ways. The space available meant it was not possible to add to the Museum collection - there are no fire engines in the collection from the 1980s onwards for instance. There were significant accessibility issues which restricted the opportunities to visit the collection for disabled visitors and in its last year of operation over 2000 school pupils were turned away from visiting because room capacity was reached.

In 2015, the Resources Committee of LFEPA made the decision to include the Museum in the redevelopment of 8 Albert Embankment. This was for a number of reasons including the opportunity to be next to an operational fire station, better footfall in the area, more cultural interests close by to the site, the benefits of incorporating the Memorial Hall and adding to the heritage interest of the former headquarters building. 8 Albert Embankment was also the original home of the Museum, up until 1966. After years of uncertainty the clear decision on a permanent home for the Museum in 2015 was to demonstrate LFEPA’s long-term commitment to its future. In turn, this was needed to ensure ongoing accreditation by the Arts Council and enable officers to look for additional external funding for the Museum.

Capital costs for the fit out of the Museum were estimated at £2,400,000 at that point, which has been held in a Museum budget within the LFB capital programme for this purpose since.

In March 2016, LFEPA appointed U+I as their development partner for the 8 Albert Embankment project through an OJEU process. Pilbrow & Partners are the architects commissioned by U+I to design the scheme. Design development to RIBA STAGE 1 is complete. The wider development, which encompasses this Museum project, has evolved over two years’ pre-application consultation – with the London Borough of Lambeth, Greater London Authority, Historic England and the local community and the planning application currently being considered includes the provision for the museum as per the decision taken by LFEPA in 2015.

The Museum will occupy the basement and ground floors of the western side of the Grade 2 listed building and plans include using LFB's Memorial Hall plus three-vehicle bays of the existing fire station at ground floor level. The Museum entrance will be at the corner of Black Prince Road and Lambeth High Street, where LFB's former ‘Command and Mobilising Centre’ currently stands. This entrance will be within a new landscaped public space and public piazza.

The project will bring the poignant Memorial Hall back into public use as a space, honouring London’s firefighting heroes and providing a peaceful haven for remembrance. A permanent exhibition will illuminate LFB's history with thought-provoking activities focusing on the inspirational people who have kept London safe, and encouraging dialogue and debate. An upgraded Lambeth Fire Station will be located in the adjacent area creating beneficial links. This project is part of a much larger Development with significant regeneration benefits contributing to Lambeth's cultural renaissance.

The £2,400,000 placed in Museum budget within the LFB capital programme was an estimate made in 2015 based on earlier plans to house the Museum within the LFB HQ at Union Street. U+I were appointed as LFB's private sector development in 2016, following a full pan-European OJEU process. Four final bids were evaluated against specific risk-based criteria and the U+I scheme came out as a clear winner. One of the criteria this was measured on for museum facilities to be fully compliant with the LFB brief, this is up to Category A standard which is defined in the Development Agreement with U+I and includes floors, ceilings and basic electrical services (up to this point is outside of this project).

It was only on completion of this process that the specific areas of the building available for the new Museum were known – the space provided by U+I was 50 per cent larger than the minimum specified. It had always been envisaged that a new home for the Museum would make it possible to explore new funding streams available, such as National Lottery Heritage Fund. As set out from paragraph 27 of report LFC-0265 to the London Fire Commissioner, officers have developed a detailed budget in order to submit a bid.

The Museum project now has an estimated total delivery cost of £4,450,000, over a development phase between October 2019 and June 2021 (£360,000) and a delivery phase between October 2021 and Autumn 2025 (£4,090,000). The new Museum space will occupy the basement and ground floors of the western side of 8 Albert Embankment incorporating the Memorial Hall and three original fire engine bays.

A new purpose-built home for the London Fire Brigade Museum will secure the long-term future of the Museum, providing a permanent and accessible home to deliver its fire safety education work and a wealth of exciting, educational family activities to Lambeth and the capital as a whole.

The Museum's aims are:

• to celebrate LFB’s rich history by explaining the major events which have shaped the fire and rescue service in London;
• to enhance the experience of diverse audience groups by using the collections for the enjoyment of new and repeat visitors;
• to protect the Collection to make sure it is available for people now and in the future; and
• to manage the Museum's resources flexibly, efficiently and effectively.

With the opportunity presented by the redevelopment of the 8 Albert Embankment site, the Museum finally has a chance to deliver the above aims, reach its full potential and become a more visible, important and significant player amongst London’s museums.

This will include activities such as a significantly expanded programme of events for the community and schools, accommodating up to 17,500 schoolchildren per year across the Borough and wider London. The Museum also provides an opportunity to hold activities for community groups, hard-to-reach audiences and expand the Brigade’s work with local charities, as well as a new opportunity to work closely with the Massey Shaw Fire Boat Education Trust due to the river front location.

Maintaining a vital link to the current fire station, the Museum will offer visitors a rare opportunity to see a fully operational fire station, alongside historic fire engines and other exhibits. The proposed design will enable the public to learn about the history of the Brigade through the Museum’s extensive collection of artefacts from the Great Fire of London to present day and explores how the history has influenced the way the service works today. The co-location of the Museum, on this scale, with views into a working fire station will be a unique offering in the UK and an important element of the project.

Creating a larger and more flexible Museum will substantially increase the number of visitors the museum can accommodate from 11,000 to 150,000. It will provide a new temporary exhibition space which can be used to display more of the collection, explore themes in more detail and enable us to loan objects from other museums and encourage repeat visitors. Fire safety advice will also be an integral part of the museum’s interpretation. A Museum outline and interpretation plan has been developed to developed to illustrate the plans for the new LFB Museum (Appendix 1 to report LFC-0265).

The Museum will be celebrating the Brigade’s history, working with our staff and visitors to better interpret the collection and have pride in our organisation. The museum will focus a range of activities for the Brigade’s current and retired staff, with opportunities for volunteering, collating oral histories and promoting intergenerational learning with retired firefighters sharing their knowledge, stories and experiences with current firefighters and visitors.

This scheme preserves and enhances the heritage of the current buildings by sensitively restoring the Grade II listed 8 Albert Embankment along with its drill tower. The Brigade’s Memorial Hall is a monument to firefighters who have died in service since the 19th Century. It is recognised by Historic England for its national significance and will form part of the new museum, providing public access for the first time in over a decade.

Overall this will be a much more accessible Museum than was ever able to be provided in the Museum’s previous home giving the public access to a listed building of great significance to London Fire Brigade for the first time, as well as new modern facilities for disabled visitors and those with learning difficulties.

This scheme also provides an opportunity to for the Museum to improve its long-term ability to be operationally and financially sustainable. An initial business plan has been developed (available on request) which provides early indications of how that can be achieved. The further development of the business plan is part of the LFB Museum project

Pop-up Museum

In November 2016 a Pop-up Museum was opened in The Workshop, formally known as rear block, to enable visitors to learn about the history of the Brigade and for the Museum to keep in touch with its audiences. This was provided by the Brigade’s development partners for 8 Albert Embankment, U+I, as part of the consultation and engagement strategy for the development. The Workshop is also home to a range of innovative art organisations, charities and start-up businesses.

The LFB Pop-up Museum exhibition explores the history of the Brigade in Lambeth, beginning with the tragic Albert Embankment fire of 1918, reflecting on events during the Second World War, and concluding with a spotlight on post war progress. It also hosts an installation of more recent LFB vehicles and equipment and a space for film projections.

Throughout the redevelopment of the Museum, the Museum’s curators identified a need to maintain the high level of schools’ engagement with the collection. Since 2016 the Pop-up Museum has provided a venue for the museum’s formal education sessions. Almost 5,000 people have visited as part of an organised Key Stage 1 Great Fire of London interactive session at the Pop-up Museum since 2017. All schools were asked to provide feedback about their experience. The knowledge and enthusiastic engagement of the session leaders, both curatorial staff and Spectrum Drama actors, was well received.

The children (and also the adults too!) had an amazing time with you and learnt so much. It was, by far, the best Great Fire of London experience we have had. Our little visually impaired pupil won't stop talking about his trip and his teaching assistant from the Vision Team here in Bromley commented about how inclusive and accessible the activities were for him. Assistant Head Teacher, Southborough Primary School, 2019

The Pop-up Museum has also provided the opportunity to host larger events than were possible in the Museum’s previous home at Winchester House. It has hosted large scale events including the Brigade’s 150th wrap party, the Fire Engine Festival, Immortalised and London History Day, in association with Historic England, Family Learning Festival and many smaller events and photography exhibitions. The Museum team have used the unique space to experiment with family learning activities, such as green screen photography, virtual reality experiences and events involving lots of historic vehicles.

The LFB Pop-Up Museum has been very popular with local communities. A total of approximately 60,000 people have visited the facility, with approximately 35 pe cent of visitors to major events coming from Lambeth and Southwark. The Pop-up Museum has enabled the continued provisional accreditation of the Museum by the Arts Council (see Appendix 2 of report LFC-0265 – Annual report to Arts Council 2018).

As well as providing crucial feedback to help develop the new Museum, this clearly demonstrates the potential for the LFB Museum to help meet other corporate LFB objectives, including sharing fire safety messages and promoting inclusion. Appendix 3 to that report is a table of all the LFB Museum-led events, including visitor numbers. The feedback from this work and these events fed into the development of the successful National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) Grant bid by the Brigade.

The Public Sector Equality Duty – and the potential impacts of this decision on those with protected characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, gender, religion or belief, sexual orientation) – has been considered by the London Fire Commissioner and the Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience at the Deputy Mayor’s Fire and Resilience Board on 12 November 2019.

The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) applies to the London Fire Commissioner when they make decisions. The duty requires them to have regard to the need to:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other behaviour prohibited by the Act. In summary, the Act makes discrimination etc. on the grounds of a protected characteristic unlawful.
• Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
• Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not including tackling prejudice and promoting understanding.

The protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. The Act states that ‘marriage and civil partnership’ is not a relevant protected characteristic for (b) or (c) although it is relevant for (a).

All 65,000 annual visitors (projection for first year of opening) to the revitalised Museum will have engaged with LFB's heritage in the new facility through new exhibitions, interpretation and activities. Some 25,000 of people over the three-year activity period will have taken part in a targeted, meaningful engagement activity, as opposed to being a general visitor, with an estimated 4,000 people from new/hard to reach audiences being attracted. The Museum will have delivered an extensive community engagement programme which will have successfully reached over 11,000 local Lambeth people who were previously unaware of it.

The new Museum will be more visitor-focused in its approach ensuring all visitors have been welcomed and involved as active contributors and can find with ease an aspect of the heritage that is of interest and relevant to them. For example, through targeted projects with the Portuguese community in Lambeth and LGBT study groups locally.

As part of the offsite offering of the new Museum a programme of Fire Station Open days is planned, targeting Newham, Brent, Enfield, Havering and Bexley where there are known unrepresented Museum audiences. These proposals would mean 5,000 new visitors will have been introduced to the LFB's heritage and the role of firefighters and the history of London fire stations. A further 6,000 visitors will have been reached through local fairs, shows and community events, sparking curiosity, encouraging them to visit the Museum to find out more.

The new Museum will more effectively address the needs of Black and Minority Ethnic and Refugee (BAMER) groups. For example, through the planned photography exhibition in collaboration with Black Cultural Archives and Black Heroes Foundation, involving 40 young researchers in the LFB's archives to celebrate the contributions black people have made to LFB. This exhibition would be part of the visitor experience for all general Museum visitors and a projected further 20,000 people when the exhibition travels to other locations.

Two new schemes for young people are planned as part of the new Museum offering. 'Reach for the Top' encouraging a career in curatorship; and 'Firemen? Think, again!' where young people from local Secondary Schools will create an art installation designed to encourage women to think about a career in the fire service (using historical stories, imagery and oral history) to illustrate how the role of women in LFB has developed. These schemes would be available for 1,000 young people including an aspiration to involve 60 local young and disadvantaged women.

Over the first three years of the new Museum 150 new volunteers are expected to be recruited, with a focus on achieving a level of diversity that closely reflects the local community make up, via planned volunteer fairs and networking events and a targeted volunteer recruitment week.

In the development of the Museum and its activities the project development and delivery will undergo further equality analysis to ensure that at each stage the LFC is meeting its statutory obligations, and such analysis will inform the decisions taken.

Workforce

The Museum Project involves the creation of a 12-month fixed term Museum Assistant post during the Development Phase to support the existing team of two Museum Curators.

During the Delivery Phase a new team structure will be put in place. Year 1 structure for the new Museum involves a core management team of five full time staff (three new staff funded under this project for two years) and volunteers. The main activities each team member would be responsible for are set out in the Business Plan. An updated business plan and job descriptions will be developed during the Development Phase.

The museum will focus a range of activities for the Brigade’s current and retired staff, with opportunities for volunteering, collating oral histories and promoting intergenerational learning with retired firefighters sharing their knowledge, stories and experiences with current firefighters and visitors.

Timing

LFB applied to NLHF before planning permission on 8 Albert Embankment (8AE) was granted because the Museum is part of the Phase 1 of the overall 8AE development and so could be delivered as soon as 2022. The development phase of the project is crucial, and officers wanted to make sure there was enough time to complete this in a meaningful way by consulting with visitors and non-visitors to enable the local community to feed into the design process and to test and pilot activities.

The Museum collection has been in storage since 2016 and LFB want to minimise the further time the collection is not available to the public, particularly once the new Museum space is available. The early application and decision also enable the Museum to begin fundraising as soon as possible (see paragraph 4.30 – 4.33). For the same reasons of time constraints, advance delegated authority is required to ensure the delivery of this project within both the NLHF timescales and the potential timescales of the 8 Albert Embankment project. An important criterion of the funding is that the project does not start before NLHF have given permission, which, as well as not having secured the funding, is why this procurement could not have been started sooner.

Procurement of Museum Design Team and Project Manager

During the development phase of the project a number of procurement exercises will be carried out. The most significant is the Museum Design Team and Project Manager, which was started in November 2019. This contract covers the project management, exhibition design and fit out of the Museum, and their services will be required in the subsequent delivery phase to ensure continuity of service. A break clause is included to ensure that services can be discontinued if required, commencement is contingent upon the following:

• • a successful Delivery Phase funding application with the National Lottery Heritage Fund;
  • the Commissioner’s satisfaction with the Supplier’s performance during the Development Phase; and
  • the Commissioner’s satisfaction with the Supplier’s proposed approach for the Delivery Phase.

The works have been tendered in accordance with the London Fire Commissioner’s (LFC) Standing Orders relating to Procurement.

The preferred supplier was selected on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender. With the overall budget for the project already being determined the financial evaluation formed only a minor part of the selection process. Suppliers were instead asked how they were to deliver the individual elements of the requirements within the specific budget (set out in Tables 1 and 2 below).

Due to the value of the Museum Design Team and Project Manager contract (at £2,755,420) exceeding the OJEU threshold, an open OJEU procurement was carried out to ensure a competitive process, which is compliant with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

Where possible, the LFC aims to utilise a GLA collaborative procurement approach or procure through existing national frameworks. It should be noted this approach was considered and was deemed not suitable for this project due to the unique nature of the requirements.

A competitive open OJEU procurement was conducted via the Bluelight tender portal and bids were sought from all relevant and capable suppliers. Procurement officers conducted checks of the mandatory information required to ensure that bids were compliant prior to the start of the evaluation.

As part of the LFC’s Standing Orders relating to Procurement, the LFC’s Director of Corporate Services has authority to approve procurement initiation, accept a tender, award and enter into a contract in accordance with existing standing orders. And, procurement authority also extends to any action required under any existing contracts (e.g. deductions for unsatisfactory performance or giving notice and termination of contracts), except where actions relating to contract performance are in accordance with a formula or process included in the contract.

Eight tenders were submitted via the Bluelight tender portal and they were evaluated on quality and comprehensiveness against the following technical criteria: proposals, experience, project manager, exhibition designer, quantity surveyor, mechanical and electrical service engineer, meeting timescales and social value. The financial evaluation involved a comparison of the tender price breakdown against LFC’s previously estimated breakdown (at Tables 1 and 2 below) and seeking further information where necessary. There were variations in those, however clarifications were sought and they accurately reflected the tender proposal. The tender with the highest overall mark has been recommended for acceptance.

Cragg Management Services Ltd, the supplier who submitted the most economically advantageous tender is considered by the LFC’s Assistant Director, Communications to have the requisite skills and experience to successfully undertake this project.

A decision to award the Museum Design Team and Project Manager needs to be made as soon as possible in March 2020 to meet the schedule committed to for the project with the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF). This Decision is to enable that contract award. The following table provides a cost breakdown of the required services within the Museum Design Team and Project Manager contract in both the Development and Delivery Phases.

The total cost of the elements within the contract is £2,755,420. The budget also includes a contingency at 10 per cent of total costs. This contingency is not included in the contract, which has specified levels of cost, but provides the ability to deliver optional elements through the contract as the project progresses through the design process. The contingency is part of the project budget the NLHF grant award was based on. A contingency of 10 per cent applied to the contract equates to £275,580. Therefore, this Decision seeks approval for expenditure of up to £3,031,000 for the services provided by the contract for the Museum Design Team and Project Management.

In order to deliver commitments for the development phase and ensure the project has access to the specific specialist skills and experience needed, this Decision seeks approval to award a single contract for the Museum Design Team and Project Manager for the development and delivery phase of the project.

There are other costs associated with the design and the delivery of the project, as set out in Appendix 5 to Report LFC-0265. Together, these other costs, as well as the Museum Design Team and Project Manager contract and contingency equate to the budget of £4,450,000 for the project. However, there are no other contracts within the Museum Project budget, in the development or delivery phases, which have an estimated cost at or above £150,000.

The tender documentation did, and subsequent contract, will emphasise the fact that although the award of the contract will cover both the development and delivery phases, the delivery phase is not guaranteed and is dependent on a successful funding application and permission to start, achieving planning approval, and LFB’s satisfaction with the supplier’s proposal for the delivery phase and performance during the development phase. There are break clauses at RIBA Stage 3 (NLHF Round 2 submission) to ensure that LFB can discontinue the services if required.

Although the delivery phase is not guaranteed, the tasks and commitments required are currently defined enough that tenderers were able to address those requirements in their tender response and LFB evaluated both phases of the project to determine the successful tenderer.

A detailed evaluation plan addressing proposal, experience, project management plans and ability to meet timescales will be incorporated.

Sustainability

LFB’s approach to sustainable development has evolved over the past decade with the introduction of an Environment Policy in 2004. LFB now has a Sustainable Development Strategy 2016-2020 which sets out 45 actions across 10 objective areas to progress its sustainable development approach.

For the development project, a Sustainability Statement underpins the Planning Application. The project has been designed to be highly sustainable and maximise the potential carbon savings that can be achieved in accordance with the aims of the NPPF, The London Plan, the Mayor’s Sustainable Design and Construction SPG and Lambeth's Local Plan. All refurbished areas are targeting a minimum BREEAM (2014) rating of Very Good and all new construction areas are targeting a minimum BREEAM (2014) rating of Excellent. In addition to preservation and maintenance, the proposed works seek to actively but sensitively enhance the thermal performance of the existing building fabric by targeting reasonable improvements and optimum energy performance.

All spaces will include 100 per cent low energy lighting. Photoelectric sensors will be applied where applicable to non-residential building perimeter areas to reduce the lighting demand when zones are day lit. Daylighting control will be applied in all open plan office spaces.

Overall project funding

The project has a total delivery cost of £4,450,000 made up of a development phase of £360,000 (between October 2019 and June 2021) and a delivery phase of £4,090,000 (between October 2021 and 2025 with the Museum expected to open autumn 2023). The overall Museum Project budget is provided in Appendix 5 to report LFC-0265. The NLHF funding makes up 56 per cent of this budget, which the NLHF refer to as our grant percentage. The grant is based on Approved Project Costs which include non-cash contributions and/or volunteer time and so a separate Payment Percentage is also calculated which is the percentage of cash that NLHF will be contributing towards the Project (so the values ascribed to non-cash elements such as volunteer time are removed from the calculation). That Payment Percentage is 65 per cent.

NLHF pay the grant incrementally and in arrears once LFB are able to provide invoices or receipts that demonstrate the project expenditure, which is when the 65 per cent is applied. A payment schedule is agreed as part of the Permission to Start and payments will be made as the Project progresses, subject to LFB providing evidence of expenditure.

During the Development Phase NLHF will ask LFB to report quarterly on progress and on the preparation of the documents for the Delivery Phase Application. This will be via correspondence and through the quarterly meetings set up with the LFB’s NLHF case officer.

Fundraising

Jane Stancliffe (the Heritage Bureau), has been commissioned to lead on the fundraising campaign. She has a significant track record of raising multi-million pound lottery grants in recent years. Jane Stancliffe was appointed on 1 November 2018 and has worked with Museum team to develop fundraising strategy and specifically to advise on the successful NLHF grant bid.

For the Development Phase, in addition to the £106,000 from the Museum budget within the LFB capital programme, the London Fire Brigade Museum has the following secure partnership funding: £24,000 of architectural services from Pilbrow and Partners Architects (donated as design services to LFB by the scheme architects) and £30,000 volunteer-in-kind costs. This is in addition to the £200,000 NLHF grant award.

For the Delivery Phase the London Fire Brigade Museum funding includes £1,594,000 from the Museum budget within the LFB capital programme and £26,000 of architectural services from Pilbrow and Partners Architects which are secured. Still needing to be secured are the NLHF delivery grant of £1,700,000, £101,000 volunteer-in-kind costs and a further £670,000 from other fundraising, which needs to be secured during the 16-month NLHF Development Phase in order to be eligible for the Development Phase funding from NLHF. This target is challenging but it was arrived at following initial planning work which looked looking at specific sponsor opportunities for the Museum: based on our success in attracting eight official sponsors for our 150th Anniversary in 2016. LFB has have worked in the past with firefighting equipment suppliers, toy manufacturers and major insurance companies, with whom LFB shares an historical link. LFB would need to look for alternative funding sources if this target was not reached in this way. Preliminary estimates of the balance of funding required are as follows:

• • Grant Giving Trusts and Foundations: £300,000
  • Individuals £60,000
  • Companies/corporate; £200,000
  • Public appeal /community crowd-funding: £60,000
  • Sponsored Fundraising activities such as dinners and lectures: £50,000.

A draft fundraising plan is being developed and it will be delivered within the Brigade’s sponsorship policy. A campaign work stream of the Museum Project will be set up to support and ensure the delivery of the fundraising campaign.

NLHF grant funding requirements

A development grant of £200,000 was awarded to the Brigade by the NLHF London and South Committee in early September 2019 for the application entitled London Fire Brigade Museum Safely Home. The award covers an 18-month Development Phase and is also an NLHF First Round Pass for the total grant of £1,900,000 which would cover a subsequent three-year Delivery Phase, subject to a successful Second Round application for the Delivery Phase, for decision in June 2021 (submission March 2021).

All NLHF grants over £250,000 are made up of the two phases. The first is a development phase, which is for the period when applicants refine and further develop the project. The second is delivery phase grant award, which is when development plans are put into action to deliver the project. LFB Museum has been successful in securing a development phase grant of £200,000. This development grant will allow the Brigade to develop the designs for the new Museum, conduct audience research, and fine tune the details of the project. This work will help to progress the next stage of the application for a further £1,700,000 towards the cost of fitting out the new Museum and setting up an ambitious and inclusive activity programme. A development phase grant award does not guarantee a successful delivery phase grant application, but it is an indication that NLHF believe that the project has potential to deliver high-quality outcomes and value for Lottery players’ money.

NLHF will carry out checks throughout the project to confirm the Brigade is delivering the outcomes identified in the LFB Museum NLHF Grant application form and the Approved Purpose set out in the NLHF Grant Notification Letter which is the production of all delivery round application requirements. The deadline provided by NLHF for them to receive our Delivery Phase Application is 9 September 2021.

The following work is required to be carried out over the development period (October 2019 – March 2021):

• • Design development to RIBA Stage 3
  • Draw up Conservation Plan (Collections) and Management & Maintenance Plan
  • Draw up Activity Plan – including consultation, on-going engagement with new audiences and existing groups, holding consultation events to develop further an understanding of local need and opportunities
  • Staff training in volunteer management
  • Volunteer recruitment
  • Volunteer and staff training – research skills for interpretation, audience development, conservation plan (collections), outreach work
  • Consultation and research projects: Accessibility Planning project; Older People; Families; Youth Board
  • Fundraising.

A key condition of receiving a NLHF grant is that the project does not start before they make a decision to provide funding and permission to start has been given. The LFB needed to apply for permission to start within six months of receiving confirmation of the grant funding (which was 9 September 2019) and LFB applied and received permission to start on 22 October 2019.

8 Albert Embankment Museum lease back

The Museum will occupy 8 Albert Embankment through the grant of a 999-year lease from U+I to the London Fire Commissioner triggered by the sale of the freehold to them. This will carry a peppercorn rent. The leaseback at zero cost to the LFB was an integral part of the procurement process and tender bids and was previously consented to by LFEPA in FEP2586 on 17 March 2017 when U+I were appointed.

Major risks

The London Borough of Lambeth’s Planning Committee granted planning approval at a meeting on 3 December 2019. On 6 December 2019, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) issued a 'holding direction' to Lambeth Council in respect of their 'resolution to grant' the 8AE planning permission. The practical effect of the holding direction is that it prevents Lambeth from formally granting consent for the scheme, even following a favourable GLA Stage 2 referral decision. The purpose of the direction is to allow the Secretary of State (SoS) time to decide whether the application should be determined by him, rather than Lambeth. That decision is at the discretion of the SoS and there are no fixed timescales for it to be made. Representations are being made by LFB and U+I and for the holding direction to be lifted.

This procurement needs to proceed within the current timescales even while the holding direction remains. Without the contract in place it will not be possible to progress with major elements of the development phase of the project which have been agreed with NLHF and there is still a risk that this work is not completed within the timescales of the 8AE project and for the Museum fit out to begin once the Museum space is delivered. Notwithstanding this, the contract will include a break clause at RIBA Stage 3 (NLHF Round 2 submission) as progress to the delivery phase is dependent on a successful NLHF funding application and permission to start and uncontested planning approval which means that if uncontested planning is not achieved, this contract would not progress beyond the development phase. The contract allows for a hold in progressing to the delivery phase at this point if there is a delay. There will be no additional costs if the break clause is utilised. This development phase work would still be needed and have value as there would still be a Museum collection in need of a home.

Planning is a risk which NLHF were informed of as part of the application process. The grant gets awarded in arrears on receipt of invoices for LFC expenditure throughout the next two years’ Development Phase. Only the last 10% is withheld until this phase has ended. As NLHF are fully informed that progress is dependent on this uncontested planning consent, and as LFB endeavour to continue to keep them fully abreast of this situation, the grant is not repayable if LFB do not obtain planning.

LFC-0265 to the London Fire Commissioner recommends that delegated authority is agreed to deliver the LFB Museum Project at a total estimated cost of £4,450,000, including a proposed contract award for the Museum Design Team and Project Management of £2,755,420 with a 10 per cent contingency of a further £275,580, together totalling £3,031,000. The remaining project expenditure of £1,419,000 will cover internal resourcing on the project.

The project will be funded through three separate sources including £1,900,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, £1,700,000 from the LFB capital programme and the remaining £900,000 from other fundraising and non-cash contributions of volunteer time and donated services. In order for the project to be completed these funding sources will need to be secured. The capital strategy currently sets out a budget for this of £2,400,000 over the period from 2019–20 to 2022–23. The spend proposals set out in this report are now being considered to assess the total revenue/capital expenditure split, once that has been confirmed the Capital Programme and Budget for future years will be updated accordingly. No additional funding is sought from the Greater London Authority.

Under section 9 of the Policing and Crime Act 2017, the London Fire Commissioner (the "Commissioner") is established as a corporation sole with the Mayor appointing the occupant of that office. Under section 327D of the GLA Act 1999, as amended by the Policing and Crime Act 2017, the Mayor may issue to the Commissioner specific or general directions as to the manner in which the holder of that office is to exercise his or her functions.

By direction dated 1 April 2018, the Mayor set out those matters, for which the Commissioner would require the prior approval of either the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience (the "Deputy Mayor").

Paragraph (b) of Part 2 of the said direction requires the Commissioner to seek the prior approval of the Deputy Mayor before “[a] commitment to expenditure (capital or revenue) of £150,000 or above as identified in accordance with normal accounting practices…”.

The statutory basis for the actions proposed in this report is provided by sections 7 and 5A of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 (“FRSA 2004”). Section 7 (2)(a) FRSA 20014 the Commissioner has the power to secure the provision of personnel, services and equipment necessary to efficiently meet all normal requirements for firefighting and section 5A allows the Commissioner to procure personnel, services and equipment they consider appropriate for purposes incidental or indirectly incidental to their functional purposes.

General Counsel also notes that the proposed service has been procured in compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the Commissioner’s Scheme of Governance.