PCD 1772 North-East Basic Command Unit (BCU) Estate - Forest Gate Police Station Annex, Chingford Police Station and Uplands Patrol Base

Executive Summary:  

This paper seeks approval for a series of actions to address and improve the estate in the North-East Basic Command Unit which covers the London boroughs of Waltham Forest and Newham. The proposals include the acquisition of a plot of land adjacent to Forest Gate Police Station and its development into an annex with parking, works at Chingford Police Station, a new Neighbourhood Base in Walthamstow, and the disposal of Stratford Police Station. The proposed costs are funded from within existing budgets.  

Recommendation:  

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. Approve the purchase of the adjoining land to Forest Gate PS for development, at a total cost of up to £ 3.700m (an agreed price of £3.500m for land purchase costs and £0.200 for stamp duty). 

2. Approve the appointment of a design and build contractor to construct the new operational building for the NE BCU on the acquired land, at a total project cost of up to £19.530m (including £2.210m of OB and the costs identified at (3) and (4) below). 

3. Note the approval under the Scheme of Delegation to the Director of Commercial Services for the procurement and award of professional services, including Project Management, Cost Management and Specialist Technical Support Services at a cost of up to £500k (included within (3) above). These appointments will use the existing approved MOPAC framework for the provision of professional services.  

4. Note the approval under the Scheme of Delegation to the Director of Commercial Services for the procurement and award of a design & build pre-construction services agreement (PCSA) of up to £500k (included within (3) above) for enabling works to facilitate the development of all required designs. This appointment is recommended to be awarded to the appointed Design & Build Contractor for the Forest Gate reinstatement works. This further award to the same contractor would be subject to a compliant Direct Award appointment via the MOPAC approved Southern Construction Framework, and subsequent to negotiation of competitive costs for the proposed new scheme based on the competitively tendered Forest Gate reinstatement works.  

5. Approve the sale of Stratford Police Station (noting that Stratford is a potential disposal in the current draft estates strategy, provided its functions can be incorporated into an alternative improved building), and approve that the proceeds of the sale are to be used to support the above investment at Forest Gate.    

6. Approve work to progress the identification and leasing of a new NPT base in Waltham Forest (to replace that currently operating from Uplands Patrol Base) and the granting of delegated authority to the Director of Commercial Services to award a construction works contract to the appointed contractor upon receipt of a lump sum price, subject to a maximum total project cost of £0.830m, funded from the DWO budget within the approved Capital Plan. This appointment will use an approved MOPAC framework for construction works. 

7. Approve the allocation of a budget of £0.075m/year of revenue to operate the Waltham Forest NPT bases, funded from the revenue savings realised by the closure of the Uplands Patrol Base.   

8. Note the approval under the Scheme of Delegation to the Director of Commercial Services for the procurement and award of professional services, including Project Management, Cost Management and Specialist Technical Support Services at a cost of up to £0.100m (included in the costs at (6) above). These appointments will use the existing approved MOPAC framework for the provision of professional services. 

9. Approve the granting of delegated authority to the Director of Commercial Services to award a (design & build) pre-construction services agreement (PCSA) of up to £0.300m for design and enabling works to facilitate the development of all required designs. This appointment will use an approved compliant framework for construction works. 

10. Note the approval under the Scheme of Delegation to the Director of Commercial Services for the procurement and award of professional services, including Project Management, Cost Management and Specialist Technical Support Services at a cost of up to £0.300m. These appointments will use the existing approved MOPAC framework for the provision of professional services.  

11. Approve the granting of delegated authority to the Director of Commercial Services to award the construction works contract to appoint a Design & Build contractor upon receipt of a lump sum price, subject to a maximum total project cost of £6.800m including the costs identified at (9) and (10) above and allocated from the BCU funding within the Capital Plan. This appointment will use an approved MOPAC framework for construction works. 

PART I - NON-CONFIDENTIAL FACTS AND ADVICE TO THE DMPC 

1. Introduction and background  

1. The North-East BCU estate has been a issue for some time, in part due to the geography of the BCU, and driven mainly by the impending loss of the leased Uplands patrol base.  The Uplands patrol base is located in Waltham Forest and provides part of the Emergency Response Policing Team (ERPT) function for the NE BCU (with the other part from Forest Gate). It also provides a Neighbourhood policing base.   

2. The MPS has sought for some time to resolve these issues and this paper proposes a series of actions to provide a workable long-term solution.  

2. Issues for consideration 

1. The owner of the Uplands Business Park had submitted planning proposals for the re-development of the park for mixed residential/employment use which did not allow for the future occupation as a ERPT.  The lease was due to expire in October 2025 and following the failure to identify alternative sites in December 2023 the lease was extended to December 2027 – see PCD1554.  

2. The proposal to re-configure the NE BCU estate comprises the following: 

• Acquisition and redevelopment of a plot of land adjacent to the existing Forest Gate Police Station (NB Forest Gate PS itself is currently under-going a complete refurbishment following the fire there in March 2024. These works are due to complete December 2025.)  

• Identification, leasing and fit-out works of a new Neighbourhood policing base in Waltham Forest. 

• Refurbishment works at Chingford Police Station which will include a ERPT function from that site.  

• In order to generate capital funds to meet the shortfall for the above works, the disposal of Stratford Police Station,  

3. The proposed works for both Forest Gate PS Annex and Chingford PS include a decarbonised heating solution, part funded from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) Stage 3B grant, making them both net zero carbon.   

3. Financial Comments  

1. The cost of acquiring the adjacent plot at Forest Gate Police Station is £3,700,000, with the costs to develop an annex an additional £15,830,000 – total £19,530,000.  The refurbishment works at Chingford Police Station are estimated at £6,800,000.  To fit-out the planned new neighbourhood base in Walthamstow the MPS has estimated a cost of £830,000. In total the proposed capital costs are £27,160,000.  

2. These capital costs will be funded from the existing approved North East BCU capital programme, allocations from the Dedicated Ward Officer project budget and the BCU Programme, and the proposed disposal of Stratford Police Station.  

3. The MPS estimate that the revenue savings from the expiry of the Uplands lease will cover the revenue costs of the Forest Gate annex and the Walthamstow neighbourhood base. 

4. Legal Comments 

1. The MPS Directorate of Legal Services assures that the proposed recommendations can be lawfully approved. 

2. The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (“MOPAC”) is a contracting authority as defined in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (“the Regulations”).  All awards of public contracts for goods and/or services valued at £214,904 or above shall be procured in accordance with the Regulations. All awards of Public contracts for works valued at £5,372,609 or above shall be procured in accordance with the Regulations. This Report confirms the requested services and works shall be procured compliantly. 

3. The MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (“DMPC”) has delegated authority to approve:  

• Business cases for revenue or capital expenditure of £500,000 and above (paragraph 4.8); 

• All requests to go out to tender for contracts of £500,000 or above, or where there is a particular public interest (paragraph 4.13). Paragraph 7.23 of the Scheme provides that the Director of Strategic Procurement has consent for the approval of the award of all contracts, with the exception of those called in through the agreed call in procedure.  Paragraph 4.14 of the Scheme provides the DMPC reserves the right to call in any MPS proposal to award a contract for £500,000 or above 

• the acquisition of freehold land (4.16) and  

• approving the disposal of Stratford PS (4.17) 

5. Commercial Issues  

1. The actions requiring commercial activity at Forest Gate Police Station Annex, Chingford Police Station and the proposed Walthamstow neighbourhood base include design and build construction works, building works, and construction professional services.   

2. The MPS assure that these requirements will be acquired through existing MOPAC-approved frameworks – the Southern Construction Framework (Design and Build construction services and works); MPS Building Works Framework 2022- 2026 (construction works up to £10m); and MPS Professional Services Framework 2022- 2026 (design services for all project values). 

3. In respect of the Forest Gate Police Station Annex development the MPS propose a direct award process which provides the benefits of continuity from another site (in terms of the onsite presence and design capability of the appointed Forest Gate reinstatement contractor appointed via the SCF via mini-competition), accessing exclusive service / rights (a CTC/SC vetted supply chain), and urgency (whilst there is a high threshold to justify this the MPS consider this legitimate in view of the stated operational need to secure new accommodation in the Forest Gate/NE BCU). 

4. As part of their appointment onto the MPS frameworks, the delivery partners have committed to take specific actions to address the London Anchor Institutions’ Charter.  The contracts encourage the use of London supply chain specific initiatives including apprenticeship levies; adherence to modern slavery and London Living Wage obligations; and social value impact opportunities. 

6. GDPR and Data Privacy  

1. MOPAC will adhere to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and ensure that any organisations who are commissioned to do work with or on behalf of MOPAC are fully compliant with the policy and understand their GDPR responsibilities.   

2. The MPS assure that the project does not use personally identifiable data of members of the public, so there are no GDPR issues to be considered.  

3. Under the requirements of the Surveillance Commissioners Code for CCTV, Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) will be required for any adaptations/amendments undertaken on the CCTV system. These assessments are well understood and are part of the contractual delivery of any CCTV works. Currently it is not envisaged there will be any wider issues and this area will be kept under review. 

7. Equality Comments  

1. MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. 

2. The MPS assure that a site specific Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) will be undertaken as part of the Detailed Design process. All buildings included in the Estate Transformation Implementation Plan will be Equalities Act Compliant. 

8. Background/supporting papers 

• Appendix 1 MPS Report - Forest Gate-Uplands Replacement Update paper