Minutes:
The Committee considered a six monthly update report on the governance arrangements at The Hive.
The report indicated that concern had been raised at previous Committee meetings around the complexity and cost of the governance structure and the number of meetings that took place, whilst recognising that The Hive represented a complex partnership. Over the previous months, there had been a continued reduction in meetings and each governing committee had been reviewed in terms of The Hive's operational requirements. The Strategic Services Board and Project Liaison Group held quarterly meetings now that the defects were almost closed. The other committees met monthly or bi-monthly dependent on business need. The overall structure had not changed since the last report.
The Hive had improved business use and its facilities with commercial bookings increasing steadily. The University of Worcester had improved their offer to students at the Hive through more student support and offering quiet study in the Hive's meeting rooms.
The defects programme had now been almost fully signed-off apart from outstanding issues remaining with the function of the Building Management System with regard to river water cooling and ventilation. Meetings had been held with the contractors and plans were now in place to repair and reinstate the water cooling system by the end of September 2014. The BMS would not be fully signed-off until there was complete satisfaction from the relevant parties. There was no time-scale for the sign off final completion. Any risk on not completing defects or having to look at replacement or re-design of equipment rested entirely with the contractor and not the County Council.
In the ensuing debate, the following principal points were raised:
· The Head of Culture and Community advised that The Hive had received Archive accreditation from the National Archives Council. On the back of this, the service had been invited to the House of Commons to celebrate the fact that the archive was one of the first in the country to be accredited under the new scheme
· Concern was expressed that, despite The Hive being open for 2 years, there remained outstanding issues associated with the Building Management System with regard to the river water cooling and ventilation system. Who had responsibility for resolving the defects with the system? The Head of Culture and Community advised that the responsibility rested with the contractors who had sub-contracted the maintenance of the BMS. One of the pumps was fully operational but the other pump was erratic. The Hive Strategic Services Board had raised the matter with the sub-contractor and the Head of Property Services had been added to the Board to provide advice on this matter. The County Council was not liable for any costs associated with the failure of the system. A temporary chiller had been installed but it was recognised that this was not a satisfactory long-term solution
· The Head of Culture and Community confirmed that liability for the BMS would remain with the contractor until the building was handed over to the partner organisations and it would only be handed over when all the defects with the system had been resolved
· Would it be better to terminate the contract with the existing contractor and seek an alternative contractor to complete the work? The Head of Culture and Community advised that it was considered to be too complicated to switch contractors at this stage and preferable to retain the existing contractors who had designed the system with the expectation that they had the intimate knowledge of the system to be able to resolve the issues
· The Council and the Economy, Environment and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Board's attention should be drawn to the issues associated with the delay in signing off the Building Management System as a result of the defects in the river water cooling and ventilation system at The Hive.
RESOLVED that:
a) The current governance of The Hive be noted;
b) The general progress made at The Hive in a number of areas covered in the report be noted;
c) The attention of Council and the Economy, Environment and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel be drawn to the issues associated with the delay in signing off the Building Management System as a result of the defects in the river water cooling and ventilation system at The Hive; and
d) Future reports be brought to Committee on an exception basis.