Decision Details

The proposal is to roll out a programme of works to refurbish and upgrade libraries to bring them up to a reasonable condition and extend the buildings life to facilitate the introduction of the new service model introduced by Early Intervention and Prevention known as Connected Communities.

The works will also address the buildings health and safety defects and ensure that the councils’ statutory responsibilities are met specifically replacing fire doors in library buildings.

• Capital in excess of £1m

Place, Prosperity, Sustainability Directorate

On 9 September 2025 Cabinet:-

(i)          Approved spend of up to £0.8717m in 2025/26 for Professional Fees including a pre-construction service agreement (PCSA) with the successful contractor, undertaking condition surveys additional to the 10 already completed and the replacement of fire doors;

(ii)         Approved the Outline Business Case (Appendix A) and the profiling of the capital budget as set out in 8.1 of the report;

(iii)        Approved the allocation of Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme Fund grant up to £2.000m to invest in energy efficiency solutions at libraries which meet the West Midlands Combined Authority’s (WMCA) grant funding criteria, enhancing the efficiency and long-term sustainability of these Council owned assets;

(iv)        Authorised the Executive Director of Place, Prosperity and Sustainability to instruct Acivico Limited to progress the proposal to Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Plan of Work Stage 6 to develop to contract award and thereafter administer the contract on site, not to exceed fees and associated costs of £0.464m;

(v)        Authorised the Executive Director of Place, Prosperity and Sustainability to instruct Acivico Limited to progress costed building condition surveys (to include building works, mechanical and electrical and drone surveys) on the remaining 17 libraries within the portfolio to inform the strategy and ensure only the most cost effective accommodation solutions are being progressed, not to exceed the sum of £0.0595m;

(vi)       Noted that the contract for replacement of fire doors has been awarded via direct award to specialist contractors CLC and Cubic. Acivico Ltd and they have been instructed to progress the replacement of fire doors in public libraries where these buildings are identified for retention, not to exceed the sum of £0.450m;

(vii)      Approved the delegation of the contract award and Full Business Case (FBC) including approval to spend for the upgrade/ refurbishment construction related works to the Executive Director of Place, Prosperity and Sustainability in consultation with the Executive Director of Adult Social Care and Health, Executive Director of Finance and S151 Officer, Director Commercial and Procurement, the Deputy Leader, the Cabinet Member for Economy & Skills and the Cabinet Member for Digital, Culture, Heritage & Tourism, not to exceed the sum of £4.7765m. Decisions on works will follow the prioritisation detailed in section 5 of the report;

(viii)    Approved the strategy and commencement of the procurement activities for the Programme of upgrade/refurbishment work to the buildings identified as capable of providing the most appropriate accommodation solutions to support the transformation programme of libraries and to undertake a further competition exercise using the Capital Works Constructing West Midlands 2 (CWM2) Framework Agreement (Lot 1);

(ix)       Authorised the Director of Law and Governance (Monitoring Officer) (or their delegate) to execute and complete all necessary documentation to give effect to the above recommendations; and

(x)        Noted that the approval for the procurement of a new library bus will follow the Constitution; as is under £0.200m will be approved by the Executive Director of Adult Social Care and Health.