Purpose

To replace eight poor-condition temporary classrooms at Faringdon Community College with permanent accommodation. The scheme comprises two new teaching blocks, delivered in phases under a single contract, allowing some temporary buildings to remain in use while construction progresses.

Decision

Approval to increase the capital budget by £1.262m, from £6.100m to £7.362m; note that the project will be fully funded from S106 contributions, with £6.061m received and £1.301m secured; approve forward funding of up to £1.301m to enable delivery of both new-build phases under a single contract; and approve release of the remaining £6.942m to enable Cambrian Learning Trust to enter into the construction contract.

Reasons for the decision

The Full Business Case identifies a £1.262m increase from the Outline Business Case budget, arising from additional preliminaries, mechanical and electrical costs, external works including Biodiversity Net Gain requirements, contract overheads and profit, and additional client contingency. Additional S106 funding is available for the project. Forward funding the £1.301m secured contribution enables both phases to be delivered under one contract; without this, only Phase 1 could be delivered initially and the later Phase 2 could increase in cost and potentially become unaffordable.

Alternative options considered

The Full Business Case retains the new-build proposals from the Outline Business Case. It explains that constructing both teaching blocks at once from a single site compound would be very difficult, so the proposed option is to phase the two builds under one contract so that they can overlap. Not approving the £1.301m forward funding is identified as an alternative outcome, but this would restrict Cambrian Learning Trust to Phase 1 until further S106 funding is received and could increase the eventual cost of Phase 2.