Purpose

Additional special school places are required
in Sandwell for children with an Education, Health and Care Plan.
The Meadows School agreed to provide a satellite centre for Post 16
at Connor Education Centre. As part of the reconfiguration the West
Bromwich North Family Hub, the existing male toilets and kitchen
facilities have been incorporated into the school’s
accommodation, on the basis that the West Bromwich North Family Hub
would remain closed.

West Bromwich North Family Hub will however re-open to the public,
and to enable re-opening the remaining toilet needs to be
reconfigured to provide male, female and assisted toilets. The
remaining kitchen needs to be refitted to provide suitable amenity
space for staff.

At The Meadows School new Post 16 Hub, during the recent
refurbishment works a series of contract variations have resulted
in additional costs being incurred.

The Department for Education (DfE) has allocated additional capital
funding to Local Authority’s to support the introduction of
new special school places, High Needs Provision Capital Allocation
(HNPCA). The proposed works will be funded from the Council’s
HNPCA allocation as they are required to complete reconfiguration
of the accommodation to provide additional school places.

Connor Education Centre (a former Primary School) has been held in
the Children and Education portfolio for a significant number of
years. Since closing as a school, the building had been occupied by
a private nursery, WBNFH and office space for the SEN and Inclusive
Learning Teams, Inclusive Learning Services.

Part of the building was reconfigured in 2022 as a temporary
solution for Elm Tree Primary Academy to ensure the new school
could open on time as the DfE were unable to deliver the new build
until September 2023. In September 2023, following vacation by the
Academy, this area was made available to Albright Education Centre
to provide additional Alternative Provision places.

Individual Cabinet member decision “The Meadows School -
satellite centre for Post 16 Connor Centre refurbishment”
dated 16 June 2025 authorised the reconfiguration of the remaining
Inclusive Learning Services spaces for The Meadows School to
provide additional Special School places at Post 16.

Barnardo's, the council’s appointed provider for West
Bromwich North Family Hub, no longer require office space at the
site, but will continue to provide community outreach and support
services from Connor Road. The office space will be used as
drop-down space for council staff, and Barnardo’s staff when
on site delivering community outreach and support.

To achieve the most appropriate accommodation for The Meadows
School, part of the West Bromwich North Family Hub accommodation
has been included in the school’s accommodation.

The West Bromwich North Family Hub has been temporarily closed and
services provided from other family hubs in the area during the
building works for The Meadows School.

West Bromwich North Family Hub has one remaining toilet. For
Barnardo’s to reopen and provide community services the
remaining toilet needs to be reconfigured to provide male, female
and assisted toilets.

The remaining kitchen needs to be refitted to provide suitable
amenity space for West Bromwich North Family Hub and council
staff.

Speller Metcalf is the appointed contractor for the works at Connor
Education Centre. The contract will be extended to include the
works at West Bromwich North Family Hub. The contract was awarded
following a procurement exercise conducted through the Constructing
West Midlands (CWM) framework. It is recommended that extension to
the existing contract to include these minor works is more cost
effective and timely to the council than undertaking a separate
procurement exercise to complete the project.

During the reconfiguration of The Connor Centre for the purposes of
The Meadows School, six variations to the contract were
required.

Content

That approval be given to:

(1) proceed with a programme of works to convert and refurbish the
existing toilet and kitchen facilities at West Bromwich North
Family Hub (WBNFH), Connor Road, West Bromwich B71 3DJ;

(2) allocate a total of £74,800.00 (inclusive of 10%
contingency for capital works) from the High Needs Provision
Capital Allocation (HNPCA) funding to enable the project to
proceed;

(3) allocate £31,366.00 from the HNPCA reserves to meet the
cost of additional works associated to the completion of The
Meadows School Post 16 Hub at Connor Road, West Bromwich B71 3DJ;
and

(4) in connection with (1), (2) and (3) above, authorise the
Monitoring Officer, Service Director Governance to extend the terms
and conditions of the contract with Speller Metcalf to provide for
completion of the works.

Alternative options considered

Do nothing: If the toilets and kitchen are not
refurbished Barnardo’s will not be able to re-open and
community services will be lost.

Use of neighbouring providers facilities: Due to safeguarding the
use of neighbouring facilities is not possible for members of the
public and neither is it appropriate to require users to leave one
facility to enter another.