Purpose

Cabinet is recommended to approve the main capital works budgets for the conversion of four vacant council assets for temporary accomodation (Rowan House, 130 Trumpington Road, Cedar Wood House and 90 Crownfield Road)

Decision

Cabinet:

(1)             noted the progress made in developing the four temporary accommodation conversion schemes;

(2)             approved a revised gross capital budget of up to £18,084,330 for the four schemes, noting that the net Council funding requirement after secured grant is £17,597,879 and is expected to be met from General Fund borrowing;

(3)             noted that the revised gross capital budget is £2,723,330, or 17.7%, above the total budget of £15,361,000 approved to date. This comprises £584,000 previously approved by CSAMG and £14,777,000 approved by Cabinet in February 2026. The earlier approvals were based on early-stage estimates and limited site information;

(4)             noted that the full financial case is built on temporary accommodation homes replacing higher-cost external temporary accommodation and the associated General Fund expenditure reducing by c. £800k p.a.;

(5)             approved the proposed two-package, single-stage Design and Build procurement strategy and delegate contract award to the Strategic Director of Place, in consultation with the Strategic Director of Resources and the Director of Governance & Law, subject to tender returns remaining within the approved scheme budgets, the financial appraisal being refreshed, and the resulting General Fund revenue requirement and grant compliance being confirmed before award.

§  Package 1: Rowan House and 130 Trumpington Road

§  Package 2: Cedar Wood House and 90 Crownfield Road

Options & Alternatives Considered

Do nothing - the council could consider not progressing with these redevelopment opportunities.

a)    much-needed higher quality temporary homes within the borough not being delivered

b)    the council paying for more costly forms of temporary accommodation, often in the private rented sector and outside of the borough.

c)    the four council buildings remaining vacant and continuing to cost the council to maintain and manage them.

Alternative delivery method - the council could dispose of the four sites on the open market or look to deliver them with a development partner. However, for both options, it would be unlikely any temporary accommodation would be delivered on the sites. These routes would not align with the council’s Asset Transformation Strategy, which aims to maximise use of the council’s existing estate to deliver positive outcomes for Waltham Forest residents. The development partner option would need to return a profit of between 18% and 20% on Gross Development Value (GDV). This approach would not be viable as there is no profit within the scheme appraisals.