The Southside Feasibility Study has now been completed and the BCP Board have delivered their decision on the outcome of the Study. It is with regret that the Board have taken a decision not to invest any further funding or time in this project. Please find a summary of the decision outlined below along with the supporting documents of both stages of the study and the next steps for BCP.

Decision

Bath Communities Partnership (BCP), on the basis of the information which has been presented by the commissioned consultants, Quattro Design Architects, the Council, together with other information sourced, has with regret, reached the unanimous decision, not to invest funding into the Southside Project for the development of a multi use community centre.

 Key Reasons

• Original costs for a capital refurbishment of the building had been estimated at £1.2m.  Option 1 of the consultant’s designs was a capital refurbishment however the projected costs had doubled to £2.4m; the Board rejected this option as not feasible to warrant investment.
• Option 2 presented as a complete demolish and rebuild, was the only economically  feasible option for BCP to consider,  the costings for this option were high projected at £2.8m.
• The estimated time schedule for Option 2 demolish and rebuild, was projected at 38 months minimum.  BCP have only received from the South West Regional Development Agency (SW RDA), an ‘in principle’ extension to the existing funded Scheme of one year to complete in March 2008. As a consequence the timescales and costs associated with the project are not compatible.
• The only available funding for investment in the project is circa £500k together with £100k private sector investment = £600k.  The consultants had prepared a gap funding profile; the Board had great doubts as to whether the levels of gap funding were achievable within the remaining time left available for delivery.  Statutory funding commitments are not currently forthcoming.
• The SW RDA would wish to see a level of 50% of the funding secured - £1.4m – before the end of March 2007 to sanction delegation to the Board for investing the remaining circa £500k.  The Board are unable to guarantee that this funding would be pledged from alternative sources.
• Funding from alternative sources i.e. Lottery funding would be applied for by the Development Trust established to take the project forward.  The four month period remaining until the end of March 2007 would not provide a timeframe to create the trust and complete funding applications in support of the project.
• The solutions for increasing car parking capacity at or near the site for extended usage of the building had not been resolved at the end of the study and remains a high risk to the success of the project.  (Please refer to attached Risk Assessment for detailed information).

Next Steps

• The outcome and access to the Southside Feasibility Study will be reported back to the Council’s Executive Committee, for their consideration in line with the options paper prepared for the Southside Youth and Community Centre, which was received by the Council’s Executive Committee in December 2005.
• Southside Feasibility Study Summary documents are available on the BCP Website by visiting www.bcpartnership.org.uk
• A hard copy of the Southside Feasibility Study report will be available for reference/reading by appointment please contact the BCP Management Team on 01225 477669.
• As a consequence of the outcome of the Southside Feasibility Study, the BCP Large Grants Funding Programme will re-open on 23^rd November 2006.  Please refer to the attached documentation detailing the criteria of the Fund or contact the BCP Management Team on 01225 477669.

For any other enquiries or information please do not hesitate to contact Susan Bowen, Manager of BCP on 01225 477278 or email bcp@bathnes.gov.uk

• Southside Report as at 5 October 2006 (PDF 57KB)

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