Hereford Town Hall Scaffolding

[ragwert]

It's coming up to 18 months since scaffolding appeared at the front of town hall, surely on such a significant building in Hereford this should have been sorted by now.

This and the scaffolding in high town my walk into town was pretty depressing & made worse by Talk Talk canvassers preying on every single person in their sight including me.

[Slim]

Ragwert, string the canvassers up from the scaffolding. Makes it more pleasing to the eye and gets rid of a nuisance. 

[ragwert]

Painters there yesterday 

[twowheelsgood]

The concrete roof to the porch is alleged to be in danger of collapse as the metal reinforcing has rusted. The council gave themselves listed building consent on 2 November last year to repair it. Since then, nothing. Clearly not a priority. Presumably the cheap repaint is to appease the couples who are to be married there and whose wedding photos will be framed by scaffolding. It's an eyesore and building works will no doubt take a year or more. Sadly, no one in charge gives a damn about the 'old' City.

[Denise Lloyd]

It is clearly evident that "no one in charge gives a damn" looking at the Council Farm sell off I strongly suspect the full report was not published because it was fairly damning and if it was not FG were not doing the job they were paid to.  But there again that is very evident with some of the Council staff! 

[H.Wilson]

The whole building should be repaired and cleaned. 

[mbrown131]

Does anybody happen to know if any, or what progress is being made with the scaffolding at the town hall? 

It seems they had a burst of activity and then nothing again. I would love it if anybody could shed any light on the situation. 

I tried to call and find out before Christmas but couldn't get anywhere. 

 

Thank you 

[ragwert]

58 minutes ago, mbrown131 said:

Does anybody happen to know if any, or what progress is being made with the scaffolding at the town hall? 

It seems they had a burst of activity and then nothing again. I would love it if anybody could shed any light on the situation. 

I tried to call and find out before Christmas but couldn't get anywhere. 

 

Thank you 

Work is to repair & clean the stone work & work to the front porch which has dropped 50mm due to subsidence.
The quote for the work was £260,000 without a proper survey being done.Anyone want to bet the cost will go up?

 

[Tom Smith]

The Town Hall became the property of Herefordshire Council the unitary authority in about 1998 I don't recall much upkeep being done on the building since then so 20 years of neglect. The Town Hall is used by the City Council, HBid, Registrars, Coroner, Elections and Parking enforcement.

[Paul Jones]

The scaffolding is still up, so is any work actually being done here? 

[Tom Smith]

More work required as Herefordshire council have messed up

[Denise Lloyd]

Again. Put a property in the care of the HC and it never looks as good again.

Just how much is this scaffolding costing the tax payer?

 

[twowheelsgood]

Not as much as that propping up the rear of Jacobs Court in Commercial Road - we've been paying for that for years (10?) since the developer went bust (didn't stop him developing elsewhere in Hereford though) leaving behind an unsafe extension. I recall some while ago it was £11k a year?

[megilleland]

From the Council's 2019 contract register

Jacobs Court scaffolding

Reference Number: N/A

Contract Title: Jacobs Court scaffolding
    
Directorate: Economy and Place

Department: Building control
    
Brief Description of Contract: No entry

Supplier: Lyndon Scaffolding PLC

Supplier Status SME / VCS: N/A

Company and/or Charity Registration Number: 934513

Estimated Contract Value: £52,800

Estimated Annual Value: £4,800

VAT not recoverable: N/A    

Start Date: 22/05/2015    

End Date: 31/08/2020    

Review Date: 31/08/2019    

Option to Extend: Yes

Extension End Date: TBC    

Quotation or Tender: Quotation    

Nature of Contract: Services

Funding Source: Council funded    

Sector Type: Private    

Register Entry Comments: This is an on-going maintenance contract for a scaffold to support Jacobs Court that has been determined to be in a dangerous condition. The scaffold was initially erected to make the building safe, and requires monthly maintenance in line with the HSE guidelines.

[megilleland]

While we are in contracts some big numbers here:

Contract Title
Public Realm Service Contract

Brief Description of Contract
Highway management services, Highways maintenance and improvement works, traffic management, street lighting, street cleaning, public rights of way, land drainage and flood risk management, associated professional services, parks and open spaces, fleet management, public realm asset management, customer support services, public realm ICT solutions.

Supplier
Balfour Beatty Living Places

Company and/or Charity Registration Number
2067112

Estimated Contract Value
£400,000,000

Estimated Annual Value
£20,000,000

Start Date
01/09/2013

End Date
31/08/2023

Review Date
31/08/2020

Option to Extend
Yes

Extension End Date
31/08/2033

Quotation or Tender
Tender

Funding Source
Council funded

Register Entry Comments
The Public Realm Contract has a minimum term of 120 months (10 years) and a maximum term of 240 months (20 years) if all available extension options are taken. The value of the contract is estimated at between £200,000,000 and £1,000,000,000. The lower estimate is based on £20,000,000 per annum over the first 10 years of the contract period for the core services. On this basis the Contracting Authority’s spend over the maximum term of the contract is broadly but realistically estimated to be £400,000,000. An additional allowance of £100,000,000 has been included for the commissioning of any Non-Core services and any increase in spend for reasons which cannot be accurately predicted at this time. Plus a further allowance of £500,000,000 has been included to cover any usage by Contracting Authorities.

[twowheelsgood]

Truly mind boggling amounts of money. Yet, the more we pay, the less we seem to get. Never has the County, and the City in particular, looked so scruffy, dirty, run down, graffitied, pot holed and full of litter and weeds.

[megilleland]

07/03/2019 - Corporate Fleet Replacement Recommendations Approved (subject to call-in)

This proposal is to replace the council’s operational fleet of 34 vehicles with 30 new vehicles on an invest-to-save basis.

The existing fleet as a whole is reaching a significant age and vehicles are failing and beyond repair. This has adversely affected service delivery where vehicles are unreliable and have broken down. This is increasing pressure on maintenance budgets and has resulted in the need to use short-term leases to cover vehicle downtime and to ensure service delivery.

This proposal will address these risks in addition to reducing future running costs.

This invest to save proposal seeks to utilise the annual revenue savings generated by this proposal to fund the capital repayments.

Decision Maker: Cabinet member finance and corporate services

Decision published: 07/03/2019

Effective from: 14/03/2019

Decision:

That:

Subject to approval in the 2019/20 capital programme that the procurement and use of up to 30 new vehicles at a cost of no more than £737,582 be approved.

Wards affected: (All Wards);

Lead officer: Richard Vaughan

 

£24,586 per vehicle. Will they be replacing vehicles as they break down which must be cheaper or blow the whole budget in one go?

[Hereford Voice]

Please keep on topic guys, this topic refers to the scaffolding at the Town Hall. 

It is still up, we took this photograph only yesterday.

[Tom Smith]

To avoid confusion this building has been owned by Herefordshire Council the Unitary authority since 1998. Hereford City Council the Parish Council rents some office space in the building. The scaffolding will be there a while longer as the steels that cantilever the canopy are in a very poor state and need to be replaced, also Herefordshire need more capital funding for this. The sad fact is the building, Grade 2 listed has been poorly maintained by Herefordshire Council and due to lack of maintenance ie repair or replacement of the canopy roof water has caused the failure of the steels.

[Denise Lloyd]

Yet another  building occupied by our Council in danger  of becoming beyond economic repair

 

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/17501979.part-of-shirehalls-ceiling-collapses/

 

Please can we have a Council who actually cares about the county

 

 

[Tom Smith]

The local planning authority should be prosecuting the owners of these grade two listed buildings for failure to maintain them...............oh!!

[Hereford Voice]

Keep to the original topic please guys or it will be difficult to locate these topics in the future. This topic is about the Scaffolding at the Town Hall.