Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

(a)  To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 2nd December 2020

(b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 2^nd December 2020 were agreed as a true record.

Further to minute 16/20 headed ‘International Investment, Trade and Overseas Markets’, the Board noted that the information they had requested relating to documents sent to businesses, would form part of the ‘Support to Businesses’ presentation to the Board at their meeting on 3rd March 2021.

Presentation of the Director of Property Services and Development

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a presentation of the Director of Property Services and Development that provided an update on the progress on the building of Two Friargate, part of the comprehensive regeneration of Friargate. The Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration was invited to attend the meeting for this item.

The presentation highlighted the following:

•  £51.2m WMCA grant was awarded in January 2021 to help fund the next phase of office buildings

•  The Friargate Joint Venture (JV) was formally established in Feb 2019 – the JV was the landowner of the Friargate sites

•  The City Council approved £17m funding for the Two Friargate scheme in September 2020

•  The Contractor was appointed and started on site in December 2020

•  The City Council was purchasing the land and the Two Friargate building from the Friargate JV

•  The building would be completed and ready for handover to the Council in Autumn 2022

•  The building would be a best in class office building in Coventry and comparable with the best the region had to offer

•  The building was next to UK’s fastest growing rail station and 4 million people live within 25 miles of the site

•  There would be 135,000 sqft of lettable office space across 12 floors (c.12.5% bigger than One Friargate) and space on the ground floor for a high-quality food or convenience retailer

•  The building was targeting BREEAM “Excellent” (for environmental sustainability) and WIRED Platinum (for digital connectivity and resilience)

•  Work would be undertaken to promote and market the building, and the city of Coventry, to private and public sector occupiers

•  The project was developing and implementing management, security, waste, utilities, front of house and cleaning strategies, with an all inform service charge approach

•  Lettings were likely to be secured 12 months from completion of the building onwards

•  Set up and mobilisation would be ready for opening and occupation

•  All was influenced by COVID context

Members also received a video of the Friargate Development Timeline and requested that the Weblink to the timeline be emailed to the Board. The Scrutiny Co-ordinator undertook to do this.

The Board questioned officers, received responses and discussed the following issues:

·  The importance of lessons learned from the building of Friargate One – how maintenance could be managed and optimised going forward, the build quality, what worked well. The tender for the project included the requirements of lessons learned.

·  Carbon footprint – Friargate Two was being built to a high environmental standard and environmental sustainability accreditation was being sought for the building

·  The total project fund of £69m (£52m guaranteed grant funding and £17m Council funding) would ensure that the project would be completed - this included the land purchase in addition to the build

·  A marketing Strategy was being prepared and specialist marketing agents would maximise marketing through social media, advertising, events, etc

·  A Hoarding Strategy, which would link to the City of Culture, was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

Presentation of the Director of Transportation and Highways

The Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) received a presentation of the Director of Transportation and Highways that provided an update on the progress the implementation of the Rail Station Masterplan. The Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration was invited to attend the meeting for this item.

The presentation highlighted the following:

·  Coventry was the UK’s 13th largest city, facing unemployment 6.6%, which is above West Midlands (5.7%) and national average of 3.7% (2019 figures)

·  The city aspired to strengthen its high growth economy, requiring commercial and housing development to support growth – 45,000 new jobs and 42,000 new homes by 2031

·  Improving transport connections was critical to facilitate growth and rail had a vital role to play.

·  HS2 bypasses Coventry and could potentially mean a reduction in the some of the fast London services Coventry benefits from

·  Investment in rail infrastructure would enhance the case for retention of fast London services and help to provide better connectivity, including direct services to East Midlands

·  There had been a significant growth in passenger numbers at Coventry Railway Station which had more than doubled in last 10 years and continued to grow, making it one of fastest growing stations outside of London - the Station stairs and concourse was now at capacity during peaks, in 2019/20 there were 2000+ passengers hourly, projected to increase to 4000+ passengers per hour by 2043

·  The Coventry Rail Story had been developed in response to the challenges presented by HS2, significant passenger growth and projected future growth at Coventry Railway Station

·  The existing building opened in 1962, was Grade II listed and had limited opportunity for expansion to cater for capacity

·  Coventry Station Masterplan had been developed to provide a fitting gateway to the city, delivering high quality infrastructure and a seamless transport interchange to support rail growth

·  The scheme would:  provide increased capacity at Coventry Station and  support passenger growth; improve accessibility for passengers; offer better integration for public transport interchange; provide sustainability – EVCs and cycle hub; provide an enhanced retail offer and passenger facilities; be sympathetic to the existing grade-II listed building; support the Friargate development; and create an attractive/fitting city gateway

·  The wider benefits included: environmental and air quality benefits; promotion of physical activity – increased walking and cycling; improvements to accessibility – step free access; improvement to rail and bus connectivity; help the case for retention of fast London services; support regeneration, development and job creation – including Friargate and City Centre South; and support housing growth

·  The Station Masterplan project had been 5+ years in development, led by Coventry City Council

·  The Project Team were working with key partners including Network Rail, DfT, Avanti, TfWM, Friargate JV and other train and bus operators

·  £77m+ funding was secure via CWLEP Growth Deal, WMCA Devolution Deal, DfT and other public sector sources including the Council

·  Buckingham Contracting Group Limited had been awarded the main construction contracts for Phases 1 and 2, while BCM were undertaking substation works

·  The main works commenced  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

RESOLVED that the Business, Economy and Enterprise Scrutiny Board (3) notes the Board’s Work Programme for the remainder of the Municipal Year 2020/2021 and requests that an item headed ‘Gigafactory’ be added to the ‘Suggested Items for 2021/2022’, to be considered at a future meeting of the Board at the relevant time.

There were no other items of public business.