Agenda item

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

The Cabinet considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place), which set out proposals for the extension of the Heatline Network to Friargate and the City Centre Destination Leisure Facility.

A corresponding private report detailing confidential aspects of the proposals was also submitted to the meeting for consideration (Minute 58 below refers).

The Council awarded a contract in 2013 to Coventry District Energy Company (CDEC) to build, and operate a district heating network (Heatline) to heat existing Council buildings and other buildings that connect to the network.  The aim of the project was to utilise waste heat supplied by the Energy from Waste (EfW) plant, maximise CO2 savings for the City and extend its reach in the City Centre.  Heatline has provided heating to a number of Council buildings in the city centre, the Herbert Art Gallery, Fairfax Street Sports Centre and the Cathedral. 

The contract included an obligation on the Council to maintain a minimum floor area of heated buildings and should the floor area fall below this level, it would trigger a review of charges to the Council to ensure the operator was no worse off and that the Council met its existing contractual obligations.

With the Council moving from Civic Centres 1-4 to Friargate and from Fairfax Street to the City Centre Destination Leisure Facility (CCDLF), a floor area review would be triggered and charges to the Council would increase. Extending Heatline to Friargate and CCDLF was the most cost effective way of minimising this impact and would achieve the original aim of expanding the reach of Heatline to its offices and throughout the City Centre.  Negotiations had therefore been ongoing between CDEC, Friargate and the Council to extend the network to the Council’s new building at Friargate, the wider Friargate development and the CCDLF.  The cost of extending the network would be £2.795m.

It was recommended that the Council contribute £1.23m to this project from resources already approved for the Friargate and CCDLF projects as the most cost effective solution for the Council.  This would not result in a call for any further monies from the City Council because the revenue costs of the capital funding had already been built into the Councils budgets.  The balance of the cost would be met by Friargate LLP and CDEC respectively.

It was noted that there would be a short term revenue impact until the infrastructure was built in 9-12 months, which would be managed through normal budgetary control.

RESOLVED that, the Cabinet:-

1.  Approve the use of Heatline to provide heating to the Council’s building at Friargate and the City Centre Destination Leisure Facility.

2.  Approve the investment of £1.23m reallocated from existing resources within the Friargate and City Centre Destination Leisure Facility programmes towards the capital investment costs for a Heatline connection to these two buildings.

3.  Delegate authority to the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) and Director of Finance and Corporate Services to sign all necessary commercial contracts with Coventry District Energy Company and Friargate LLP in relation to the provision of the heating to the Council’s building at Friargate and the City Centre Destination Leisure Facility