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Item 4 – West Herts College Appraisal
Project
Applicant West Herts College
Request £5,000,000
Summary of Proposal
This is a campus redevelopment with the potential to trigger far wider transformational change
following a period of prolonged decline for local communities and local economy.
It will achieve this by up-skilling the local population, enabling them to gain employment in the
industrial/business sectors the LEP has identified as engines for regional economic growth. It
will also provide for an increase in the level of engagement with local businesses to ensure that
the provision of services offered from the new premises is in line with local needs
The development offers direct benefits to the Dacorum area including the Maylands industrial
zone – plus, potentially, further along the A41/M1 corridor where there is an under-developed
economic relationship with Watford and further south into north London.
The campus re-development is an integral part of the wider redevelopment of Hemel
Hempstead Town Centre and in particular the development of the new ‘Public Sector Quarter’.
1.
Consistency with LEP strategic priorities
The impact of a brand-new and purpose-built college in the heart of Hemel Hempstead will
signify genuine change after many false dawns.
It is expected that a landmark campus focusing on skills tailored to local needs would quickly
become a beacon for business growth and prosperity, and make a significant contribution to
Hertfordshire LEPs core commitment within its Strategic Economic Plan to re-invigorate the its
deprived ‘New Towns’ (of which Hemel Hempstead is one of three in the county).
While the College’s targeted approach to skills development would embrace both the
predominantly mainstream sectors of the local economy and the STEM-related needs of
emerging/growth sectors identified by Hertfordshire LEP, in terms of apprenticeships and higher
level skills, the College will grow its provision by establishing new links with employers
supporting the supply chains to new businesses within the emerging growth sectors (Life
Sciences, Pharmaceutical, Engineering/Technology etc.) as stated within the Hertfordshire
LEP’s Strategic Economic Plan and Skills Strategy
The new campus development will facilitate the delivery of additional 180 young people (16-24)
apprenticeships linked to local employers. This represents ten-fold increase and will make a
substantial contribution to the meeting the objectives of the Hertfordshire LEP’s Apprenticeship
Strategy 2015-2017
Outputs
Learner numbers
before project
Learner numbers after
project
Change in learner
numbers
[1]
[2]
= [2-1]
Level 1
1000
1400
400
Level 2
200
520
320
Level 3
20
440
420
Level 4+
0
150
150
Learner Level
16-18
Apprenticeships
Adult (19+)
Apprenticeships
Intermediate:
10
Intermediate:
70
Intermediate:
60
Advanced:
0
Advanced:
25
Advanced:
25
Higher:
0
Higher:
0
Higher:
0
Intermediate:
10
Intermediate:
30
Intermediate:
20
Advanced:
0
Advanced:
25
Advanced:
25
Higher:
0
Higher:
50
Higher:
50
Total
1240
2710
1470
Security
Payments of grant has yet to be negotiated, however the proposal is for an allocation of £3m in
15/16 and £2m in 16/17 against defrayed expenditure. It is anticipated that 10% of the funding
is to be held back pending final completion of the building.
Additional conditions are required confirming that no less than £10.59m of capital match
funding has been provided by West Herts College and is committed to the project.
Governance
Governance of this project will be via a project management group which in turn will report into
the College Governing Body
Timescales
Key milestone
Actual/ Expected Date
RIBA Stage 2 design agreed
9 March 2015 (completed)
Planning application submitted
18 May 2015
Planning consent secured
17 August 2015
Contractor appointed
22 October 2015
Construction commences
4 December 2015
Construction complete
1 December 2016
Fit-out complete
Building open
29 December 2016
9 January 2017
Comments
The College is expecting to submit a planning application for the development in May 2015. As
a result of an earlier attempt to develop the site (which needed to be aborted due to a key
partner withdrawing from the process), the College is confident that any critical planning issues
have been identified. This, alongside the support of the local borough council (its only direct
neighbour), the College is not expecting any serious impediments to obtaining planning
consent. Indeed, preliminary discussions with the Council’s planning department have been
very positive
The College has recent experience of managing similar projects, constructing its flagship
Watford Campus between 2008 and 2011. This involved the closure of two campuses in poor
condition and their replacement with a single modern campus in the heart of Watford. The new
22,400m2 campus was developed at a cost of £72.928m, £2.559m under its £75.487m budget.
The new Campus was designed to be an accessible and attractive environment to facilitate a
wide-range of vocational based provision.
The effective management of risk is recognised as a key project responsibility. A project risk
register has been created with input from the project management team and a Risk
Management Plan has been developed accordingly. All identified risks have effective mitigating
strategies, and there are no risks that are judged to be sufficiently high to put the project in
significant jeopardy.
As part of due diligence of this project, a detailed appraisal of this project has been undertaken
by the Skills funding Agency on behalf of the LEP (please see attached). This appraisal was
against the following key criteria; project deliverability, estates review, financial review and
benefits to learners/supporting economic growth with this project scoring a total of 25 points.
The passmark used previously by SFA is 20 points.
Request to PMC
It is requested that PMC approves a grant of £5,000,000, subject to planning consent being
secured