Agenda item

Report of the Superintendent of Epping Forest.

Members were informed that the Epping Forest Field Centre at High Beach consisted of a main block housing five classrooms and office space, and other buildings used as accommodation (Ravensmead, Buxton and Harting) as well as a sundry

classroom known as the Timber Hut.

On Friday 17th January 2014 a Mitie Inspector visited the premises and

confirmed“'both boilers locked off & oil line shut as they are immediately dangerous” this was due to hazardous levels of carbon monoxide being produced from the system. Although it was initially believed that parts could be found and replaced quickly, not all the replacement parts could be sourced from the Italian

manufacturer due to the age of the system. The City Surveyor therefore

determined it was not economical to repair, and a wholesale replacement was

required.

Members noted that heating in the teaching block would be compromised for an extended period of many weeks, and large numbers of temporary electric units could not be used due to loading on circuits, The Epping Forest Assets Manager made the temporarily vacated High Beach Visitor Centre available to the Field Centre Team for lessons. This building’s wood-chip fired boiler was also inoperative at the time, so this space and teaching block offices were heated using supplementary electric units. This arrangement lasted through the cold months until the site was taken over by the Friends of Epping Forest and full heating of the

Teaching Block was not required.

In response to a query, Officers clarified that the costs of lighting, heating and some cleaning of the High Beach Visitor Centre building through this period were met by Epping Forest local risk budgets.