Agenda item

Report of the City Surveyor.

The Committee received a report of the City Surveyor containing details of the five public escalators/lifts that were in service for less than 95% of the time.

The City Surveyor went on to provide the following updates:

Speed House

Members were informed that the project to replace the lift had been brought forward and had now commenced. It was expected that the works would last for approximately 16 weeks with the lift returning to service at the end of June 2019. The City Surveyor undertook to keep Members informed of progress.

A Member stated that he was pleased to learn that this problem was finally being addressed more substantially. He went on to comment that he felt that the fundamental problem here was that the wrong lift had been installed from the outset. He questioned whether Officers could now offer any assurances that the new lift would be properly suited to this location.

The City Surveyor reported that Officers were now also looking at the issue of water ingress from the highwalk and that a total refurbishment would be carried out which they were confident would render the lift more fit for purpose.

Millennium Inclinator

The City Surveyor reported that the inclinator was due to go out of service shortly for a three-week period from the 25^th March to the 12^th April to carry out essential works.

A Member commented that they were disturbed to learn that this was going to be out of service again. She added that the outages here were now far too frequent and long lasting. 

Other Members supported this view. They referred to the frequent outages and questioned whether it was now possible to get on top of these issues as the current situation, given the number of people who used and were dependent on the inclinator, was unacceptable.

A Member questioned the timing of the proposed works and whether it would be more suitable for these to be carried out during the April half term/Easter break where they might have less impact.

Another Member questioned whether the inclinator should now be replaced entirely given the frequency of the problems encountered. A Member responded that this had already happened in 2012 where guarantees that it would not continue to fail were given.

The Deputy Chairman highlighted that Officers were clearly being diligent in terms of further planned essential works on the inclinator but he agreed with the point that they were clearly not getting things right given the repeated problems encountered. He recognised that there had been more investment in this, that a more proactive approach was now being taken and that certain parts were being stockpiled in order to minimise the length and impact any future closures but there was clearly a need to now look more strategically at the matter. The Committee requested that a report on the Millennium Inclinator and recurring issues/progress made around these be brought back to a future meeting.

The City Surveyor stated that, given that the Millennium Inclinator was mechanical, there would always be a need to replace components of it which would, inevitably, lead to it being taken out of service for a period of time. She added that Officers had now adopted a ‘cockpit analogy’ whereby they were seeking to replace parts of the Inclinator before they failed. Following a project on this last year, breakdowns had been minimal and it was hoped that the further three weeks of work now taking place would lead to more improvements. With regard to the timing of the works, the City Surveyor confirmed that the Easter holidays were often one of the areas busiest times and that this would therefore not be a suitable solution. She added that it was not possible to carry out the works at night or in inclement weather.

A Member went on to refer to issues with the Tower Hill Car Park lifts which also seemed to experience constant problems and where there did not appear to be adequate communication with carpark staff and the need to report estate issues. She went on to question the maintenance service contract that the City currently held with lift providers.

The City Surveyor reported that Officers were working hard to build relations with staff at the City’s carparks. The City’s lift maintenance contract was also currently out to tender and it was hoped that a contractor would be appointed within the next six weeks with the new contract commencing in July 2019. The new contract would be more robust and hold the contractors more accountable going forward.

RECEIVED.