Agenda item

Any other business that the Chairman considers urgent

Meeting of Streets and Walkways Sub (Planning and Transportation) Committee, Monday, 14th October, 2013 11.30 am (Item 6.)

Minutes:

There was one item of urgent business in relation to Riverside Walk

The project for landscaping on the Riverside Walk, adjacent to the City of London Boys School required ground condition bore holes to be carried out and were approved by Committee in June at a cost of £18,895. These costs were required to ascertain the deep ground conditions and minimise potential risk on below ground structures and the river wall, and commenced in August. Unfortunately, the drilling of the bore holes had to be halted at 7 Metres below ground, due to striking an ‘unidentified ferrous object’. Mindful of the potential for this to be a piece of unexploded WWII ordnance, Officers in consultation with the Town Clerk and City Surveyor put in place further urgent investigative works, involving adjacent drilling to allow access for detection equipment. Thankfully this investigation concluded that the object was highly unlikely to be ordnance and the object can be left in place.

Carrying out this urgent investigation required expenditure above the level agreed for the initial bore holes. Initial estimates were that an additional £24,000 would be required to carry out the investigations. However, difficult ground conditions in this area, related to instability from below ground voids and buried building material meant that 3 additional boreholes were attempted. The final cost of this investigation was now £48,965. Detailed breakdown of these costs are in Table below.

Fees	Estimated Additional Costs (£)	Actual Additional Costs (£)	Difference (£)
Highway permits	3,000	3,000	0
Drilling of 3 further bore holes to triangulate the unidentified object at 7m below ground level + reporting factual. (Inclusive of additional boreholes due to obstructions/voids)*	13,220	35,365*	22,145
Magnotometer + reading apparatus to establish nature of unidentified object at below ground level	2,500	2,500	0
Reinstatement of footway in the area associated with investigations (required due to instability of footway following additional excavations)	0	1,100	1,100
Extraction of object at below ground level if identified as an unexploded ordnance (Immediate notification of City Police to manage Public Welfare and Safety)	NA	N/A	NA
Staff Costs
To manage communication between: local occupiers, investigative agencies, stakeholders, Emergency Services, manage the City’s Consulting Engineers and reporting of outcomes	5,000	7,000	2,000
TOTAL	23,720	48,965	25, 245

The bore holes had also confirmed that the ground conditions were fine for the landscaping project to commence as intended.

The additional £48,965 for borehole investigations would need to be met from the existing project budget of £1,123,305, and if required through the reduction in the scope of paving, planting etc..

Members were informed that approval under Urgency procedures had been given by the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Projects Sub Committee.

RESOLVED - That the costs required to carry out this necessary work to be funded from the approved project budget of £1,123,305.