Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Deputy Chief Executive providing details on the proposed new electricity generation plant in Merrion House. Specifically, the report outlines the financial business case and sets out both the revenue savings and the opportunities for income generation.

(Please note that Appendix 3 to this report is designated as exempt from publication under the provisions of Access to Information Procedure Rule 10.4(3))

The Deputy Chief Executive submitted a report providing details on the proposed new electricity generation plant in Merrion House. The report outlined the financial business case and set out both the revenue savings and the opportunities for income generation associated with the scheme.

Responding to an enquiry, the Board received clarification on the estimated costs and savings associated with the project.

Having considered the contents of Appendix 3 to the report, designated as exempt from publication under the provisions of Access to Information Procedure Rule 10.4 (3) which was considered in private at the conclusion of the meeting, Executive Board

RESOLVED:

a)  To approve an injection of capital of £3.1m to invest in a 2MW peak gas-fired electricity generating station with heat recovery that will be incorporated into the base specification for the Merrion House refurbishment project; and

b)  To approve the Authority to Spend of £3.1m in a 2MW peak gas-fired electricity generating system.

(The Council’s Executive and Decision Making Procedure Rules state that a matter may be declared as being exempt from the Call In process, if it is deemed as being urgent and that any delay would seriously prejudice the Council’s, or the public’s interests. It has been deemed that the resolutions detailed above are exempt from Call In due the need to sign off the next stage of works for Merrion House and any delay to this element would hold up the progress of the overall project, causing delays to the completion date and therefore the realisation of the associated financial benefits of moving staff out of other buildings and into Merrion. Time was not built into the timetable to return to Executive Board as the capital had already been approved at an earlier stage. However, further due diligence has meant that the costs and associated benefits are higher than originally anticipated and consequentially the decision to proceed needed to be re-approved at Executive Board.)