Purpose

To gain the necessary
approval to undertake urgent remedial works to the Brise Soliel
panel system installed on The Curve Façade
 

Decision

To:
 

-      
approve the scheme outlined within the report at a cost of
£2.2m, with £1.468m of this financed from the existing
operational estate capital maintenance programme.
 

-      
approve the addition of the remaining £732k as an immediate
start to the 2024/25 capital programme, to be financed from capital
receipts.

Reasons for the decision

 
On Saturday 4th May
2024, one of the louvres fell from the exterior of Curve into the
Orton Square area. Nobody was injured and the area around the
building was cordoned off with the assistance of the Fire Services.
At the time of the incident there were no inclement weather
conditions, and the cause of the incident was unknown. Following the initial investigations, it was found
that the original fixing strategy had failed in certain areas.
 
We have since engaged
a specialist façade engineer alongside a specialist
façade remedial contractor to inspect the building and pull
a plan into place to undertake full remediation works to make the
building safe again.
 
We are presently
aiming to be on site remediating the entire façade late
2024, with a completion forecasted during Autumn 2025.