Westmorland and Furness Council’s long awaited report into the Voreda House project in Penrith has emerged as an internal lessons learned report rather than a full review of the project but has highlighted some shocking failures by the former Eden District Council administration over the initiation of the project, delivery of the work and the purchase of the Voreda House building.
In November 2023, Westmorland and Furness council who inherited the Voreda House project from Eden District Council commissioned an internal audit review to identify any lessons to be learnt from the development of the Voreda House scheme pre 1 April 2023. It was based on available evidence and was designed to ensure that any additional controls or actions that might be needed to strengthen Westmorland and Furness’s control framework and governance were identified.
A series of briefings for key stakeholders has taken place over the summer on the reports and finding.
The report has revealed that No Full ‘Business Case’ was ever produced for single site accommodation by Eden District Council which documented the reason for doing the project the expected benefits and consideration of ALL alternative options and option selected.
No business case listing the resources required including funding a scope of the project, project management arrangements, project risks or timescale was ever produced either by the leadership of Eden District Council.
The report also found that a Single Site Governance Structure was only put in place in March 2022 by Eden Council.
It also emerged that six steering groups Eden Council set up had no terms of reference or clear membership and the Steering Group (Project Board) meetings were not minuted with no decision record or action log. The report states “This is a significant weakness in the governance arrangements as decisions made, any discussion on, or rationale for decisions, cannot be evidenced.”
At Eden District Councils Full Council on 27 February 2020 in a private closed door meeting members of the considered a report on the financial case for the purchase and straightforward refurbishment of Voreda House. The report stated a price of £900,000, which is less than the initial asking price for the purchase of Voreda House.
A Chartered Surveyors undertook a condition survey for Eden Council and advised on the condition of the building & maintenance issues. ‘The purchase is subject to certain conditions being met. The surveyor recommends a window replacement programme and some minor external repairs’ to Voreda House only.
It has however emerged that the report presented to Eden Council members in the name of the former leader Cllr Tayor failed to inform members of key points which were important factors for consideration in the decision to purchase Voreda House for £900,000:
An independent valuation report was obtained in October 2019 (prior to purchase of Voreda House) which said the current market value with vacant possession, was £785,000. Therefore, the building was independently valued at £115,000 less than the price the Council had agreed to pay
The Chartered Surveyors report contained several caveats and restriction of scope and made recommendations for further specialist inspection / review stating ‘Wherever we have suggested that further inspections or tests of any kind be undertaken, these should be carried out before exchange of contracts, or that other similar or appropriate provision be made’ this information was withheld from Eden Council members when making the decision to purchase Voreda House.
No specialist surveys were undertaken prior to the property purchase. The Council’s justification in November 2022 was that the additional costs identified by the surveys could not have been known prior to commencement of the construction.
During the renovation a number of issues emerged from Asbestos issues with the structure and a new lift that added approximately £90,000 to the refurbishment costs
The investigation and report also found that the level of detail provided to Members in the routine quarterly Capital monitoring reports was very limited and sometimes difficult to follow over the life of a long project.
An initial Project Assurance Review (PAR) undertaken in April 2023 by the Westmorland and Furness Council Capital Programme Team identified significant issues with the timescales, funding and costs.
The report will be noted by the council and used as a lessons learned for future Westmorland and Furness Projects with no further action taken on the issues identified on the Voreda House Project.
Cllr Andrew Jarvis, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Finance, said:
“This council rightly recognises that it has a duty to ensure public money is invested wisely and as costs rose on this inherited project we undertook a lessons learnt review to inform future projects. This report has helped us to challenge our current processes and we are confident that they are robust and we will continue to regularly review these as outlined in the management response.
"Voreda House has now been in operation for more than two months and we are beginning to see the planned benefits of bringing Westmorland and Furness Council staff together into one central, modern and flexible building.
"This is a significant milestone in our carbon reduction plan and is evidence of our commitment to investing in our workplace environments across Westmorland and Furness."
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