Westmorland and Furness Council has published three documents related to the commissioning and early stages of refurbishing Voreda House in Penrith.
These are:
- Presentation of lessons learned delivered to Westmorland and Furness Council’s Corporate Management Team.
- A subsequent management response to points raised in the review.
- The review as presented to the Council’s Audit Committee.
Background
After April 2023, a Project Assurance Review was undertaken by the new Westmorland and Furness Council to assess the delivery and financial position on all ongoing capital programme projects over £3m inherited from its predecessor councils (Barrow, Cumbria, Eden and South Lakeland).
This identified a cost increase due to construction and wider project inflation and financing of £3.2m for Voreda House.
This was approved by Cabinet on 18 October 2023 and Council on 23 November 2023. This was part of wider changes approved to the capital programme 2023-2028.
In November 2023, the 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.
The lessons learned review started in late 2023 and reported its findings to the Corporate Management Team in May 24 (doc 1) and Audit Committee in June 24 (doc 2).
After the review was considered, a management response was prepared (doc 3) – placing lessons learned against current W&F practice and operations, thereby identifying any gaps and further action required.
A series of briefings for key stakeholders has taken place over the summer and all three reports are published publicly today.
The position now
Westmorland and Furness Council staff moved into Voreda House in late May/early June and the building has been operational and open to the public since 17 June.
It offers a wide range of services and is a base for a wide number of our public facing teams, including Adult Social Care, Children’s Services, Housing, Planning, Public Health, Trading Standards and Waste & Environment.
The building’s opening reflects the council’s aim to create service ‘hubs’ in each of its main locations - Barrow, Kendal and Penrith. It provides an accessible focal point for those requiring services in the Penrith area.
It brings council teams together in a modern, fit-for-purpose building and is already helping us deliver more efficiently for the public, enabling greater cross-service working and collaboration.
In June, Voreda House achieved PassivHaus EnerPHit standard, with future energy savings estimated at 85%, contributing positively to the council’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and providing an exemplar in the drive to be carbon net zero.
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."