1. At its July 2004 meeting, Council received and endorsed the plan to expand Burleigh Court by creating a substantial number of new bedrooms and other desirable improvements against a business plan showing an attractive return on the investment. Since then, detailed work on design and cost prediction has taken place against a budget of some £7M and a planning application has been made.
2. A final
decision on the project will be necessary in mid-February, when there is no
planned meeting of Council. Since
Council is aware of the scope of the project and has endorsed it, I seek approval to delegate that decision to
the Chair.
3. The Chair
will be advised by an ad hoc group consisting of the Vice-Chancellor, the
Treasurer, the Chair and Chief Executive of Imago @ Loughborough Limited (which
now operates Burleigh Court), the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, the Director of
Estates Services and myself. This group
will meet on 4th February to review both the tenders received from
building contractors and the updated commercial rationale for the
expansion. If all is well and the
budget can be met within a small tolerance, this group can advise the Chair of
Council to give final approval. If not,
adjustments will have to be made or the issue will have to be deferred until
Council meets on 1 April.