AGENDA ITEM 5

BOROUGH OF POOLE

EMERGENCY COMMITTEE

22ND JANUARY 2007

CIVIC CENTRE RESILIENCE IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY

PART OF PUBLISHED FORWARD PLAN: No

1. PURPOSE AND POLICY CONTEXT

1.1The purpose of this Report is to consider the resilience of the Civic Centre in the light of an emergency situation.

2. RECOMMENDATIONS

2.1Members are asked to note the work that has taken place to the committee suite and conference room to provide emergency operational capability.

2.2Members are asked to note the facilities that now exist at the Bridge House to address power outage emergency situations.

2.3Members are asked to note the situation with regard to the provision of power to the civic centre in the event of a power outage.

3. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

3.1.Members may be aware that work has recently been commissioned by the Head of Information and Communication to cable the committee suite and conference room to provide a total of 51 work stations. The work was part of the customer services business continuity plan.

3.2.The Committee suite can now provide data and ICT voice connections for 24 desks and 27 in the Conference room. Although primarily in place for customer services (and to be tested towards the end of February) the service can be brought into use for any service unit whose base is disrupted due a localised problem. The work will not be complete until the end of January.

3.3.The recent relocation of the control room to the bridge house due to the flooding has enabled facilities to be reviewed and improved. There are now 4 telephone lines and internet connection to the bridge house.

3.4.In the event of an emergency which causes power outage in the Town the bridge house can provide the Lifeline services , life the bridge and also provide information to the public via the 4 phone lines. The dedicated generator that is regularly tested can provide these services in the absence of any other power.

3.5.Members have repeatedly enquired as to the status of generators that exist in the Civic Centre and whether they could be employed in the event of power outage emergencies to enable the civic centre to continue to operate.

3.6.The Civic Centre has two local generators which have historically provided the capability to provide independent power supply.

3.7.The first is a gas fuelled generator of 150kVA output capacity which is situated in the main boiler house. This combined heat and power plant was originally installed to power part of the building during winter months with heat from the engine being used as a by-product to supplement heat to the building. It was not designed specifically for stand-by use, although it provided some resilience during winter months. Modern combined heat and power plants are designed to address these problems.

3.8.Since installation the growth in power demand in the Civic Centre has been such that our present day minimum service load amounts to 306kVA and that to feed essential services amounts to 220kVA. In other words the generator is about half the size that we now require to feed the circuits to which it should connect.

3.9.This means that we require either to provide a significantly larger generator or to undertake major rewiring to enable power from the existing generator to be directed only to the highest priority ‘essential services’.

3.10.The second, very much smaller generator which services Emergency Planning HQ/Control Room provides only 25kVA single phase output and this again falls well short of the power requirement to operate services within the Control Room as it only serves lighting and selected power circuits. It does not connect to ventilation or to cooling systems essential for the operation of the Control Room. The unit has also caused problems in use due to exhaust fume build up and the need for trained operators to undertake the manual start and switching procedure. The situation described above deals with the relocation of the control room in the event of a power outage.

3.11.It is clear, seeking a solution to the provision of generators is only part of the issue to be addressed and substantial re-wiring would also be required. As such the requirements of a resilient and robust office facility in the event of an emergency situation is to be included in the on going office accommodation needs review.

SIMON HENDEY

HEAD OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

22nd January 2007

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