Wirral Council’s policy and resources committee on September 10 approved for officers to begin looking for a new property consultant to manage a number of properties for up to the next four years. This new firm will provide property management support as well as asset management services from the council.
Properties that will be included in the contract include the council’s Vue Cinema, the Europa Centre, Mallory and Irvine office buildings, The Hythe, and the Pyramids and the Grange shopping centres.
Previously JLL helped manage the shopping centres, the Hythe, and the office buildings. “A good working relationship” meant the shopping centre’s contract was later extended to other council properties.
Another firm Lambert Smith Hampton currently managed both the Europa Centre and Vue Cinema. The council plans going forward to only appoint one firm to manage all the properties.
The contract will run for an initial two years before there is the opportunity to extend it for two more with the costs being around £2.5m over four years. Part of these costs will be covered by the shopping centre, Europa Centre, and Vue income.
During the meeting on September 10, councillors discussed whether there was the opportunity for the council to look at managing things in-house and whether things like wages and trade union affiliation could be considered. However others pointed out the council may not have the expertise in-house to do this and getting this would be challenging.
Pointing to the £24m Birkenhead town centre scheme where capacity issues within council departments was a key issue highlighted in a recent investigation, Cllr Allan Brame said: “I’m not convinced we have that capacity within our own staff to run assets of this nature and I do feel it’s the right course to find an external provider.”
Officer Andrew Kehoe said the issue the council had at the moment was multiple contracts that ended at different times. As the council has also bought properties like the shopping centres, he added: “Having to try and deal with those on a piecemeal basis has been quite difficult.”
He said expanding the contract would be the right thing to do. He also pointed out that if the council decided to get rid of any properties in the long run, a single contract would allow some flexibility.
The Pyramids and the Grange shopping centres were bought by Wirral Council in May 2023 for £10.5m The current value of the asset has not been made public.
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