Following last week’s car theft at the Civic Centre and the comments I’ve received from staff, I’ve asked for a review of security at the site.
I’m grateful to those staff who’ve already contacted me and raised their concerns. I want to reassure everyone that I’m taking this issue very seriously and will act upon concerns and the findings of our security review. We’ve already taken steps to increase patrols in the car parks and to step-up our CCTV monitoring.
We’re also in the process of going out to tender for a new CCTV system. This will replace all the current cameras with high-spec equipment which should increase and improve CCTV coverage of the site. In the meantime, please take some precautions by not leaving any valuables or documents etc in your vehicle. But this isn’t only about cars, if you’re travelling by either motorbike or bike please take steps to secure it. In the meantime, please feel free to respond to this update with any comments or ideas you may have regarding security. I’ll keep you updated.
Agile update
Swansea University has signed a lease with us to rent space on the third floor of the Civic Centre. The first staff from the university’s school of management moved in on Monday and will be joined by colleagues in the coming few weeks.
This lease agreement generates important extra income for the council and has been made possible thanks to the work of our Facilities and IT teams in helping 441 staff in the Civic Centre to become agile in the past year.
Next to make the move to agile are our Housing colleagues in September, when a further 95 staff will join the second floor agile area. This move will enable refurbishment of the central area of the first floor into further agile workspace to be occupied by IT and accountancy teams.
All of the furniture in the agile area is up-cycled to reduce costs and be environmentally-friendly.
Exam success
Congratulations to all the young people who sat GCSEs this summer. Despite the fall in grades nationally, results in Swansea have again held up well, with the main indicators all being above the average for Wales, and most subjects showing results which are better than the national picture. The figures show 22.4% (21.5% in 2017) of city pupils gained A* and A grades in their WJEC exams, which is significantly better than the 18.5% in Wales as a whole. More than 75% of students achieved the higher grades of A* to C in 29 different subjects. Meanwhile, the top grades of A* and A were awarded to over a third of all entrants in 18 subjects.
These results are a great tribute to the pupils, their families and school staff. Well done to everyone!
Schools’ praise
Our schools have achieved some excellent Estyn inspection reports in the last few years and Pentre’r Graig and Pontarddulais Primaries have kept that run going. Pentre’r Graig benefitted from a £2.7m upgrade as part of our 21st Century Schools Programme and that investment is clearly paying off as it was rated good in all five inspection areas. Pontarddulais achieved the same with inspectors praising the work of the Foundation Phase, which is particularly pleasing as the school is sharing its success in that area with others in Swansea. Congratulations to all the staff, pupils and families at both schools.
Staff Pride
Pride Cymru takes place this weekend and staff from our LGBT+ group will be joining colleagues from other councils as part of a ‘Proud Councils’ group marching in Cardiff city centre. Our Staff LGBT+ Group will be joined by Cllr Elliott King, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services (Early Years) who is LGBT champion for the council and organiser of this year’s inaugural Swansea Spring Pride.
As an employee based at the Civic Centre and working in the community I am often asked what the plans are for the building. With recent significant refurbishments and Swansea University renting the third floor it would be good to have an update on the future of our work base. I thought the building was up for sale but recent actions would suggest otherwise. I look forward to your response.
Hi Sarah,
Yes, the building was marketed for sale and a development manager was selected. In conjunction with a review of building maintenance costs, the timing of the Council’s relocation from the Civic Centre is now subject to a review of market conditions in order that the value for the existing site is maximised to protect the public purse. I am confident that the relocation will have significant regeneration benefits for the city centre but it needs to be affordable and timed carefully given the potentially disruptive nature of major construction projects and the need to phase developments in order to minimise disruption and ensure business as usual for city centre businesses, residents, shoppers and visitors alike. We currently have a very full regeneration programme, and when you consider both Swansea Central Phase 1 and the Kingsway Regeneration are both on site then the timing of other major schemes needs to be carefully programmed.
Phil
Hello
Would it be possible for cyclists to have overnight lockers and storage facilities? A number of cyclists, myself included have to carry toiletries, towels, change of clothing ,etc on a daily basis where before we could store them at our work desk.
Things like lights,helmets, wet weather clothing will not fit into the agile lockers so we have to leave them unattended in the changing area . I have lost a number of items from there already and it is particularly annoying that a number of the lockers in the drying area do not seem to be used and cannot be used for overnight storage.
Regards
Hi Tim,
Thanks for your idea. I’ll ask the Facilities team to look into it.
Phil
Hi
Has there been any response to this please
Liz
Hi Liz,
The Facilities team have a lot of priorities to deal with at the moment such as the agile working programme. However, they’ll certainly look at the idea of bike lockers when budget becomes available.
Phil
Phil it is welcoming to read that you have taken the recent car theft at Civic Centre serious and have put security steps in place to protect the employees of Swansea who rely on their transport for work. However in and around the car park there are many homeless males, that appear to have taken home living in the bushes and trees, as winter is approaching, is there a plan to support such individuals ? but also reassure employees (especially female) that measures will also be put in place to ensure safety when approaching the car park during dark evenings when groups of men are present. ??
Hi Rachel,
Our officers in Facilities are aware of the issues and are responding in conjunction with Council colleagues who deal with vulnerable, homeless adults. There is also some information about security and personal safety available at this link:
http://www.swansea.gov.uk/staffnet/article/27917/Staff-personal-safety
Phil