Southwark's £6.09m leisure heating contracts rest on a strategy with no logged decision

Southwark Council has logged no decision on the procurement strategy behind £6.09m of leisure centre heating contracts, three of which it has already awarded.

The council's issue record for Gateway 1, the strategy for decarbonisation capital works at four leisure centres, gives a decision due date of April 2026 and a notice published on 2 March 2026. That record lists the decision as for determination and logs no decision as taken.

The strategic director of environment, sustainability and leisure took all three awards. The decision records show £2,911,268.86 to Alternative Heat Ltd for Castle Leisure Centre, £2,267,249.96 to the same firm for Peckham Pulse, and £908,717 to Baystar Ltd for Surrey Docks Fitness and Watersports Centre, the last logged on 13 August 2026. All three sums exclude VAT.

The work is the same in each building. The Peckham Pulse record describes the "full decarbonisation of Peckham Pulse Leisure Centre through the removal of the existing gas-fired heating system and the provision of low-carbon energy systems".

The records give contract sums and nothing to set them against. They do not give a total for the programme and they do not name the funding behind it, and the council's capital monitoring decision of 20 July 2026 carries no leisure decarbonisation line. On the published figures, Castle costs more than three times Surrey Docks.

The centres carry the council's free offer. Southwark's swimming page states that residents registered for the swim and gym scheme can use Move Southwark centres free all day on Fridays, from 2pm to 5.30pm on Saturdays and from 2pm to 9pm on Sundays, with Silver sessions during the week for over-60s and access seven days a week for eligible disabled residents.

The Peckham Pulse award notes a variation "to the scope of works from that noted at Gateway 1, to cover more phases of the project in order to derisk the programme". The Castle award records the same variation.

The Castle and Peckham Pulse awards took effect on 11 August 2026. The Surrey Docks award has a call-in deadline of 20 August 2026 — call-in is the process by which councillors ask for a decision to be reviewed before it takes effect — and comes into force on 21 August if none is lodged. The record logs no call-ins.

The Surrey Docks record also states that an application to the Marine Management Organisation, the body that licenses works in tidal waters, is in hand.

Two more centres are queued. The council intends to decide a contract award for Camberwell Leisure Centre in September 2026 and one for Dulwich Leisure Centre in December 2026, each subject to planning permission, and each naming Councillor Eloise Waldon-Day, executive member for council coordination and climate, as lead member.

A further decision is due this month on professional services covering Castle, Peckham, Camberwell and Dulwich. The council classifies it as a key decision because spending exceeds £500,000, names Councillor Vanessa Threadgold, executive member for parks and recreation, as lead member, and has taken no decision on it yet.