TRANSPORT bosses will today seek permission to spend nearly £1 million "future proofing" the office block at Scotland's largest bus hub.
Members of the publicly-funded Strathclyde Partnership for Transport will be asked to approve a spend of just over £906,000 to overhaul the heating and ventilation systems and fund additional repairs and alterations to the staff quarters at Buchanan Bus Station in Glasgow.
Papers lodged ahead of today's SPT Operations Committee meeting state that two-storey office building, which houses around 100 staff, "is in need of refurbishment".
Eric Stewart, SPT's assistant chief executive in charge of operations, has recommended that the contract for the work be awarded to AKP, who he said had submitted a "very high quality tender".
The overhaul will see the space converted from a series of separate offices into an open plan style to improve efficiency between departments. Contact centre staff who take bookings for SPT's MyBus, Hospital Evening Visitor Service, Social Transport and Community Transport, along with IT staff, will be relocated to Buchanan Bus Station following the upgrade.
The heating and ventilation systems in the office block are also said to be "overdue for replacement".
The ventilation system uses R22 refrigerant, which was outlawed in January this year due to its harmful effect on the ozone layer.
The papers state: "Although it is permissible to continue to use existing systems, subject to a requirement to monitor leakage of the gas, R22 is no longer available to top up the units and the units are in effect obsolete."
The heating system, which is more than 25 years old, is said to be "inefficient and difficult to maintain". SPT said replacing it now "will result in a reduction in costs over the longer term and reduce the potential liability in the event of the system failing".
The refurbishment, which will include any other necessary repairs and maintenance to fixtures and fitting identified by AKP, is timetabled to last 14 weeks but is not expected to impact on passenger facilities or services.
It will be funded with £250,000 from SPT's existing improvements budget, with an additional £657,000 drawn from the Repairs and Renewal fund set aside for major capital overhauls.
Separately, members of the committee will also be asked to approve a £90,000 grant over three years to expand SPT's existing Hospital Evening Visitor Bus service to include the new Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, in the south side of Glasgow.
The free door-to-door service already operates to Gartnavel and Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Anyone can book the service, but priority is given to the elderly, disabled or people on a low income.
The new Queen Elizabeth service will be available on-demand to passengers across Glasgow, Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire.
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