Report of the Director of Planning and Development enclosed.

Decision made

That the award of contracts to the winning bidders across the various design specialisms in order to progress the design works on the Leyland Town Deal project, be approved as follows:-

Design discipline – Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing Services:-

Steven A Hunt & Associates Ltd - £91,975.00

Design discipline –Structural & Drainage:-

Woolgar Hunter Ltd - £134,772.00

Design discipline – Architect:-

Wilson Mason LLP - £139,256.25

Design discipline – Landscape & Public Realm Services:-

Lanpro Services Ltd - £39,250.00.

Decision made

The Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member (Strategy and Reform) presented a report of the Director of Planning and Development informing and updating members on the detail and outcome from the Town Deal Design Team procurement process.

The report requested approval to appoint and award contracts to the winning bidders on the design team disciplines listed below to progress the design development on the Leyland Town Deal project to RIBA Stage 3:

a)    Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing Services

b)    Architect Services

c)     Structural and Drainage Services

d)    Landscape Architect and Public Realm Design Services.

A question was asked about the apparently large variances in scoring in the Design Disciplines, for example in Landscape and Public Realm Design Services one bidder’s score on cost was 10.38. The Leader indicated that the largest variance in scores was on price, which had a weighting of 60% and therefore the cheapest bid scored the full 60%. The scores on quality were much closer, however the cheapest bidders mostly achieved the highest score in that regard too.

He also indicated that the actual figures received from bidders who were not successful in the process were not disclosed in the report in order that the matter could be considered in public.

Decision made

That the award of contracts to the winning bidders across the various design specialisms in order to progress the design works on the Leyland Town Deal project, be approved as follows:-

Design discipline – Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing Services:-

Steven A Hunt & Associates Ltd - £91,975.00

Design discipline –Structural & Drainage:-

Woolgar Hunter Ltd - £134,772.00

Design discipline – Architect:-

Wilson Mason LLP - £139,256.25

Design discipline – Landscape & Public Realm Services:-

Lanpro Services Ltd - £39,250.00.

Reasons for decision

The work on the Leyland Town Deal project is extremely urgent and progressing the design works will enable the project to progress in line with the delivery programme mitigating any risk to funding and supporting the business case development process.

Progressing the design works to RIBA Stage 3 will ensure that the project is able to demonstrate a ‘shovel ready’ proposal to the funding body and allow the project to proceed with the submission of a planning application process.

Alternative options considered and rejected

Alternative options considered include delaying the recruitment of the design disciplines and not progressing the design works until the conclusion of the business case development process which is currently set for March 2022.

This was rejected as this would put the project under significant pressure to deliver on both the design and development of a number of capital projects as detailed within the Town Centre Investment Plan in a short timeframe.

The delivery programme timescales have been dictated by central government and in order to mitigate any risk to meeting programme timescales, it was necessary to progress the design works in line with the business case development process.