Decision details

Part 3, Schedule 3 - Responsibility for Executive Functions delegated to Officers paragraph 4.3 (1) - the Corporate Director has delegated authority to discharge executive functions within their respective service areas (Part 3.38). All delegations are subject to consultation where considered appropriate in the circumstances (paragraph 4.3 (4(ii) - Part 3.39). The Corporate Director Planning and Regeneration has delegated operational matters relating to this work to the Head of Regeneration. The Deputy Chief Executive has delegated operational matters for procurement to the Head of Finance, Revenues and Benefits.

In line with the Council’s established procurement protocols approval has been sought to extend the remit of contractors (Urban Initiatives Studio Limited - UIS) without the need for a competitive procurement exercise. Urban Initiatives Studio were appointed by the Council in February 2018 following a competitive procurement exercise. The work requires UIS to refresh the Dovercourt Masterplan (Dovercourt Rediscovered), and to prepare detailed development proposals for the Starlings Block and Milton Road Car Park. UIS were contracted by the Council on a fixed fee of £40,959 (inclusive of fees, exclusive of VAT). The work has progressed in line with the Council’s Specification of Requirements and the contractors original quotation, both of which identify the need to complete work set against four distinct modules. UIS has now satisfactorily completed all of the specified work in Modules One and Two, but in order to progress to Modules Three and Four, UIS, the Client Team and the Council’s Corporate Director of Planning and Regeneration are in agreement that some additional and previously unspecified work should now be undertaken. This would enable a more comprehensive consultation (Module Three), and add value to the finished product (Module Four) by providing a wider range of short, medium and longer term interventions that (if delivered) would help transform Dovercourt Town Centre. The Client Team would now like UIS to explore a wider range of interventions across the town centre. This work will include the following: •Utilisation of the eastern part of the Starlings Block (land with options agreement) as a surface car park, accepting that this would not be a like-for-like re-provision for the Milton Road Car Park; •Development of the western part of the Starlings Block by the private sector when the market is ready (potentially illustrate / test development viability); •Potential for additional car parking provision outside the station through the reorganisation of the large asphalt surface; •Testing the opportunity to bring the station building back into meaningful use; •Potential for public realm improvements in the centre (quick wins as well as comprehensive improvement); •Shop front improvements; •Opportunity for a public space in Kingsway, in discussion with the Highway Authority; •New/improved connections with Cliff Hill Park and the seafront; •Small interventions such as pop-up shops, murals, heritage trail, dressing up of the site hoardings; and •Location to accommodate events / improved market in the town centre. These interventions will be developed at a conceptual level with a high level consideration of their feasibility, cost and potential phasing. This additional work will cost an additional £11,200 (inclusive of fees, exclusive of VAT). The cost of this work has been established using the same fee matrix, approach and hourly rates as for quotation originally provided by UIS for this commission. It is therefore thought to be fair and reasonable. Given that UIS is halfway through its original commission, it would make little sense to seek competitive quotations for this additional work. Such an exercise would delay the project and result in additional and unnecessary administrative expense. In consultation with the Corporate Director Planning and Regeneration and the Head of Finance, Revenues and Benefits and with the explicit approval of the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services it has been determined that this additional work should be exempted from the Council's Procurement Rules.

Two options were considered in reaching this decision. 1) to exempt the work from the Council's Procurement Rules on the basis that it is both cost effective and operationally expedient to do so; or 2) suspend work on this commission and initiate a procurement exercise in order to select a suitable contractor to undertake the additional work identified. Given that the cost of the additional work has been calculated using the range of professional costs and associated fees used by Urban Initiatives Studio Limited to establish its original fee proposal, and that a procurement exercise would likely take circa five weeks (resulting in lengthy delays to the original commission), it has been determined that option one presents the most sensible course of action.