Issue details

PART II
PART II reason: The report contains information relating to the financial and business affairs of the Council and third party organisations.
(LGA 1972, Part V, Schedule 12A, part 1, paragraph 3).
Decision made and reasons:
Decision: To approve the appointment of a Principal Contractor for the St Margaret’s Way project.
Reason: To progress the construction of new Council homes.
Background
At the 27th September 2022 Cabinet Meeting, approval was sought for the appointment of the Principal Contractor for the Council’s housing development project at St. Margaret’s Way. The project includes 46 new, two and three bed homes, which are a mix of flats and houses on land owned by the Housing Revenue Account and land to be appropriated from the general fund.
After an open tender procurement process, three bids were returned and evaluated on both price and quality. Helix Construct Ltd returned the highest scoring tender and therefore identified as a preferred bidder all for the tendered sum of £13,349,702, with a development period of 21 months.
The Cabinet report recommended the award of the main contract to construct these new homes once a planning approval has been achieved for the development. This is subject to the lifting of the planning moratorium.
The Cabinet decision amended the proposed recommendation as follows to include a further financial assessment of Helix Construct Ltd the preffered bidder.
Cabinet Decision
1.Subject to a satisfactory financial assessment and agreement on contract price in accordance with recommendation 2, and the project achieving formal planning approval, awards the main contract to construct 46 social rented homes to Helix Construct Ltd.
2.Delegates authority to the Strategic Director (Place) and the Chief Finance Officer in consultation with the Portfolio Holder (Place) to carry out a further financial assessment of Helix Construct Ltd and to finalise the contract value with the approved contractor.
An updated financial assessment was conducted on Helix Construct Ltd and approved on the 12th October 2022 in a separate Officer Decision Record Sheet.
The contractor’s tender price remained fixed and valid until the 19th October 2022. After further negotiations with the contractor, they provided costs for additional fees beyond this date which total £300,000. These costs have been checked and verified for value for money by our Employers Agent. A revised contract sum to appoint the contractor is now £13,649,702.
This report therefore seeks approval to appoint Helix Construct Ltd to deliver the St Margaret’s Way project for a contract sum of £13,649,702.00