Cambridge City Council - Tree Planting in Coleridge Road - Expression of Interest

Cambridge City Council has a project to plant trees in the footways along Coleridge Road, Cambridge. We propose planting up to 20 trees in engineered tree pits using structural soil cells to ensure the new trees successfully mature and maximise ecosystem service delivery. We expect to plant trees in late 2024 or early 2025.

Coleridge Road is a residential street formerly used as a service road for military vehicles as a tank road. It is constructed with concrete slab foundations (c 300mm thick) extending beneath the footways on either side. It is a long, wide road with no on-street tree canopy cover, and very little shading offered from the residential properties.

We have undertaken feasibility work to determine the construction of the footways and the position of underground utilities to inform excavation and pit construction.

Requirements:
We are looking for tree pit solutions that will deliver several ecosytems service benefits to Coleridge Road and the wider area, including providing:
• Infiltration and attenuation of surface water runoff - rain gardens, etc.- ease pressure on the local drainage system and reduce the risk of localised flooding.
• Opportunity for tree roots to grow in a healthy soil environment.
• Structural stability - preventing the adverse impacts of loading from vehicles on soil structure.
• Biodiversity enhancement - planting for insects and pollinators.
• Flexibility - a system (or systems) that can be adopted for use in other city streets where space and construction are more limiting.
• Constructed from materials with a minimum carbon footprint.
Coleridge Road will be used as a case study to inform urban tree planting schemes in hard surfacing across Cambridge. The design of the solution(s) for Coleridge Road should be able to deliver the requirements set out above and have the capacity to adapt to different settings while delivering similar or more significant benefits.

The budget for this project is estimated at £100k.

Please provide the following:
1. Feasibility study options: To determine which of the design options is suitable. Descriptions and cost estimates
2. Design options: To meet the requirements set out above. Descriptions and cost estimates
3. Construction options: For each of the design options. Descriptions and cost estimates
4. Your company’s previous experience delivering solutions with similar challenges and sensitivities and what were the outcomes.

Your response should take up no more than two sides of an A4 sheet and should enable us to determine whether your solution(s) can meet the requirements of our project.

Please provide a response via the messaging function on Proactis no later than Tuesday, the 19th of September 2023 at 12:00 (noon).