2324-0019 Highbury Fields Café Improvements

Highbury Fields, N5 is the borough’s largest greenspace, attracting an average of 2,000 visitors each day to the play area alone. It is also home to various sports facilities including four netball courts and 11 tennis courts.

This scheme seeks to improve the north-east corner of the Fields by demolishing the existing café kiosk, bandstand building, derelict former park-keeper’s bungalow and removing various ancillary buildings. The cumulative footprint will be used to create a new high-quality building that provides a café, public toilets and park-keeper facilities.


Planning permission was granted in July 2023. The planning reference for the project is P2023/1388/FUL and can be viewed at Islington’s planning portal via
https://www.islington.gov.uk/planning/applications/comment
The requirement

Islington Council is seeking a principal contractor for the construction of a new café in Highbury Fields and associated amenities such as public toilets and a Changing Places toilet, the demolition of the existing café, demolition of existing bandstand and demolition of the derelict park keeper's bungalow with reinstatement, under a traditional JCT contract with contractor design portions. The contractor design portions are potentially mechanical, electrical and plumping (MEP) and screw piles foundation.

The bandstand building is within a fenced area that is used by Islington’s Bright Start services which is a children’s playground area for ages up to five years old. Consequently, the demolition of the bandstand building will need to be carefully discussed with Islington and the design team to avoid disturbance during the peak summer months and peak use by the community. As a result, it would be preferred if the building was demolished within the winter months.

It will be necessary for the appointed contractor to aid the design team in complying with existing planning conditions and to provide the necessary information to enable compliance with further Planning and Building Control conditions as set by the planning approval, to ensure there are no delays in the construction programme. Short-term negative impacts, such as disruption to residents and park users, will be mitigated via a Construction Management Plan and Construction Logistics Plan, provided by the tenderer, and signed off prior to work starting on site as per the planning condition.


Tenderers’ approach to Social Value will be assessed as part of the contract via a specific Social Value question within the method statement questions, weighted at 20%.

Please note that the Bill of Quantities provided in the tender pack is in draft and not to be completed at SQ stage and a finalised version will be issued at second stage of tender.


Lots

The contract will not be split into lots and one principal contractor is being sought for the entirety of the project and contract.

TUPE [Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations]

Potential providers must be aware that TUPE may or may not apply to this service. Further details will be available in the invitation to tender.

Contract Period

The contract period will be for eight months from an estimated start date of October 2024 with option to extend up to a further two months. Also included will be a 12-month defect and liability period.

Contract Value

The estimated total value of this contract is £1,100,000 over the maximum 10-month term of the contract. However, the Council is confident the bids received will be lower than the estimated value.


Award criteria

The contract will be awarded to the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations. MEAT for this contract is quality 60% and cost 40 %. Tender submissions will be subject to minimum quality thresholds of 35% or above. Further details will be provided in the invitation to tender.

Cost 40 %
Quality 60 %

Quality 60%, made up of:

Proposed approach to social value - 20%
Proposed measures and procedures/processes to ensure the contract is delivered within budget and on time - 20%
Proposed methodology for implementing quality management procedures - 10%
Proposed approach to health and safety - 10%

Total 100%

Tenderers should be aware that we reserve the right to hold site visits and/or presentations and/or interviews during the tender process. Site visits and/or presentations and/or interviews will be for verification/clarification purposes of the written submission.

We reserve the right to interview leading bidders.

Procurement Process

This contract is over the threshold at which we are required to publish public procurement notices for new procurements to the UK e-notification service, Find a Tender (FTS).

The contract will be procured using the Restricted Procedure. The Restricted Procedure means the procurement process will be conducted in two stages.

The first stage will involve selecting a minimum of the five highest-scoring organisations through a selection questionnaire (SQ). All submissions will be subject to minimum requirements as stated in the SQ.

The second stage will be an evaluation of tenders submitted by bidders who are selected at the SQ stage.