Purpose

The project has been suffering for almost 18
months from issues around buildability and affordability. It has a
funding allocation of £4,936,545, however, an interim stage 4
cost plan has been produced by T&T acting on behalf of CBC Cost
Consultants which shows that the cost of the project has risen to
£6,731,232 putting this scheme circa £1.8m over budget.
The key areas where the budget has increased are in the
substructure (additional piling length); cladding; services and the
introduction of a gantry.

The design team have since sourced further information with regards
to the foundation solution for the building and believe that it can
now move away from a piled solution to a ground improvement and
raft solution. Whilst this option can reduce costs by circa
£800-900k, there is an impact in that to facilitate this, the
building needs to move away from both the Rampart building and the
coal stage, thereby reducing it in size. In addition, there is a
requirement for an intensive redesign of the stage 4 (and
potentially some stage 3) to accommodate these amends.

Even then, the solution offered however doesn’t meet the end
user’s occupational requirements and there is an
acknowledgement that the project really needs buildability input
from potential contractors now to be able to move it forward at
all. Aligned to this, the existing design team contract under which
the Rogers Leask team are appointed has a break clause included for
the end of Stage 4, which we are now approaching.

It is now considered that a contractor-led design solution is the
best opportunity to move the project forward. It does however put
the project at risk and has implications both in terms of programme
and budget while the designs are revised as part of the PCSA
approach. Work is being undertaken to mitigate both as far as
possible.

Content

The Service Director for Economic Growth (in
consultation with The Leader of the Council and the Chief
Executive), has agreed the next steps to progress the delivery of
the DRIIVe project:
a) That the stage 4 break clause in Rogers Leask contract be
triggered, on the understanding that although Stage 4 designs are
not fully completed, CBC will pay costs to the end of stage
4.

That the project procurement route is changed to a two-stage
express JCT Design & Build with Pre-Constructions Services
Agreement (PCSA) through the Procure Partnerships framework and the
procurement of this will begin immediately. There will be an
implication of additional costs (anticipated to be circa
£300,000) and impact on programme of this route. This route
is detailed a) more fully in the attached Appendix 1 – Turner
and Townsend DRIIVe project update report (3/6/24).

NB – the express route means the ITT can be undertaken with
two weeks and contractors will be assessed on three quality
questions plus their Overhead and Project (OH&P) figures only.
Full PCSA fees and prelims would be negotiated after
appointment.