Purpose

This decision will result in Dorset Council
incurring expenditure which is, or the making of savings which are, significant
having regard to the Council's budget for the service or function to which the
decision relates namely where the sum involved would exceed £500,000.

 

 

Reason(s) for Decisions:

 

In 2021 the Council commissioned consultants Cushman & Wakefield to
prepare a Strategy and Implementation Plan for Dorset Innovation Park (DIP).
This Plan set out a series of desirable/critical investments/interventions
required for DIP including the direct
development of further flexible leasehold hybrid industrial/office/R&D
floorspace (Quadrant 2).

The Cushman & Wakefield report predicts that
the future demand for space at DIP will come from SMEs, which would be looking
to rent units as opposed to buying plots and building their own facilities.

 

Demand for the existing Quadrant business units is
high, and there is a significant demand for new units demonstrated by direct
approaches from businesses seeking to locate to this type of space on DIP.

 

To service the growing demand for industrial units
at DIP, it is proposed to develop c2,000 sqm of light industrial space at the
Quadrant 2 development. 

 

A Cabinet decision taken in June 2022 - Future
Development of Dorset Innovation Park – Dorset Innovation Park Report.pdf
(dorsetcouncil.gov.uk) – approved £3.1m plus 20% contingencies for the
development of Quadrant 2 and delegated the authority to implement the Quadrant
2 proposals to the Executive Director for Place in consultation with the
Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Assets & Property and the Section 151
Officer.

 

Officers undertook a procurement process, using the
council’s Repairs Maintenance Minor & Small Capital Works (RMMSCW)
Framework, to appoint a design and build contractor for Quadrant 2.  This process, supported by external QS
consultants Currie and Brown, recommended that the two stage
design and build contract be awarded to Spetisbury
Construction Ltd (SCL), which was agreed and a Pre
Construction Services Agreement was signed and commenced.

 

Alternative options
considered and rejected:

 

Option 1 – To not proceed
with the Quadrant 2 project.

This option would result in the council not taking forward
a project that would address market demand at the DIP for commercial units and
generate a commercial return to the council. 
Implementation of the project will bring jobs and investment to the
Innovation Park and help address the Economic Growth Strategy, neither of these
benefits will be achieved should the project not proceed.

 

For these reasons this option has been discounted.

Content

To give approval for Spetisbury
Construction Ltd. to move to the construction phase of their two-stage Design
& Build contract for light industrial units (Quadrant 2) at Dorset
Innovation Park.