Purpose

This report seeks approval to commence a procurement exercise for the provision of professional services for concept and preliminary design of the Transport for City Regions (TCR) Greatie Market (Phase 1) programme.

Decision

For the reasons set out in this report, the Corporate Director has decided to:

1)    Commence a procurement exercise for the provision of professional services for concept and preliminary design of the Greatie Market (Phase 1) programme, with a planned duration of 35 weeks and for a total estimated value of £735,000 excluding VAT.

Alternative options considered

Do nothing: This option has been discounted as the council does not have sufficient resource or expertise to deliver the required design services for the scale and nature of design works for the Greatie Market (Phase 1) programme, and the programme carries considerable funding risk if timescales are not met.  Using proven resources via the council’s Highways Professional Services Framework provides some reassurance and helps to minimise the risk associated with this programme.

In-house: The council does not have the resource to provide the services required. Therefore, this option has been discounted.