Victoria Tower Fabric Safety Project

Description

The Palace of Westminster (PoW), which includes Victoria Tower is an internationally important heritage asset acknowledged in its Grade I listing designation, and inclusion in a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with Westminster Abbey and St Margaret's Church. Victoria Tower is 325 ft tall and is, sited above Sovereign's Gate at the south-west end of the Palace site. The Tower was originally designed as a royal entrance and a repository for the records of Parliament and is currently home to the Parliamentary Archives although these are in the process of being moved elsewhere.  Significant repairs were last undertaken to Victoria Tower in the early 1990s. The building fabric has deteriorated in the intervening period, and it is now necessary to undertake repairs to the external envelope of Victoria Tower via a full-height scaffold. Parliament is exercising their duty of care to prevent future deterioration of the building fabric as custodians of this Grade I Listed asset and to maintain a safe and secure environment in and around the Palace of Westminster. Lot 1: The Corporate Officer of the House of Lords and the Corporate Officer of the House of Commons acting jointly invite interested parties to participate in an early market engagement exercise whose objective is to test and secure market insights on a delivery model that could be deployed through which the Authority can secure services, works and design elements. The Victoria Tower Fabric Safety Project draft Procurement Strategy envisages the appointment of contractors to undertake the works and services to deliver the project. As part of the ongoing procurement strategy development process, the Victoria Tower Fabric Safety Project wishes to gather the views of companies that may be interested in providing Delivery services. The market feedback gained from this preliminary market consultation will be used by the Victoria Tower Fabric Safety Project to help finalise its Procurement Strategy by Q2 2022. This Market Engagement Questionnaire has been developed for the Victoria Tower Fabric Safety Project to consult with the relevant contractors on market trends, seek feedback to proposed procurement options and obtain expression of interest for Victoria Tower Fabric Safety Project. Interested providers who wish to participate in this early market engagement are requested to download and review the engagement pack from our In-Tend procurement portal - https://in-tendhost.co.uk/parliamentuk/aspx/Home Interested parties are asked to complete the questionnaire and submit it to the Authority per instructions provided in the engagement pack. A closing date and time for responses to the early market engagement questionnaire is noted within the pack provided. Additional information: This engagement does not commit or constrain the Authority to the draft works outline provided, nor any aspects or element of the delivery model option presented. This is an exploratory market engagement exercise only, not a call for competition. The CPV codes used in this engagement and the full range of services covered may change prior to commencement of the proposed competition. PPCS uses an e-tendering portal (hosted by In-Tend) to manage its procurement processes. You will need to register on the portal before you can express an interest in any opportunities and view the associated tender documents. Many suppliers have existing accounts which they may not have access to. Please e-mail ppcs@parliament.uk if you think you might have an existing account and would like to be added to it rather than creating a new account. Registering on the PPCS e-tendering portal does not mean you are a supplier to UK Parliament or either House (Commons or Lords). Please note this is a Prior Information Notice and there are no 'tender' documents to download or submit at this stage. A contract notice will be issued to signal commencement of the formal procurement process. It is anticipated that this will be issued October 2022.