Design, development, and construction of the Casement Park Stadium new build for Ulster Council

Description

In December 2013 the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association ("GAA") concluded a contract with Heron Buckingham Joint Venture ("HBJV"; "the Contract") after a procurement advertised on 15 January 2013. Invitations to tender were originally issued in May 2013, and reissued in July 2013. GAA is not a contracting authority, but the Contract is one to which the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (the "PCR 2015") (and previously the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (the "PCR 2006")) apply by virtue of Regulation 13 of the PCR 2015. The Department for Communities is the relevant contracting authority, and has a funding agreement with GAA, originally made by the Department of Culture Arts & Leisure ("DCAL"), including terms to ensure compliance with procurement law including the PCR 2015 (and previously the PCR 2006), as required by Regulation 13. GAA is not awarding a new contract, but instead now proposes to modify the Contract, considering that, if the proposed modifications amount to a substantial modification of the Contract within the meaning of PCR 2015, they are permissible without a new procurement procedure because the conditions set out in Regulation 72(1)(c) and 72(1)(f) of the PCR 2015 are fulfilled. Lot 1: The Contract is for the reconstruction of the Casement Park stadium in Belfast. It uses the NEC3 Engineering & Construction (Option A) form with additional clauses and requires the contractor to develop the RIBA Stage E design to Stage K and to construct the stadium in accordance with that design, for a specified price. This VEAT notice relates to permitted modification of the Contract. The modifications are connected with changes to the original design, as explained in Annex D1 below. Planning permission for the revised design was granted on 28 July 2021. Implementing it will involve modifying the Contract in relation to: a change to the Stage E design; further services similar to those pre-construction services for which the Contract originally provided; and a resulting increase in the contract price. The overall nature of the Contract will remain the same, i.e. demolition of the existing stadium and construction at the same location of a new stadium for Gaelic sports and ancillary activities. The design has been modified to reduce the capacity of the stadium from approximately 38,000 to 34,500 and incorporate a 360˚ circulation zone around the proposed structure, accommodated by a change to the topography and insertion of a mezzanine standing terrace. The other principal changes flowing from or made possible by these changes include: reduced seating height, and the use of a cantilevered roof covering all spectators (in place of the original truss roof enclosing only three sides of the stadium), producing an overall reduction in the height of the building; and the construction of a new inner crowd loaded wall with a planting zone around the boundary. The anticipated cost for the contractor to deliver remaining works required under the modified contract has been assessed and is expected to be in the range of £112M to £140M. These figures have been reflected in II.1.7 above and V.2.4 below (as 'lowest offer considered' and 'highest offer considered'). This represents an increase of between c.£52M and c.£80M above the original contract value, which was estimated at c.£60m. Such increase in costs can be broadly attributed to inflation since the time of contract award, the cost of design changes and other additional costs associated with the implementation of the proposed modification, noting that all figures presented have been subject to estimating tolerances which have been contributed to the range quoted above. Additional information: Refer to section VI.3