Somers Orchard Affordable Homes Housing Development - Phase 1 - Soft Market Testing

Description

Portsmouth City Council (the 'Council') is seeking to engage in open pre-procurement soft market testing discussions with suitably qualified and experienced contractors in respect of a potential forthcoming contracting opportunity concerning the Somers Orchard Affordable Homes Housing Development Phase 1 - Block C & associated infrastructure, enabling works and public realm / landscaping. Following the demolition of the Horatia and Leamington tower blocks, the Council commissioned Karakusavic Carson Architects to prepare a development masterplan for the sites and the immediate wider area. See link below to view further details on the approved plan for new housing on the Horatia and Leamington sites: https://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/plan-for-new-housing-on-horatia-and-leamington-sites-approved/ The development masterplan proposes several sites identified as Blocks A, B, C & D in addition to the vacant demolition sites for Horatia and Leamington. These include the car park at Melbourne Place, the Gibson Centre and a number of associated areas of landscaping and highways adjacent to and around the existing and to be retained 'Birmingham Blocks'. It is proposed to bring forward the masterplan in phases. The primary goal and focus of this exercise is to identify a procurement strategy to deliver Phase 1 (Block C), however should it be deemed financially beneficial and viability is favourable, the focus may be extended to include Phase 2 (Block A) at the same time or as a future option. The Council envisages securing the contractor in line with the following indicative programme, however it should be noted that the dates below are purely indicative and may be subject to future change. Soft Market Testing Q1 2025 Procurement process Q4 2025 - Q1 2026 Commence on site Q4 2026 - Q1 2027 Complete Q4 2028 onwards (Dates in calendar years) SOFT MARKET TESTING Places will be limited to suitably qualified and experienced contractors on a first come first served basis, refer to section II.2.4 for details including for how to formally express interest in participating in the Soft Market Testing process. The In-tend system can be accessed free of charge via the following web link: https://intendhost.co.uk/portsmouthcc/aspx/home Lot 1: SOFT MARKET TESTING The objectives of this SMT exercise are to: • Share information on the current position of the development • Inform the future procurement (traditional, two-stage, hybrid), commercial / risk and contracting strategy • Gauge market interest, capacity and capability • Investigate current and future project viability, value engineering and expected levels of associated costs • Explore programme, critical path and options • Discuss compliance and building safety regulation implications Soft Market Testing Schedule Issue PIN: Monday10th February 2025 Briefing attendance applications*: Thursday 20th February 2025 Initial briefing meeting (Teams): Monday 24th February 2025 Submission of (optional) reports: Friday 14th March 2025 1-1 meetings / presentations: 17th - 28th March 2025 *NDA required to attend as costings, detailed programme & VE schedule will be discussed during the briefing. The Council would like to engage in an initial briefing, followed by 1-1 meetings with a maximum of 5 suitably qualified and experienced contractors, in order to gain an understanding of likely market interest, capacity, options, risks and costs. Places at the initial briefing and subsequent 1-1 meetings will be allocated on a first come first served basis to contractors who can provide assurance to the council that they are suitable for inclusion in the soft market testing. To be considered suitable, interested contractors must be able to evidence experience as detailed within the SMT pack. The Council will be holding a briefing via TEAMS on the date above. Invited contractors are encouraged to attend the event, as it will present an overview of the project, clarify areas for feedback and provide an opportunity to meet council officers, and KCA. To book a place on the briefing and subsequent 1-1 meetings, contractors are to complete the 'Expression of Interest in SMT application' along with NDA & COI declaration, as detailed within the SMT pack available via Intend, and return this using the correspondence function on Intend by the date above. The Council ideally wishes to undertake the subsequent 1-1 meetings remotely via Teams. The Council has capacity to undertake a maximum of 5, 60-90 minute 1-1 meetings during the period 17th March and 28th March 2025 and can offer the following slots: • Monday 17th March 10:00 - 11:30 • Monday 17th March 12:30 - 14:00 • Wednesday 19th March 10:00 - 11:30 • Thursday 20th March 14:00 - 15:30 • Friday 21st March 10:00 - 13:00 (Flex within this time range) • Monday 24th March 13:00 - 15:30 (Flex within this time range) • Tuesday 25th March 11:00 - 12:30 OPTIONAL REPORT Following receipt of the signed NDA, further information will be released to enable contractors to submit an optional brief report, providing a critique of the costing & value engineering options. The report will aid an open and frank discussion at any of the subsequent 1-1 meetings. SMT FEEDBACK REPORT Any contractors who attend the briefing or 1-1 meetings, will be sent a draft SMT Feedback Report for review. A final version of the SMT feedback report will be included in the issue of any formal procurement process. The In-tend system can be accessed free of charge via the following web link: https://intendhost.co.uk/portsmouthcc/aspx/home Additional information: PROCUREMENT ACT 2023 The council have published this Prior Information Notice and subsequent associated documents under the current Public Contract Regulations 2015. However, the subsequent formal procurement will commence in 2025 at which point the forthcoming Procurement Act 2023 will have come into force legally, subject to their being no further significant delays to the current go live date of 24th February 2025. To avoid any future compliance issues impacting a subsequent procurement process, the council has designed an SMT process that will align with the requirements of the Procurement Act 2023, particularly in relation to the increased transparency, conflict assessment and risk assessment considerations that the act will impose. BUILDING SAFETY ACT & FIRE SAFETY ACT Significant changes in legislation such as the Building Safety Act and Fire Safety Act will require greater scrutiny from contractors to ensure they are working in a compliant way and may require them to adopt new skills such as undertaking works as a result of Building Safety Cases for buildings of 6+ storeys.