Issue details

On February 28, 2023, the council approved the principle of funding a new, purpose-built leisure centre at Stychbrook Park, in Lichfield based on £10million of funding provided by the Council.

The Council approved the Capital Financing Requirement (Borrowing Need) of £5million being initially funded by Internal Borrowing. Council approved an update to the Medium-Term Financial Strategy based on the £10million funding threshold.

The Council delegated authority to the Leader and Chief Executive in consultation with the Monitoring Officer and the Section 151 Officer to complete all contracts and funding agreements necessary to successfully deliver the new leisure centre subject to the financial implications being within Approved Budgets.

The delivery of the leisure centre will be through a 2-stage process, the first being for the appointment of a design team and the second to appoint a main contractor to carry out the delivery of the construction phase. This decision is relevant to the first stage only with the second phase taking placed after the completion of RIBA stage 4.

Tendering began in March 2023 for the appointment of a design team and following a 30-day formal tender period, the council received six compliant tenders. An evaluation process project took place, and a preferred tenderer was identified based on the highest overall cost and quality score.

This evaluation process was led by the procurement team and involved technical experts, internally from the major projects team, and externally from Townsend & Renaudon. Tenders were evaluated individually and then collectively moderated.

The preferred tenderer, Total Swimming Ltd, scored the highest on the quality evaluation and was competitively priced. Their Tender submission price is £535,510.35 which will be the contact award value and is within the budget thresholds set within the MTFS.

A Contract Administrator and Quantity Surveyor (Townsend and Renaudon) has been appointed to manage the day-to-day activity of the project on behalf of the council after the appointment has been made.