Decision details

It is recommended that the Director of Housing, Regeneration & Planning approve the waiver of Contract Standing Order 08.03 and approve the implementation of Contract Standing Order 10.01.2.d to directly appoint KCA for the value of £153,177 to complete design work up to planning submission (RIBA Stage 3).

KCA have already started work on 10 sites, all of which have progressed to a pre-app stage. KCA have pre-existing knowledge of the sites and would be ready to start immediately. They will also be able to save the Council time by using their historic knowledge of the schemes to effectively and efficiently complete the design work to planning. In addition, appointing KCA will help save the Council money as they have only quoted to complete the remaining design work whereas other architects are more likely to charge large sums for transitional works.

A mini competition could take place, but this would be very time consuming from a procurement and project kick off perspective as most schemes would need to be reassessed and progressed from the beginning. Tendering out a new contract would cost the Council additional money and time; this option was therefore rejected.