Agenda item

[Report of the Director of Environment and Neighbourhoods. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods.]

The report will seek agreement to award of Contract for North Hill Retaining Wall scheme following a competitive procurement process. The scheme forms part of the Council's Sustainable Transport Works Plan (STWP) for 2019/20.

The Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods introduced this report which sought agreement to award of Contract for North Hill Retaining Wall scheme following a competitive procurement process. The scheme forms part of the Council’s Sustainable Transport Works Plan (STWP) for 2019/20.

The Cabinet Member informed the North Hill wall was in Highgate N6, between View Road and Storey Road and retains a narrow service road, which is public highway, providing access to private residential properties. The wall had been built around the 1900s and had failed a structural assessment in 2014. It was therefore necessary to replace the wall.

The Cabinet Member noted the scheme was included in the Sustainable Transport Works Plan (STWP) 2019/20 approved at the Cabinet meeting on 18th June 2019.

The Cabinet Member closed by noting the new structure would have a design life of a minimum of 120 years before it would need replacing. Part of the programme delivery included refurbishing and retaining the existing railings as they are of historical interest, resurfacing the carriageway, adding a new brick façade to the retaining wall. Further details of these works can be found at 4.5 of this report.

Further to considering the exempt information at item 33 and noting that the constitution and contract standing orders allow Directors to vary contracts up to the key decision threshold of £500k,

RESOLVED

1. In accordance with Contracting Standing Order 9.07.01(d), to approve the award of a contract for the North Hill Retaining Wall Improvement Works to Bidder 1 in the sum of £897,536.53 + VAT with provision to increase this sum, as necessary, by an amount not exceeding the risk and contingency allowance set out in the exempt report at paragraph 2 but subject to the ability of the Director to agree a variation to the contract in line with the Council’s contract standing orders.
2. To authorise the issue of a letter of intent (LOI) for the amount of £89,753.65 + VAT (being 10% of the total contract price), as permitted under CSO 9.07.3.

Reasons for decision

Officers have undertaken a competitive tendering exercise to secure a contractor to deliver the North Hill retaining Wall Works. Through this process Bidder 1 have scored the highest and have demonstrated that they should be awarded the contract.

By awarding the contract to Bidder 1, the Council is securing the delivery of the North Hill retaining Wall Improvement Works. It is the Council’s intention for the works to be conducted between January 2020 and October 2020.

The scheme is funded by Haringey Council’s Capital expenditure - Highways Structures Budget. This includes all the staff costs, design and statutory undertakers’ investigations which have been carried out ahead of the main works to minimise the risks. Other funding is: £20,000 from TfL LIP programme and a £25,000 contribution from Haringey’s Maintenance budget for the resurfacing works.

The works delivered by the scheme are essential to replace the existing retaining wall structure that has passed its design life and failed a structural assessment. The works will also result in minimising maintenance costs in the long term.

As part of the scheme delivery, the following works will be carried out:

• erecting vehicle restraints on the elevated service road,
• refurbishing and reusing existing railings that are of historic interest,
• improving the width of the service road, replacing kerbs and resurfacing the service road,
• carriageway resurfacing of the main North Hill road for the full width along the retaining wall;
• adding a new brick façade to the retaining wall, and
• Improving the layout, signing and road marking of the junction of Storey Road/North Hill Road. All of the above measures would ensure Haringey’s assets are up to date and would minimise maintenance.

The new structure will also create a better environment for walking by widening the existing service road and will ensure vehicles using it will not overrun the footways.

Alternative options considered

Option 1- Do Nothing: Pursuing this option would fail to address the critical issue that the wall has failed the structural assessment. It would also fail to provide the improvements to this area of Haringey, especially for walking within close proximity of a primary school. This option is not recommended.

Option 2 - Direct Award to Term Maintenance Contractor: this option was discounted as it was the intention to stop issuing works to the current term Contract at the end of October 2019 and it was considered more cost effective to test the market by undertaking a competitive procurement process to secure the most economically advantageous tender to the Council.