Purpose

Waterfront East, a site located to the north
of Doncaster’s Town Centre, occupies a prime gateway site and
has great redevelopment potential. However, the site is also known
to be extensively contaminated as a result of various industrial
processes taking place on the site historically. The anticipated
costs to remediate the extent and types of contamination have acted
as a major blockage to the redevelopment of this key gateway
site
A report to Doncaster Councils Cabinet on 19th January 2022 updated
on a successful funding application made to the Levelling Up Fund
(LUF) Round 1 for several key regeneration projects
in Doncaster - including £*** for the decontamination of the
Waterfront East site, and subsequent delivery of a public green
space as an interim use pending the future redevelopment of the
site.
Furthermore, the Council has applied for a further £******
funding through the SYMCA Gainshare Fund to support delivery of
this project. In March 2023 SYMCA confirmed Outline Business Case
approval for the project funding. The Councils Project Team are
currently preparing for the submission of the Full Business
Case.
The Councils project team have progressed the initial feasibility
stage of the project, including a range of key investigations and
reports to understand the issues affecting the site, to inform the
decontamination project – such as intrusive site
investigation to determine the extent and character of
contamination, remediation strategy, flood risk assessment,
archaeology, and tree and ecology surveys. In an effort to reduce
the project risk during the required planning application these
reports and surveys have been consulted with various statutory
consultees, including the Environment Agency, Planning Authority,
SYAS etc
Although good progress has been made by the Council so far with the
feasibility stage of project, we are now at a stage where the
Council does not retain the relevant expertise in the specialist
areas of land remediation design and delivery to move the project
forward. As such it is necessary to appoint external consultants
with appropriate expertise in land remediation and associated
issues to assist the Council move forward with delivery.
Areas where consultancy support is required over the full life of
the project include;
- Topographical survey including GPR
- Technical support of applications to the Canal and River Trust to
consent works adjacent to canal, including boreholes to prove depth
of sheet piling
- Detailed landscaping proposals inc. to meet the needs of funders
and flood risk assessment
- Support stakeholder/community consultation and production of
Statement of Community Involvement
- Production of Design and Access Statement
- Oversee final production of planning application
- Consult/agree proposals with utility companies (gas, electricity,
water, telecoms etc) about remediation in proximity to buried
services, and removal of redundant services
- Advice on the treatment of invasive plant species found on
site
- Soft market testing with potential remediation contractors to
review/update project risks and delivery timeframes
- Preparation of documents for remediation tender
- Preparation of legal/contract documents for contracting of
remediation works
- Supervise tendering activities for remediation works
- Supervise on site delivery of remediation works including testing
and validation of remediation land
- Supervise delivery of interim landscaping scheme
- Monitor the impact of the proposed works on site ecology
The funding for the delivery of the LUF Waterfront East project is
quite challenging and represents a key risk to the project. As
such, the project team are seeking ways to expedite progress,
including urgent appointment of specialist consultancy support. To
that end, it is
proposed to appoint Perfect Circle JV Ltd via the Scape Framework.
This approach allows direct award of the contract to provide the
necessary support a multi-disciplinary consultant with a proven
track record of delivering the range of activities identified
– allowing expedited progress on the project to be
made.
To provide the full range of support required over the life of the
project, Perfect Circle have provided a fee proposal of
£*****. The proposal from Perfect Circle includes firmed up
fee proposals for many areas of consultancy support to be provided.
However, this complex scheme still contains several issues to be
fully investigated and the nature of support clarified. To that
end, the team have aimed to compile a comprehensive scope of
services, including where it is as yet unclear whether to the
extent to which support will indeed be required. The fee proposal
includes cost estimates for these provisional items, with a view to
trying to obtain a ‘worst case scenario’ fee proposal.
As the project progresses, the scope of services provided by
Perfect Circle will be kept under review and as matters clarify,
additions/omissions will be made to the scope of services made as
needed. To that end, it is proposed to approve a contingency budget
of £***** to cover any as yet unforeseen costs arising.

Content

DECISION TAKEN
1. Direct Award the consultancy contract to support the ongoing
delivery of the LUF Waterfront East Project to Perfect Circle JV
Ltd, contract value £****, via the Scape Framework
2. Creation of a £** contingency budget for the above
consultancy contract should additional services be required or cost
increases be identified against cost estimates provided for some
work packages later in the project programme
3. Draw down the above contract value and contingency budget,
£***, from existing approved resources, in accordance with
the delegation in the LUF 1 Cabinet decision taken on 19th January
2022