Purpose

It was announced in March 2021 Ipswich Borough
Council was successful in securing £25m Towns Fund from
Government through submission of their Town Improvement Plan (TIP)
aimed at improving Ipswich Town Centre through a suite of 11
interventions.
 
IBC Executive on 15 December 2021 agreed a
report regarding Towns Fund outlining the programmed interventions
and likely spend for this project to ensure timely delivery. A
further report on Digital Ipswich was agreed at Executive on 31
October 2023 confirming the three strands of delivery for the
project and outlining procurement routes.
 
Commissioned by Ipswich Central, Urban XR
developed an augmented reality app - Cornhill Christmas – to
help generate footfall into Ipswich town centre in 2021.
 
The objective is to build on this live app by
enhancing the animation and bring it under the Digital Ipswich
Town’s Fund as a pilot project to test systems and processes
ahead of the main programme of AR trail development. IBC will then
launch it as an exciting addition to the Christmas Big
Weekender.
 
The current game brings people to the Cornhill
where they experience an interactive animation of Rudolph on the
steps of the Town Hall before he flies around the buildings and
assets of the square. The app will be
developed by adding additional elements that
changes the ending of the game to guide people up Lloyds Avenue
where a Rudolph light projection will be displayed that is linked
to the end of the game.
 
The development of the app includes the
following items:
• Scanning of the Cornhill upper plaza
and route to Lloyds Avenue for integration into the AR application
positioning software
• Design new 3d models for presents, new
flight path, elf, text.
• Design masking models for buildings for
sleigh fly over to reach Lloyds Avenue
• Update the application with new
animations and physics for falling presents etc.
• Update app user interface with
instructions such as “follow the sleigh!” and
“please be aware of your surroundings at all
times”.
• Weekly testing of the application on
android and iPhone applications.
• Deployment to Apple and Google stores,
plus updates to the app description and images.
• Provision of QR code that links to the
app downloads for android and iOS stores.
• Video and still image extracts to
support IBC PR and marketing.
 
A story will be created that will entice
footfall from the Cornhill towards the top of Lloyds Avenue and on
that journey will be a unique to Ipswich light projection to
provide further enjoyment and to encourage increased dwell time at
those businesses located on Lloyds Avenue. The projection will last
for four weeks up to 2nd January 2024.
The app based AR Trail and projection will be
created without time or date constraints to ensure that it can be
utilised every year, will be owned by IBC and will require minimal
ongoing revenue investment in future years.
 
This project will be clearly presented and
branded as a Town’s Fund project, recognising the investment
from the Towns Fund and will support the tangible objectives of
Digital Ipswich such as a 10% increase in footfall and dwell
times.
 
A snapshot of the cumulative benefits for the
projects:
• Supporting the Christmas Big
Weekender
• Offering a unique engaging festive
activation that is both digital and inclusive
• Will increase dwell times and visitor
footfall
• Serve to cross promote the businesses
along Lloyds Avenue
• Promote the Town’s Fund with
supported branding
• Offer good PR and engagement
opportunities for IBC and businesses on Lloyds Avenue.
• Provide legacy assets that can be used
yearly at Christmas

Decision

To exempt the following two contracts from the
market testing requirement of
Contract Standing Orders, under paragraph
3.10.2.
 
a) Urban XR, based at Adastral Park,
Martlesham Heath for the app development at a cost of
£14,500
b) Warehouse Digital, based at The Havens,
Ipswich for the Light Projection creation and projection at a cost
of £14,000
 
Reason:
A delay would lead to loss of service and
there is an urgency to deliver the service for Christmas.
 
The development of the existing app based AR
trail can only be undertaken by the original supplier Urban XR and
there is a current opportunity to purchase the app to provide this
service in future, which is in the
Council’s best economic interest. In
addition if the complete project is to be delivered in time for
Christmas 2023 then there is insufficient time to undertake a full
tendering process for the light projection element of
the AR trail. Both of these businesses are
Ipswich based and these contract awards will meet one of the stated
aims of the Towns Fund which is to where appropriate and possible
award contracts to local suppliers.