Purpose

This report requests that the Assistant
Director of Property and Investment agree to award a construction
contract to Whitfield and Brown Developments Ltd. The contract
includes the refurbishment of a section of Joseph Paxton Campus,
157 Park Road North, Birkenhead, over a 26-week contract period.
The refurbishment work will allow the provision for children who
are medically unfit to attend school to be delivered from one
site.

Decision

The Assistant Director
of Property and Investment has approved the award of a contract for
the refurbishment of a section of Joseph Paxton Campus, 157 Park
Road North, Birkenhead to Whitfield and Brown Developments Limited (Company
Number 1060958) for a 26-week term in accordance with the most
advantageous tender criteria at a contract price of
£1,179,354.33. 

Reasons for the decision

The proposal to
refurbish a section of the Joseph Paxton Campus is to allow the
provision for children who are medically unfit to attend school to
be delivered from one site, this allows greater joined up work for
young people, a wider breadth of opportunities and access to a
wider skill set of professionals at one location.
 
The co-location of the Home
Continuing Education Service (HCES[ME1] ) with Wirral
Hospital School will allow seamless movement of pupils who are
medically unfit to attend school. This is not currently available
under the current model.
 
The move to one site
will also allow more bespoke approaches to be utilised between the
different provision for children who have a medical barrier to
education.
 
A detailed
specification, schedule of works and drawings were issued in July
2025, and a tender exercise was undertaken. Three bids were
received using the Procure Partnerships Framework. The bids were
received, and were scored on a Price, Quality and Social Value
basis with Whitfield and Brown Developments Ltd submitting the most
economically advantageous tender, as detailed in the exempt
Appendix 1.
 

 [ME1]Use long version

Alternative options considered

To relocate the Home
Education Service to Woodchurch Road Primary School was the initial
preferred site, however following further consultation with service
users and Senior Officers, the site was seen to be unsuitable for
this provision