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Bam Construct’s preconstruction services agreement (PCSA) for a new £50.4m ‘super school’ in Northumberland has been extended by the county council.
The council cabinet agreed on Tuesday (12 December) to issue an early works instruction “as an extension of the current PCSA up to the value of £1.4m to prevent any increases in cost or delays in programme until the award of contract is complete in February 2024”.
Astley High School and Whytrig Middle School in Seaton Valley will be rebuilt on a new shared campus and will be the first school in the county to be net zero in operation.
The new combined campus, designed by Ryder Architecture, will include sports facilities for use by the wider community. It is planned to be open for more than 1,000 pupils in September 2025.
In the Tuesday meeting, cabinet members also concluded that the overall scheme will require a £13.3m budget boost beyond the originally allocated £37.1m. “In the main, this is attributed to the unprecedented increase in construction costs,” they stated.
A Bam spokesperson told Construction News that the contractor is ready to start work on site in February next year, soon after a full council vote on the contract award is due to be held.
The council has been in direct negotiations with Bam for the main construction contract, as earlier efforts to attract more than one bidder were unsuccessful.
“We’re currently doing enabling works and we’ll carry on into the main build,” the spokesperson added.
Audrey Kingham, executive director for children, young people & education, noted in her report to councillors: “Current market conditions throughout the UK are dictating difficult competitive tendering as well as soaring prices.
Contractors are preferring a two-stage tendering approach due to healthy order books and being more selective in the market, resulting in minimal responses to open tender exercises,” Audrey Kingham, executive director for children, young people & education noted in her report to councillors.
“This is also impacting on the rising costs with contractors and subcontractors being more selective when bidding and pricing work.”
Guy Renner-Thompson, cabinet member for inspiring young people at Northumberland County Council, said that Bam is “committed to using as many local contractors as possible”.
Bam has lined up a team of preferred specialists including Durham-based Groundwork Services for earthworks, Leeds-based groundworks specialist GRK Civils and Motherwell-based steelworks firm BSB Structural.
Wates subsidiary SES Engineering Services will perform mechanical and electrical work, the Bam spokesperson added.
Bam has been involved in other education projects in the North East. Earlier this year, it completed a £32m new school building as part of a broader redevelopment project at Whitley Bay High School that is due to finish in December next year.
The contractor is also halfway through a £36m design-and-build job at Farringdon Academy in Sunderland, the company spokesperson said, with the new school scheduled to open in September 2024.
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