Negotiated tender for Templeshannon
LOCAL AUTHORITY RECEIVED NO TENDERS IN OPEN CALL PROCESS
THE REGENERATION strategy for Templeshannon in Enniscorthy will be dependent on a successful ‘negotiated tender’ after the open tender process failed to attract any interest from consultant firms.
The multi-million euro project will be developed in three stages and the current tender process was with regard to a preliminary design for the area, which will also incorporate a new pedestrian footbridge over the Slaney.
However, at last week’s meeting of Wexford County Council the members were told that no submissions were received for the strategy as a result of the open tender process.
In the wake of that meeting, Chief Executive Officer of Wexford County Council Tom Enright spoke about the issue and what it means for the project in the long term.
While acknowledging that it was a little unusual to not receive any tenders for such a substantial project, Mr Enright said there could be a number of reasons for it.
‘It might be that a lot of companies are very busy,’ Mr Enright said.
He also pointed out that, while unusual, it’s not unknown for tenders not to be received and highlighted the plan for the High Hill area of New Ross as being a case in point.
‘We had to re-tender the High Hill park because there was very little interest initially,’ he said.
With regard to Enniscorthy, he said the situation now was that the local authority has two options.
‘We can either re-tender or do a negotiated tender,’ Mr Enright said.
Under the negotiated tender process the local authority can approach suitable contractors and Mr Enright said it presents an opportunity to ensure ‘we get value for money’.
‘ This is for the detailed design and to prepare tender documents and then we can go to construction,’ Mr Enright said.
He said the preliminary stage of the process, for which this tender will apply, will enable the local authority to go for full planning permission and property acquisition if necessary.
With regard to the timeframe for the project, Mr Enright said it shouldn’t affect the overall project by more than a few weeks.
‘ This will take a number of years to develop fully and this is only a very small delay,’ he said.
Acting Director of Services with Wexford County Council Amanda Byrne also spoke to this newspaper about the project and said receiving no tenders ‘is not unusual and does happen from time to time’.
‘ The negotiated tender process will also us to go to someone directly,’ Ms Byrne said.
‘It’s not a straight forward project and there are different elements to it.’
Ms Byrne said the Covid-19
pandemic hasn’t helped matters: ‘ That might explain why we had no tenders for it.’
She also confirmed that the project won’t be delayed too much by the issue and said it could lead to a situation where the strategy will be able to begin straight away once consultants are appointed as a result of the negotiated tender process.
‘We know it’s frustrating now because there are three or four big projects at the design phase but when they do happen they will completely transform the town,’ Ms Byrne said.
‘In this process, once we agree where we are going we will be off.’
Meanwhile, the Executive Engineer for Special Projects, Fintan Ryan, said design works on the pedestrian bridge are progressing and the results of site investigation works completed in November 2020 have been submitted to the bridge designer for assessment and completion of the design report.
The stages of the project include: Phase 1 (€5.62m) – Master planning and Technical
Design Services; Templeshannon Street Enhancement Work; Adaptation of the Leisure Centre car park; Urban Block Development Enabling Works - Block A & B; Templeshannon Food & Community Hub (by Model County Development/WLD); Phase 2: (€3.5m) – Pedestrian bridge construction and development of block A and B with funding from private sector investment.
Mr Ryan said an application for funding for the project was submitted to the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government in May, 2020.
He also said Wexford County Council is proceeding to take on an integrated design team to progress the master planning, prepare the environmental and traffic assessments, and engineering design services required to progress the project to shovel-ready status.
Mr Ryan said it’s expected to take about two months to secure the required design team and commence the preliminary design and planning stages of the project.
While officials are confident the delay won’t have an adverse effect on the project in terms of the time-frame, Cllr Jackser Owens is afraid that receiving no tenders for the project is indicative of Enniscorthy being ‘ignored’.
‘It’s another delay and it always seems to be that in Enniscorthy we have to put up with delays all the time,’ Cllr Owens said.
‘Why is that everything with us seems to always be delayed?’
He added: ‘Why is this delayed? It always seems as if everything we do, seems to be delayed and it’s not good enough.’
‘We have TDs and a Junior minister in the town but still our projects seem to get delayed.’
In its strategy plan document for Templeshannon, which was published in 2018, Wexford County Council described Templeshannon as a natural amenity that is ‘wonderfully sighted’.
It stated that the regeneration opportunity for Templeshannon was based around two significant infrastructure projects: the Enniscorthy Flood Defence scheme and the regeneration strategy for the Templeshannon area itself.
A report prepared for the local authority by Arup, in collaboration with Future Analytics and Sheridan and Tierney Architects, outlined key requirements for the strategy.
The report stated that underpinning the objective is the desire to ultimately regenerate the area by tackling critical issues such as poor pedestrian environment, congestion, dereliction and anti-social behaviour.
‘ This overall vision also includes increasing the attractiveness of the area to encourage investment,’ the report stated.
The report also stated that the Regeneration Strategy ‘seeks to provide a living document that the community in Templeshannon and Enniscorthy can use to identify a vision for how the area can be shaped but also a pathway that shows how to get there’.
The Regeneration Strategy comprises a series of ideas, actions, programmes and projects to be implemented by many groups and organisations, but for which the town itself would be collectively responsible.
‘It is intended that this plan will be owned by the people of Templeshannon to be used and reused for years to come,’ the Arup report stated.
With regard to the built environment in Templeshannon the report highlighted that the area is comprised of many sites of heritage interest with the earliest dating from the middle to the first millennium (c:600AD).