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1240/5(4961)
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT BY THE DEPUTY OF ST. JOHN
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 1st DECEMBER 2009
Question
Will the Minister advise whether all surveyors work in respect of the north of town Master plan is being undertaken by off-Island companies, and if so, would he inform the Assembly who the companies are, and whether any local companies were asked to tender for these works, and, if none were asked, explain the reasons why?
Given that the Island is in recession, would the Minister explain why the Planning and Environment Department is not using local professionals as a matter of course for all major projects, in order to assist with the economy?
Answer
Not all of the work by surveyors on the North of Town Masterplan was undertaken off-Island. Indeed a significant contribution was made to the project by the surveyors employed by the Property Holdings Department.
It was a requirement of the Brief that the appointed consultant, if not local, should work in conjunction with a local architectural practice to facilitate transference of masterplanning skills and experience. At the time the Brief was prepared, it was not considered that surveyors would be required to form part of the consultant team, and accordingly, none were asked to tender for the project.
Three local architectural practices were invited to tender for the project (BDK Architects, Naish Waddington Architects and Axis Mason) and three UK-based practices (Robert Adam Architects, MJP Architects and Hopkins Architects, all of whom had experience of working in Jersey). BDK were the only practice to submit as a lead practice, and were invited to interview with teams led by the three UK practices.
The four tenderers were interviewed by the Chief Officer, Director of Planning and Department Architect, and as Members will know, Hopkins Architects were appointed, in conjunction with Robert Townshend Landscape Architects and local practice Naish Waddington Architects, to prepare the Masterplan for the Northern part of St Helier.
As part of its submission, Hopkins indicated that it would require commercial advice in order to assess the viability of the options it considered. Hopkins proposed that it use WT Partnership, a UK company, and because it had worked successfully on the Esplanade Quarter proposals, the Planning and Environment Department approved its addition to the consultant team. That company was added to the team after the project had started and, although paid directly by the Planning and Environment Department because it did not form part of the original order raised against the project, worked directly to Hopkins. The fixed fee was £6000, which included visits to Jersey and consultation with local surveyors.
The Department regularly employs consultants, and ordinarily will appoint locally when it is satisfied that local practices have the required expertise and capacity to undertake the work.