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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND RESOURCES BY DEPUTY R.G. LE HÉRISSIER OF ST. SAVIOUR
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 4th FEBRUARY 2014
Question
Could the Minister, as the shareholder representative, outline whether there is a policy regarding the employment of local architects by the States of Jersey Development Company and, if so, whether a process of pre-qualification is in place and, if not, when will it be in place?
Answer
There is no policy for the States of Jersey Development Company ("SoJDC"/"the Company") to employ local architects.
The Company performs pre-qualification processes as needed on a project by project basis.
The Company operates at arm's length to the States of Jersey and whilst there are appropriate governance arrangements in place with the Treasury Minister, as the political representative for the Company in accordance with P73/2010, the proposition establishing SoJDC, this does not extend to dictating policy on the Company's procurement and the Minister is not proposing to introduce any such policy.
The Company operates in a commercial environment and its prime purpose "is to act as the delivery vehicle for property development for the States of Jersey" (P73/2010). It therefore requires the necessary flexibility to work with which architects it chooses are in its best interests.
By way of example, the architect for the regeneration of the former Jersey College for Girls site is a local practice employing local staff.
It has been widely reported and explained by SoJDC why the first office buildings on the Jersey International Finance Centre ("JIFC") are being designed by off-island architects. This is primarily due to the fact that there are only two local practices with experience of delivering office buildings and both were involved with alternative schemes which are competing with the JIFC. SoJDC took the decision to appoint off-island for the first three buildings in order to differentiate its offering from other rival developments.