Contractors geared up for £70m of work in Portsmouth

Portsmouth council has unveiled plans for a £70m framework to help complete a 730,000ft² commercial park.

The council is looking for three or four design-and-build contractors who can be called on to work on the Dunsbury Park development (pictured) in Havant.

According to a prior information notice published to the Official Journal, successful contractors will be asked to provide early contractor involvement, design and construction activities for the further development of Dunsbury Park.

The council, which is the freehold owner of the site, started direct development in 2014 which has so far included the delivery of road infrastructure, site levelling, utility connections and approximately 130,000 ft² of commercial buildings.

Based upon the current masterplan, there is approximately 600,000 ft² of space left for development.

Bam is currently working with the council under the iESE London and South East major construction framework to develop Dunsbury Park, which the council said had been used to “effectively deliver the works undertaken to date”.

The council said it now wanted to the put its own framework in place to cover the full development “without any constraints in respect of term, value, contracting options and contractor market restrictions”.

It is aiming to publish its contract notice to the Official Journal on 11 February and hopes to have awarded contracts by 28 June.

The local authority predicted that most work packages would be let via open book negotiations with the top-ranked framework contractor.