Decision details

This decision will result in Dorset Council incurring expenditure which is, or the making of savings which are, significant having regard to the Council's budget for the service or function to which the decision relates namely where the sum involved would exceed £500,000.

Reason(s) for Decisions:

In 2021 the Council commissioned consultants Cushman & Wakefield to prepare a Strategy and Implementation Plan for Dorset Innovation Park (DIP). This Plan set out a series of desirable/critical investments/interventions required for DIP including the direct development of further flexible leasehold hybrid industrial/office/R&D floorspace (Quadrant 2).

The Cushman & Wakefield report predicts that the future demand for space at DIP will come from SMEs, which would be looking to rent units as opposed to buying plots and building their own facilities.

Demand for the existing Quadrant business units is high, and there is a significant demand for new units demonstrated by direct approaches from businesses seeking to locate to this type of space on DIP.

To service the growing demand for industrial units at DIP, it is proposed to develop c2,000 sqm of light industrial space at the Quadrant 2 development. 

A Cabinet decision taken in June 2022 - Future Development of Dorset Innovation Park – Dorset Innovation Park Report.pdf (dorsetcouncil.gov.uk) – approved £3.1m plus 20% contingencies for the development of Quadrant 2 and delegated the authority to implement the Quadrant 2 proposals to the Executive Director for Place in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Assets & Property and the Section 151 Officer.

Officers undertook a procurement process, using the council’s Repairs Maintenance Minor & Small Capital Works (RMMSCW) Framework, to appoint a design and build contractor for Quadrant 2.  This process, supported by external QS consultants Currie and Brown, recommended that the two stage design and build contract be awarded to Spetisbury Construction Ltd (SCL), which was agreed and a Pre Construction Services Agreement was signed and commenced.

Alternative options considered and rejected:

Option 1 – To not proceed with the Quadrant 2 project.

This option would result in the council not taking forward a project that would address market demand at the DIP for commercial units and generate a commercial return to the council.  Implementation of the project will bring jobs and investment to the Innovation Park and help address the Economic Growth Strategy, neither of these benefits will be achieved should the project not proceed.

For these reasons this option has been discounted.

To give approval for Spetisbury Construction Ltd. to move to the construction phase of their two-stage Design & Build contract for light industrial units (Quadrant 2) at Dorset Innovation Park.