Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2020-05-05
Buyer: London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Country: UK
Contract type: Works
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 45000000: Construction work | 45110000 | 45111000 | 45111100 | 45111200
Estimated value: 143259634 GBP

Technical requirements: London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (the Council), EdCity Office and EdCity Development Ltd (being subsidiaries of Ark) and Ark Schools intend to enter into arrangements for the reconfiguration and redevelopment of the Ark Swift primary academy site at Australia Road, White City (the Site).
The Site currently comprises a primary academy school. The redevelopment shall (subject to contract) comprise:
— a separate block of private residential and intermediate housing units and all associated infrastructure.
Absolute Return for Kids (Ark), is a non-exempt charity and company registered in England and Wales and Ark Schools, (also a non-exempt charitable company registered in England and Wales being a multi-academy trust regulated by the Academies Act 2010) has ownership and occupation rights over a substantial part of the Site, pursuant to two leases granted in 2013 and 2015 for 125 years, and operates a primary academy on the Site. Ark is the sole member of Ark schools, therefore Ark (through Ark schools) has exclusive rights over the Site.
The Council therefore genuinely believes that the Council is able to award the contract for the redevelopment of the Site at Australia Road to EdCity Development Ltd, a subsidiary of Ark, following use of the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a notice within Regulation 32(b)(iii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, because the Council can award the contract to an Ark controlled entity only, but not to any other contractor, for reasons connected with protection of Ark School's exclusive rights as leaseholder.
Ark Schools (of which Ark is the sole member) and EdCity Office (a company limited by guarantee and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ark) wish to procure/facilitate the redevelopment of the Site as a mixed-use scheme in two phases, as described in paragraph II 1.4) above. To that end, Ark Schools and EdCity Office intend to enter into the Master Development Agreement with two further parties:
(i) the contracting authority (which is the reversionary freehold owner of the Site) as facilitator and part-funder of the Works; and
(ii) EdCity Development Ltd (a company limited by shares and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ark) as the development arm of the Ark organisation.
The MDA is thus a works contract which is proposed to be entered into between four parties, comprising three different entities within Ark's control and the Council and the relevant works are to be procured principally for the benefit of Ark Schools and its associated companies. The contracting authority is willing to enter into the MDA with Ark Schools, EdCity Office and EdCity Development Ltd because:
(ii) as a local authority with education duties it wishes to facilitate the provision of educational facilities;
(iv) as local housing authority with strategic responsibility to enable its administrative area's housing needs to be met, it wishes to part-fund the works.
Accordingly, the Council intends to enter into a Master Development Agreement and related agreements for surrenders and leases and other agreements with EdCity Development Ltd under which EdCity Development Ltd will redevelop the existing Ark Swift primary academy site in two phases.
For transparency, the Council is publishing its intention to award this contract through this notice.
EdCity Development Ltd is subcontracting 100 % of the building contract (GBP 116 000 000) to Bowmer and Kirkland (B&K). The building contract forms part of the overall value of the Master Development Agreement of GBP 143 259 634.


Winner: EdCity Development Ltd
Award value: 143259634