Having received four completed tenders for the construction works for the Phase 1 developments at Underhill Park, MCA Trustees are now assessing the submissions.
It was hoped that this would be a relatively straightforward process, but unfortunately all of the tenders are over the project budget, which was set based on estimates completed in early 2020.
The higher tender costs were something that MCA had been led to expect by professional advisers, based on the well documented issues in the constriction supply chain due to Brexit and COVID, which have led to significant industry wide price increases over the last 18 months. And with a build period of around 12 months, tendering companies have had to take a best guess at what future prices and issues might be.
Working with our professional advisers, MCA is now evaluating the detail of the tenders submitted and exploring options for delivering the project. The team is working towards awarding a contract to start in early January 2022.