Procuring a delivery partner for the Winstanley and York Road regeneration project
In January 2016, the Council launched a search for a skilled and experienced development partner to help us deliver the regeneration scheme in the years ahead. This was a competitive selection process with several companies submitting bids which were assessed in accordance with European Union (EU) procurement law. The process was lengthy and complex and took approximately a year to complete.
According to the EU rules, each bid had to be treated in confidence to avoid giving any company an advantage. With a development project as complicated, large-scale and sensitive as this, it was vital that every detail was carefully scrutinised to identify the best possible partner.
A joint venture approach
The Council looked to create a ‘joint venture’ with the selected partner specifically for the purpose of taking forward the development.
The joint venture process means that the Council has greater control over the project than it would if it were to sell the land and will be in a better position to protect and enhance residents’ interests and deliver the regeneration objectives. This was considered the most appropriate approach given the size and complexity of the Winstanley and York Road regeneration, and the lengthy timescale it will take to deliver.
Public engagement
Strict EU procurement and competition rules limit the amount of information that can be published during the procurement period, however our site office at 10 Lavender Road was open throughout the procurement to ensure residents could continue to ask questions and consider their rehousing options.
In July 2016, the Regeneration team hosted a public exhibition, as part of the Get Active Battersea festival. The three bidders were asked to clearly explain their experience of working with local residents in other similar estate renewal schemes, to provide examples of practice that has worked, and to give clear, measurable commitments to involving local people throughout the ongoing regeneration process.
Find out more about the information boards displayed by the three remaining bidders, as well as those exhibited by us which introduce the whole process.
Preferred bidder to joint venture partner
The completed process resulted in three bids being considered in December 2016, after which Taylor Wimpey was selected as the preferred bidder at the February 2017 Housing and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee, see Paper 17-66.
The first task of the new joint venture partnership was to draw up a planning application for the first stage of the development, initially Phase 0 or although since has been renamed Land North of Grant Road, as the planning submission. The new homes will be renamed when they are completed in Autumn 2020, when they become part of the existing Winstanley Estate. Residents were asked to share their thoughts and ideas about the design of their new homes.
To assist them in this, we ran a series of free workshops where residents were be able to learn about design standards and the planning and development processes. Topics included property sizes, kitchen layouts, balconies, cycle and refuse stores, types of heating, and adaptable flats.
An exhibition on the proposals for Phase 0 took place in November 2017, ahead of the planning application submission at the end of the year. Find out more about Phase 0.
What is happening now
Works started on site for Demolition Phase 0 in December 2018 and are expected to be completed by 2020.
The re-consultation on the hybrid planning application for Phase 1 went live in October 2019.
Work is progressing on the satellite sites at Gideon Road and Shuttleworth Road ahead of the demolition of Pennethorne House and Lavender Road in late 2020.