Costs of tree planting on the new Link Road
Case reference FOI2022/00300
Published 7 April 2022
Request
Q1. New Link Road - I would like to apply for information on the costing for the trees and planters and labour costs for this project.
Q2. And any information about any quotes that had been received for this work.
Q3. And who carried out the work and was there more than one company involved or offered the work.
Q4. And who was the consultant on this job. And who has the contract for the watering and feeding of the planters.
Q5. A complete break down of costs
Response
A1. The Hereford City Centre Improvement programme (HCCI) has been running for a number of years, in a phased way. The improvements are designed to create an attractive, vibrant city centre to encourage visitors and shoppers to stay longer, spend and enjoy their leisure time, helping support existing businesses and create opportunities for retailers. The improvements also help create an excellent space for pedestrians and cyclists and ensure a clean and modern city centre.
Herefordshire Council has a robust and transparent governance process to ensure that decisions are made correctly.
Following consultation with legal and finance, the Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Transport decision of 3 December 2020 set out that the streetscape elements of the HCCI project were within the scope of the core services of the public realm contract and therefore could be commissioned using this route to enable the funding secured to be spent on the project elements within the funding timescales to prevent the loss of external grant funding. The public realm contract was implemented following a compliant OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union) process, and the rates for these services have been tested as part of the tendering process. A detailed brief and cost for these works was then prepared to evidence value for money through competition where relevant, on an open book basis.
This was scrutinised and agreed prior to works commencing and any variation has been managed through a robust change control process to enable value for money to be achieved and demonstrated. Given the value of products and the requirement for specification together with installation, this is the route which best mitigated the risks of not achieving the required level of grant funding spend by March 2022.
A2. Balfour Beatty use an on-line procurement system Jagger to obtain quotations. Bidders make their submissions on the system covering commercial and technical requirements. The bid is managed by the BBLP Procurement Lead, with submissions evaluated by a commercial team member and a technical team member. The outcome of this informs the final sub contract award.
Quotations were sought for the planters from Meristem Design Ltd who previously supplied the planters installed in High Town in 2021. Meristem were originally chosen by BBLP as a supplier who was competitive in price, quality and delivery timescale.
Quotations were sought on three occasions for the in ground tree planting and the sub contract to Dovetail Trees was awarded following the third round of enquiries.
A3. The planter installation was undertaken by Meristem Design Ltd under a sub contract to Balfour Beatty Living Places.
The in ground tree planting was undertaken by Dovetail Trees under a sub contract to Balfour Beatty Living Places.
Within the construction element of the project activities included:
· Temporary Traffic Regulation Order for road closure
· Traffic management planning and execution
· Required public notices and communications to affected bodies regarding works and closure
· Health and safety planning and monitoring
· Fabrication of tree planters
· Ordering and delivery of materials
· Installation of planters and planting trees
· Supervision of sub-contractor works
· Quality checks of completed works.
A4(a). The design and delivery of the works were commissioned through the Public Realm Services Contract with Balfour Beatty Living Places (BBLP). BBLP engaged WSP to undertake the design of the planter and in ground tree scheme.
Within the design and technical element of this project the activities included:
· Identification of suitable locations
· Highway safety checks
· Utility identification and checks
· Selection and approval of suitable tree species
· Tree nursery selection and quality control visits to nurseries
· Development of planting and watering detail including root barriers for in ground trees and below ground anchoring systems
· Identification of and procurement of suitable sub-contractors.
A4(b). Herefordshire Council are currently in a process to commission the ongoing watering and maintenance for the planters.
A5. City Link Road Planters
BBLP Technical Input £21,387.44
WSP Design £18,129.37
Construction and installation £213,678.88
Risk Register £7,903.37
These works were commissioned on a lump sum basis.
City Link Road In Ground Trees
BBLP Technical Input £15,984.57
WSP Design £14,460.29
Construction and installation £91,248.45
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.