Contractor and project manager selected for Community Stadium

Work on the community stadium took a leap forward today after Colchester Borough Council announced it is to appoint Barr Ltd to build the new multi-million pound sports venue.

In November the Cabinet and the Full Council agreed to go ahead with the stadium project. Since then work has been going on to complete the tender process. Despite a strong showing of local companies in the tender shortlist, the eventual front runner, Barr, is from Scotland. Barr is a specialist stadium builder and has undertaken a wide range of stadia projects all around the country.

Colchester Borough Council has also selected Drivers Jonas as project managers for the construction stage.

Due to the commercial sensitivity of the tender evaluation process, these decisions were made following a confidential portfolio holder report.

The selection of a preferred contractor is yet another step along the path to the building of the Community Stadium. However, it is not the final one. Conditions set by Cabinet in November mean that further preliminaries still need to be settled before the building contract can be signed and work started on site. These conditions include the completion of a large number of legal documents and the creation of the Stadium Management Company. 

Cllr Brian Jarvis, Portfolio Holder for Renaissance, said: "This is another major step towards making the Community Stadium a reality. Now that we have selected a preferred contractor we will be giving an immediate instruction to move forward with detailed design issues. Although we cannot let the full building contract until other hurdles are overcome, this will keep up the momentum so that Barr will be ready to start work on site as quickly as possible. We are all looking forward to the final bits of paperwork being completed so that the contractor can move on site and begin building what will be an important facility for the whole community."

This decision will be actioned once the council's usual 5 day call in period has passed.

NOTE TO EDITORS
For more information contact Steve Clarke, Head of Renaissance Programme on 282251.

For comment or opinion contact Cllr Brian Jarvis, Portfolio Holder for Renaissance, on 756212.