P0398 - Sutton Coldfield Library - Concessionaire Opportunity - Market Sounding Exercise

Tender description

Birmingham City Council is carrying out a market sounding exercise in respect of a potential opportunity to share space at Sutton Coldfield Library. Sutton Coldfield Library is situated in the heart of the shopping area of the town within the Red Rose Centre off the Lower Parade. It currently occupies the whole of the first floor of the building and is accessed via a lift or stairs. To date there are 30,109 registered members and over 60,000 items of stock. In 2016/17 the library issued nearly 50,000 items and had 91,700 visits. Various groups meet each week there including a Local History group; Family History group and the Tea and Biscuits Reading and Writing group. There are also activities for children including the Summer Reading Challenge, Story Times and craft sessions. Local history enquiries are answered using the extensive Local History and Archive Collections and the library is also a venue for the International Jazz festival each July. In order to be sustainable, Sutton Coldfield Library needs to bring its running costs down to a level that is much closer to the City average for running a library. One part of the plan to achieve this will focus on a third of the floor space on floor 1, ( approx. 8,000 sq. ft.), of the library, being shared with a partner who will deliver an operation that will be complimentary and sympathetic to the ongoing library function. Appropriate usage might be a coffee shop, café with play equipment or other similar facility although all innovative ideas for the space are welcome. Ultimately a successful proposal will maximise the income available from this space, reduce current operating costs and bring added value to the library services on offer. BCC will be using its e-tendering system (in-tend) for the administration of this market sounding process and interested parties must register with the system to be able to express an interest. The web address is: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/birminghamcc Registration and use of In-tend is free. All correspondence for this procurement process must be via the In-tend correspondence function. If you are unable to register with In-tend please either email cps@birmingham.gov.uk or call 0121 464 8000. If you are interested in tendering please click on the following link to access Birmingham City Council's tender Portal: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/birminghamcc/ and submit your details to register as a bidder. We will send you a log on and password so you can download the questionnaire. Requests to participate must be by way of completion and return of the questionnaire no later than 14:00 hours (BST) on 23rd June 2017 using the Supplier Portal.