Initial Interpretation Plan and subsequent supply and Installation of Interpretation Materials for 'Bridging the Tamar'

Tender description

Cornwall Council, acting with Plymouth City Council and on behalf of the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee, seeks to engage a suitably qualified company, with relevant transport and/or engineering related interpretation design experience, to produce a satisfactory interpretation plan for their Round 2 Heritage Lottery Fund application and, assuming that application is successful, would then require the same organisation to deliver and install the actual interpretation materials for this project, which is described as "Bridging the Tamar" : a Learning Centre and STEAM Hub to explore the River Tamar's two key bridges. The project will create a new learning centre focusing on the heritage of both the Tamar Bridge and Brunel's Royal Albert Rail Bridge. It will develop a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) hub on the site of the redundant offices of the Tamar Bridge, and deliver a programme of events and learning activities through the creation of a new Community, Learning and Volunteering (CLV) post: this post will continue after the HLF funded project finishes. The HLF project will be organised around outcomes that will be of direct public benefit and in liaison with partners such as Plymouth History Centre, schools, universities and local community organisations. With a successful HLF application the learning centre will open in January 2019 and will attract approximately 35,000 visitors a year to the internal displays, and an additional 75,000 to the enhanced outdoor area, with a mixture of school groups, pre-booked coach groups and individual visitors. The learning centre is supported by key stakeholders including Plymouth City Council, Cornwall Council and Network Rail. The project will focus on the heritage of two world class bridges: the Tamar Bridge and Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge. Although supported and encouraged by Network Rail, the project will be managed and then operated by the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee. The overall delivery of the project will cost £363,600, with a proposed HLF grant of £272,700. All match funding is in place, and planning permission is already secured. Please ensure you have read and fully understood the attached Briefing document which explains, in a significant amount of detail, the wider context of the project, the key elements and tasks of the actual overriding project requirements, the required HLF outcomes, the anticipated cost elements for the interpretation part of the overall project and the anticipated timescales for the key phases, milestones and deliverables related to the project. Please also note that the Authority is undertaking this procurement via its partner organisation, Bloom Procurement Services, and their neutral vendor solution. Therefore, in order to submit a bid for this work, interested providers will already need to be signed up to the Bloom system or be able to do so within the advertised timescale concerned.