Construction work

Tender description

Cheltenham Borough Council is inviting bidders to become their development partner to deliver a mixed use development, the Golden Valley. At its heart, Cyber Central will be the UK home of cyber, digital and creative sectors arising from Cheltenham's international reputation for leadership in this sector. With a significant development site adjacent to GCHQ in a highly accessible location with great connectivity, the opportunity exists to create a destination of global significance. The Golden Valley Development proposes a mixed use development incorporating Cyber Central as the UK capital for Cyber excellence. It will act as a dedicated hub to inspire collaboration, growth, research and development of cyber security businesses, technology and skills. Cheltenham is already a globally recognised centre of cyber excellence being home to GCHQ, the NCSC and an extensive ecosystem of businesses, academia and talent. It is the UK's largest cluster of cyber business outside London, eleven times the density than the national average. The UK cyber industry is valued at GBP 8.3 bn having doubled in the last two years. The project is of national significance supported by Department of International Trade. This highly accessible site adjacent to GCHQ in Cheltenham has huge development potential. It is located in the heart of the UK and anchored between existing center's of excellence and innovation such as Bristol, Oxford, Warwick, Birmingham and Cardiff. The land extends to 200 ha. A draft SPD identifies development parameters for the wider site of up to c.3 700 homes and c.2 million square feet (c.185 000 m2) of commercial accommodation. The background to the project and the specifics of the procurement are explained in more detail in the Memorandum of Information that has been made available to interested parties via the Portal. Cheltenham Borough Council have acquired 45 hectares of land in the strategic allocation and will be inviting parties to bid to become the Council's Development Partner to deliver this important mixed used opportunity. The Council propose to bring this first phase forward as a single development package, where it is anticipated that the successful bidder will act as master developer and bring forward the commercial space to secure the Council objectives for the project. The Council can further support delivery with up to GBP 180 m on investment in housing for innovative and high quality solutions. The estimated GDV of the mixed use development on the 45 hectares of land that the Council has acquired is a minimum of GBP 400 million (assuming that delivers 650 dwellings and significant proportion of the commercial space). However, there may be additional stakeholders included in the procurement and additional land may become part of the scope. With that in mind, the estimated value of the procurement is a range of GBP 400 million to GBP 2 billion increasing the development numbers considerably. It is envisaged that the duration of the contract will be between 15 and 25 years, and this will depend on whether additional third party land is brought within scope of the procurement.