National Museums Liverpool: Waterfront Transformation - Canning Dock

Tender description

The National Museums Liverpool (NML), comprises of eight museums and galleries across Liverpool City Region, of which four are located in and around the Royal Albert Dock, part of Liverpool’s wonderful waterfront. Visually, it is a stunning location with a powerful heritage narrative that has been granted UNESCO World Heritage status. It is NML’s ambition to create a cohesive visitor experience for the waterfront that links story-telling, heritage, community, connectivity, and commercial income. This competition has been instigated to find a diverse and highly skilled design team with the right approach and ethos, to partner with NML, and deliver a project that, once complete, is acknowledged and recognised for its innovation, inclusion, excellence and delight. For the avoidance of doubt, this procurement relates to the design team services and not delivery of the development itself. The transformation of NML’s waterfront project will dramatically enhance the gateway to Liverpool’s waterfront destination, unifying and identifying the whole of the NML waterfront area. The delivered designs will be accessible for all, supporting the knowledge and activities within the museum buildings, capturing and engaging people and becoming a much-loved place, where people from all walks of life feel welcome, respected and included.  It will create an animated environment for the benefit of the museums, their visitors and employees of the many business in the area and the city. It will be a catalyst for social and environmental improvements in the area. The anticipated value of the total development is 15-20m pounds sterling and it is NML's intention, funding permitting, to appoint the winning design team to take the project through to completion, though the scheme will be delivered in phases as funding becomes available. Once the team has been appointed they will be required to design 1)Public Realm 2)Pedestrian Bridges 3)Animate the Graving Docks and 4)a new waterfront focal point - infrastructure for a temporary or permanent venue. Lot 1: NML is conducting a restricted procedure pursuant to Regulation 28 PCR 2015 to procure its design team pursuant to this procurement process. While the procurement documents will set out the full details of the project and NML's specification, NML is seeking a diverse and highly skilled design team with the right approach and ethos, to partner with NML, and deliver a project that, once complete, is acknowledged and recognised for its innovation, inclusion, excellence and delight. The project has been funded by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. NML value the social and community aspects of their remit as highly as any physical manifestations. It is important that teams entering this competition are mindful of this: any design interventions will need to draw on and be representative of the communities that NML are here to serve. The winning team will not only need to generate wonderful design ideas that deliver beautiful, functional and cost-effective solutions but it will need to do so through a process that is inclusive, collaborative and open to ideas from others who have different but equally relevant experiences and expertise. Competitors will therefore be evaluated both on the processes through which they generate designs as well as the quality of the designs that they then deliver. Great design on its own will not be enough — but nor will an inclusive process that lacks design leadership. A balanced approach will be required as set out in the procurement documents. It is not the intention to specify how teams are structured, nor which skills are included in the team. However, the successful bidder will need to marry technical competence and experience with a joyous and inclusive approach to place making: animation of the space will be as important as its infrastructure. The winning team will be able to address landscape design; placemaking and visitor experience; wayfinding; a public art strategy; bridge design and civil engineering expertise; interventions to historic buildings and infrastructure, with the contextual and planning issues these might entail; public safety and security; commerciality; the cost and added value of its proposals; co-creation; stakeholder and community engagement; architecture and inter-disciplinary design delivery. On receipt of completed Selection Questionnaires from interested bidders, NML will shortlist 5 bidders and invite them to complete the Invitation to Tender, which will be accompanied by the draft contract which the successful bidder will enter into with NML when the competition process ends. NML is not dividing the contract into lots as the integration and cohesion of the services in fundamental to the success of the project. Contract commencement is expected to begin in Autumn 2021 for a minimum term of two years with the option for NML to extend dependent on the funding available for the phases. The procurement is being managed on behalf of NML by Colander Associates. This means that Colander is the point of contact for bidders and all communications must be channelled through Colander via nmlwaterfront@colander.co.uk