Technology Development Centre - Prior Information Notice

Tender description

Offshore Renewable Energy (“ORE”) Catapult has a requirement to build a Technology Development Centre (“TDC”) and to do so, it needs to refurbish an existing storage building at our site in Blyth, Northumberland, which is approximately 1800m2 in floorspace. We had intended to hold an early market engagement event this Thursday (01 Sept) but due to circumstances beyond our control, we have rescheduled this event and it will now take place on Wednesday 14 September 2022, commencing at 1100 hrs at our Blyth site. Therefore, if you are interested in joining this event, either in person or virtually, please email procurement@ore.catapult.org.uk to register your interest, and we will provide you with further information. The market engagement event is an ideal opportunity for suppliers to hear firsthand from ORE Catapult about the objectives, complexity and potential risks and uncertainties of the project. It also provides you sufficient notice to consider this in your business pipeline, enabling you to allocate sufficient leadtime to develop your commercial proposition and with the networking event, it allows you to connect with the supply chain and find potential partnering opportunities. It will also allow ORE Catapult to learn more about market trends and stability and how they might affect the procurement approach. It could also test the robustness of our current thinking, including scope, opportunities, risks, timeframes and / or processes. We are keen to maximise market interest to drive better outcomes thus delivering critical business needs which is to aid innovation and drive down the cost of renewable energy. NB: This PIN is not being issued to reduce the timescales of the procurement process, it is purely to provide early warning to the market, provide a basic understanding of the requirement, encourage suppliers to respond and to stimulate some innovative solutions. Lot 1: Lot 1: a requirement exists to create in the region of 600m2 of office and welfare space within an existing building, with the remaining space being configured for testing and engineering workshops. Works are likely to include refurbishment of steel works, replacement of the cladding, some ground works, replacement of doors, as well as complete fit out of the interior, including furnishings Lot 2: Lot 2: to upgrade the High voltage electrical infrastructure supplies to the building, and installation of suitable switch gear to provide 415v supplies to the test equipment that is to be installed within the building. Lot 3: Lot 3: to construct permanent weather proofing to the 6MW bearing test rig, which would require a footprint of approximately 8m by 8m to a height of approx 10m.