Market Engagement Event for Christmas Lights & Trees for both St Helens and Earlestown town centres

Tender description

<p><strong>Market Engagement Event for Christmas Lights &amp; Trees (including options on large artificial structures as well as large real trees) for both St Helens and Earlestown town centres.</strong></p> <p>St Helens Borough Council is looking to appoint a contractor(s) to supply and install Christmas lights &amp; trees in both St Helens and Earlestown town centres.&nbsp; We are wishing to explore a series of options from and at this stage are open to discussing options of varying costs to identify which can best meet our needs.&nbsp;</p> <p>To decide what model to adopt for this year&rsquo;s (and future years) Christmas lights and trees the Council wishes to conduct a soft market testing which will provide both capital and revenue costs as follows:</p> <ul> <li>Purchase or lease of Christmas lights (as per attached current specification &ndash; St Helens &amp; Earlestown as a minimum) we would welcome feedback and innovation to be provided by suppliers to design a new and refreshed approach for future years.</li> <li>Purchase or lease of Christmas Trees (looking at options of real trees and bespoke structures) &ndash; 2 x large trees for St Helens (Victoria Square &amp; Church Square) and 1 x large tree for Earlestown (Market Street/ Market Square)</li> <li>Install and removal of Christmas lights &amp; trees (must be accredited by the Highway Electrical Registration Scheme)</li> <li>Storage, maintenance and testing of Christmas lights, trees and bespoke installations (collection January 2023)</li> <li>Service provision from October/November 2022 for Christmas 2022 (proposed dates for both switch on events are: Earlestown &ndash; Friday 25th November 2022 &amp; St Helens &ndash; Saturday 26th November 2022) on a 3-5 year period. Please note &ndash; installation and testing would be required in good time prior to switch on dates.</li> </ul> <p>We would welcome feedback from the providers on a variety of options &ndash; namely a &lsquo;bronze&rsquo;, &lsquo;silver&rsquo; and &lsquo;gold&rsquo; option to allow the Council to consider potential budgets required to meet our needs.&nbsp;</p> <p>Costs for bronze, silver and gold options must include costs for installation, removal, storage and maintenance of the Christmas lights &amp; trees.</p> <p>The Council will also wish to understand running costs and for suppliers to explain how their offer will allow us to maximise efficiency in the future to complement the Council&rsquo;s commitment to the Climate Change Emergency.&nbsp;</p> <p>St Helens is proud to be nominated as the Liverpool City Region Borough of Culture for 2023. We are planning an exciting programme of events, one component being a lighting extravaganza and illuminations on key sites throughout the borough and dates throughout the year. We absolutely want to maximise attracting visitors to our town centres to see our Christmas lights and enjoy our Christmas and Borough of Culture celebrations. We would welcome as part of this market testing exercise to explore opportunities with those who could provide an offer that could support these services. <a href="https://www.liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk/what-we-do/culture/">https://www.liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk/what-we-do/culture/</a>.</p> <p>In order for potential service providers to gain an understanding of the requirement and the area in which we are looking to decorate we are holding a virtual information event on <strong>Tuesday 5^th July 2022 (2.00pm for 2 hours duration).</strong> The event will be an opportunity to ask questions and explore our requirements, ask any technical questions to be in a position to tender and if required register on to the e-portal system. <strong>If you wish to attend please confirm via the messaging facility on The Chest by Monday 4^th July 2022 at 16.00.</strong> We have uploaded an initial project overview including information regarding the area to be considered in the project.</p> <p><strong><u>This notice relates to a market engagement exercise only and is not a call for competition at this stage.</u></strong>&nbsp;</p> Keywords: Christmas, Lights, Street, Trees, Decorations