Architect-led Multidisciplinary Design Team - Canning Town ol Library

Tender description

Newham are inviting tenders from Conservation Architect's and those with Heritage experience, to lead a multi-disciplinary design team for the services from RIBA 2-7. In November 2021, Newham Council's secured almost £40m from the first round of the Levelling Up Fund (LUF). The Connecting to Opportunities bid included £6,231,806 allocated to the creation of a Heritage Centre in the Grade II listed Canning Town Old Library (CTOL). The current proposal is that this building will be operated by Newham's Resident Engagement and Participation Service. The Regeneration team within the Council's Community Wealth Building Directorate are leading on the delivery of the LUF funding pertaining to the capital improvements of the building. Canning Town Old Library is one of Newham's most important heritage assets and this funding will provide an opportunity to celebrate Newham's thriving culture and rich history. The neighbouring Public Hall, built at a similar time and now occupied by Community Links, hosted trade unionist Keir Hardie and suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst which demonstrates that this building is more than just community asset for local residents but is an important community asset for the whole Borough. Lot 1: The project seeks to create a Heritage Centre in the Grade II Listed Canning Town Old Library (CTOL). CTOL is owned by Newham Council and has been vacant for a number of years following the relocation of the former library function to a new development opposite. The project proposes to repair and re-purpose the building to provide a range of Council-led facilities including an archive, digital media suite, flexible exhibition space, café, classroom along with an upper floor space, to be let to a third-party operator which is currently proposed as a workspace use. The majority of these spaces will be operated by Newham Council but elements will be leased to third parties to help-offset revenue costs. The Heritage Centre will be operated by Newham Council's Heritage Service, and this will be subject to a National Lottery Heritage funding bid in order to support the business case for the running of the building alongside further capital delivery to realise the Heritage Centre. In order to operate the Centre, the Service will recruit a number of new staff and significantly expand its programme of community engagement and education. In the first instance it is envisaged that this expanded service will be funded by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for a period of around five years. Thereafter a slightly scaled back service will be funded by Newham Council. The vision for Canning Town Old Library is to bring the building back into use, restoring and refurbishing the building and upgrade for archive, heritage services and cultural use. The Council also seeks to embed high-levels of sustainability performance. Newham are inviting tenders from Conservation Architect's and those with Heritage experience, to lead a multi-disciplinary design team for the services from RIBA 2-7. Bidders are advised that they will be required to register on Newham procurement portal, Fusion, to gain access to all documentation relating to this exercise. Without prior registration bidders will not be able to view the opportunity and will be visible once registered and invited to the exercise directly. We request that bidders register no later than the 4th of August to avoid any delays. The link has been provided in the contact information as well as contact details in the event of help required.