Cambridge City Council - Design, Costing and Planning Consultancy Support for Depot Relocation

The direct service operations of Cambridge City Council are currently operated from three physical locations: Waterbeach Depot (shared refuse collection service hosted by South Cambs DC), Cowley Road Depot (Street & Open Spaces, elements of Environmental Services and secondary Estates & Facilities usage, 'SaOS') and 130 Cowley Road Offices (Estates & Facilities and Stores, 'E&F').

The current depot based at Cowley Road is an interim solution and needs to be vacated by 19th Dec 2023 when the site temporary planning consent expires. The site is allocated as a key part of the strategic housing infrastructure for the wider North-East Cambridge redevelopment thereafter.

A comprehensive new depot solution is being sought and is required to accommodate both the SaOS and E&F services and smart working space providing touch down opportunities for other CCC staff. Lead-in times for planning and construction, drive the need to prompt decision making on a future depot for the operational services by late September 2021.

The solution must ultimately be affordable, as part of that affordability test Net Zero Carbon (NZC) options need to be defined and costed. The Council requires a clearly defined basis of Environmental Cost Benefit Analysis (ECBA) of NZC options to inform a comparative evaluation of alternative improvement/investment proposals.

The design and structure of the depot will need to have a planned operating life more than 25 years, supporting the emerging new operating model for the Council services and be an enabler for change. Any new depot will need to be cognisant of the increased demands associated with expected population and housing growth across the City.

The Council requires a decision-making framework to determine the relative importance of the various objectives to inform decision making and test any options appraisal, some detailed analysis has been completed. The successful supplier will be required to work with CCC to develop/interrogate the current options, robustly stress testing for validity to inform next steps.