A feasibility business case was developed and approved in 2019 to continue the development of the HCCI project. This requested funding to broaden the extents of the HCCI project to include an area to the west of High Town which includes Broad Street, King Street, Bridge Street and other smaller streets in the vicinity referred to as the Cathedral and River Wye Quarter.

Procurement of professional services is required to develop an outline design for improvements to the Cathedral and River Wye Quarter which will draw on the approach to the High Town area but will reflect the distinct character and function of this area. The package of streetscape and green infrastructure elements outlined for the project will also cover this area. Where feasible, these will be initially installed in the existing streets and will be subsequently be integrated into the improvements in this area.

Following the addition of the Cathedral & River Wye Quarter to the HCCI project, some early engagement with stakeholders was undertaken in late 2019 and early 2020. This engagement will continue as part of the development of the outline design. A public consultation will also be undertaken to inform the outline design.

The Director for Economy and Place took a decision 18 December 2020 to authorise the commencement of a competitive procurement for professional services within a budget of £150,000. This decision can be viewed using the following link:
http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=7446

A tender for professional services to develop an outline design and undertake consultation was advertised directly by the council through an open procurement process on the councils tendering portal.

Twelve compliant tender returns were received and evaluated independently by three officers. Tenders were evaluated against the following scoring criteria:

Scored Criteria Weighting (%)
Cost Element 55
Quality Element 45

Following a moderation session with the three evaluators supported by a member of the procurement team, Burroughs were ranked first with a tender price of £79,930.00 and an overall moderated scored of 77.36% which was made up of 46.61% against cost and 30.75% against quality.