Housing / Housing chiefs hoping for third time lucky for Staney Hill tender
The value of the contract is now sitting at £19 million – with inflation playing its part in the increase
A LARGE contract for preparatory work on the future Staney Hill housing development in Lerwick has gone out to tender for a third time – with its value now sitting at £19 million.
Hjaltland Housing Association’s tender is for main road and infrastructure works.
Work involved includes carrying out the necessary site clearance, rock excavation, groundworks, landscaping, providing access roads, pavements, water and power to enable the construction of new build housing developments.
The contract has already been put out to tender twice without success.
Initial estimates priced the first tender in 2020 at £8 million, but through early underestimation and inflationary pressures the value of the contract has more than doubled.
Hjaltland chief executive Bryan Leask said the association was “hopeful this time round following some changes to the overall design and methodology”.
“We have carried out additional testing and trial holes to provide additional information for perspective tenderers on the design and methodology of the rock excavation,” he explained.
“The quantity and complexity of the rock excavation was seen as one of the major hurdles previously while there was also an abundance of civils contracts available at the time, including multiple contracts with Viking Energy.”
The proposed development is large: more than 300 homes could be built in phases over a number of years, most of which would be for social rent.
It is hoped it will make a sizeable contribution to alleviating the pressure on affordable housing demand in the area.
The first phase of the project, which includes 124 new houses and flats, was given planning permission last year.
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