Scarborough Council to spend £200k on Filey Sea Wall design and planning

The Jackson Civil Engineering Group Ltd has been appointed by Scarborough Council as the “design and build contractor to carry out the design of the Filey Seawall works”.

Last year the council received a £1.64m grant from the Environment Agency for the repair of the Filey Seawall, with the project’s funding coming fully from the grant.

The decision to enter into a contract with Jackson Engineering was approved by council director Lisa Dixon on Friday October 7.

The engineering group will carry out the works to “RIBA stages three and four” which are generally the pre-construction design stages of a project or development.

The council has said that a further decision on spending the remaining £1.43m will be “brought at a later date once the scope of works, contract terms, price and programme have been determined following this first stage”.

Potential risks to the project include “cost inflation” which the council says is currently increasing in a challenging market, as well as “working in a marine environment”.

In an attempt to mitigate risk factors, the works will have to be done during the spring and summer seasons “when the tides and sea conditions are more favourable and the daylight hours longer”, according to the authority.

The report adds that 24-hour working will be permitted “if necessary” which would mean construction work on the beach during the tourist season, which the council says “is unavoidable”.

The realisation of the project has already been affected as a result of all potential contractors withdrawing from the original bidding “citing lack of resources, too much current work, unavailability of supply chain etc”.

As a result, the council has made a direct award using the framework “rotation procedure” which allows for the contractor at the top of the rotation list to be selected.

The council report states: “This is a legally compliant procurement method and best value is still ensured due to the competition that has taken place to be selected onto the framework.”