Leading independent multidisciplinary engineering consultancy Hurley Palmer Flatt has been appointed as one of 50 consultants on a major new professional services framework in Edinburgh, Scotland. The programme intends to rejuvenate the city of Edinburgh with the delivery of new state-of-the-art schools, early years centres, sports facilities, and affordable homes across the city.
The £95 million framework will consist of numerous architectural, engineering and project management contracts over a four-year period.
The procurement for this scheme entered its first stage a year ago, with the second stage commencing in February, just a short time before the whole of the UK entered a national lockdown. Despite the challenges the City of Edinburgh Council would have faced due to Covid-19, it is a great success that the procurement process was able to come to completion, although other public sector procurement faced delays and cancellations.
The framework has sustainability at the core of its plans, with Passivhaus Architects ensuring that new buildings are energy efficient and the city’s net zero carbon by 2030 target is taken into full consideration. The scheme also brings great support to small businesses, with this being a priority for the council, resulting in more than 70% of successful bidders being SMEs. Each consultant is also required to pay the Living Wage and carry out community benefits as part of any work they obtain.
Hurley Palmer Flatt are thrilled to be supporting the projects awarded through the framework.
These are not the only projects the company is currently supporting in Scotland’s both historically-rich and dynamic capital, as it is working on a redevelopment which will see the transformation of Edinburgh’s Rosebery House by Aviva Investors, welcoming a new state-of-the-art office block. The new ‘landmark’ development will hold the potential to onboard 1,500 office workers by 2025, and like the new Professional Services Framework, will have the future in mind, with sustainability at the heart of the project as it is committed to securing a Net Zero Carbon rating for the building’s operation.
On the news of the Framework appointment, Associate Director at HDR | Hurley Palmer Flatt Group Emma MacLeod commented that “the firm are keen to be providing a key function to further projects across the city of Edinburgh.”