Local Businesses urged to get in touch and work with our Council.

Wednesday, 25 January 2023 09:58

Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Property/Buildings (Other) Asset Class Programme is currently forecast to spend £4.100 Million of the revised allocation of £4.536 Million. Projects are reported to the Council’s Economy and Resources Committee (E&R) on an individual basis and by geographical location.

Members of E&R Committee today (24 Jan) agreed to a number of new projects under this programme. These included:

  • £140k for a full refurbishment of the Agnew Park miniature railway, including upgrade from diesel to electric locomotive.
  • £50k to fund the demolition of redundant building at Annan Library, which is a health and safety risk.
  • £56k to fund dry rot remedial works at Castle Douglas Clock Tower.
  • £55k for design work at Municipal Chambers Dumfries to support future uses.
  • £41k to Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN to secure network capacity in Dumfries.

Members of Committee will be advised that there are several significant risks regarding delivery of the 2022/23 Project Programme. These include:

• Materials availability and delays to programmes

• Materials cost inflation

• Contractor availability and delays to programmes

• Tender price inflation

• Sufficient Tender returns

Chair of Economy and Resources Committee, Katie Hagmann said: “Our Council is actively engaging with our local supply chain, but we need you to help us. We want you to meet our teams, discuss what services are needed, and promote your own businesses. We have projects of all sizes that we need contractors for. At the moment, we are finding it particularly difficult to procure in the west of our region. It’s easier for everyone to do business together if we’ve already formed a relationship - we look forward to hearing from you.”

Vice Chair, Sean Marshall said: “Since the last reporting period several tenders have been issued with no market response. In fact, some tenders have been out to the market twice with no tender return and this has resulted in programme slippage. We are actively trying to grow our contractor base, whilst keeping our suppliers as local as possible. I urge our local contractors and businesses of all sizes to tender for our work. We have had a number of ‘Meet the Buyer’ events across the region recently and we are keen to year from you. Please get in touch and keep this work local.”

You can find out more information on tendering for our Council work at:

https://www.dumgal.gov.uk/article/15191/Council-contracts-and-tender-opportunities

and

https://www.dumgal.gov.uk/media/22015/Top-tips-for-tendering/pdf/Top-Tips-for-Tendering.pdf?m=637079372115470000

ENDS