The CQS Solutions team gets a great sense of achievement from all its successful contracts and project management roles. But it is particularly proud to be involved in one public sector contract in the Midlands.
CQS Solutions is playing a role in creating a new state-of-the-art school in Dudley for children with complex medical and educational needs.
The team is working with Dudley Council on the plans to combine the two Pens Meadow School sites into one providing 115 places for children aged from three years to 19.
The project will see Dudley Council investing £15 million in the new Pens Meadow School which is to be built on the site of the former Pensnett High School. The project is currently out to tender for a contractor.
CQS Solutions provided pre-contract services for the preparation of the formal tender documents used to secure a contractor for the scheme. This included early stage cost advice, commercial input into the detailed design stages and preparing a full bill of quantities.
For this project CQS Solutions was given the option by Dudley Council of preparing the bill of quantities in accordance with SMM7 or NRM2 methods of measurement.
Although current industry practice favours the continued use of SMM7 when preparing bills of quantities for the procurement of the main contractor, the JCT standard forms of contract require the bill of quantities to be prepared in accordance with the current edition of NRM2.
Therefore CQS Solutions opted to use NRM2 Second Edition 2021. In the second edition the arrangement of the preliminaries has been completely revised and there are now 20 sections compared to the 12 sections in the 2013 first edition.
“This meant that we had to create a whole new set of expanded preliminaries to accompany the measured quantities. These second edition changes resulted largely from the alignment of the new NRM2 with the second edition of the RICSs International Construction Measurement Standards, explained CQS Solutions senior quantity surveyor Geoff Booth.
CQS Solutions owner Tim Lloyd said that Pens Meadow School pre-contract preparation was one of the first major NRM2 projects for Dudley Council.
“The NRM2 second edition suite of documents continues to give the industry a better way of meeting the needs of clients and providing more up-front detail. It allows us to assess the full costs of a construction project and provide a better method for quantifying risk.
“It did present us with some challenges in preparing a new set of expanded preliminaries but we believe it is the way forward in bringing in greater cross industry working,” he said.
The purpose-built Pens Meadow School will deliver better facilities for pupils with complex needs, including autism and those with profound and multiple learning difficulties.
It will expand the school’s capacity and feature new state-of-the-art facilities including access to group and individual therapy rooms. It will also include a hydrotherapy pool and rebound therapy rooms which will be available to other school and community groups.
The scheme will also provide facilities for Dudley Council’s Children’s Services team to carry out specialist nursery assessments for the whole borough.
Tim Lloyd said that the CQS Solutions pre-contract work prepared the ground for the formal tender process on a complex project.
“The result will be a purpose-built 21st century school providing the very best support to children and their families. It is a real vision for the future and we are very proud to have played a role in it,” he said.
Caption: An artist’s impression of the new Pens Meadow School