Suffolk County Council is holding a design competition for two new bridges over the River Orwell in Ipswich.

Above: The Orwell Crossings Project is expected to lead to wider regeneration of Ipswich’s waterfront

The £77m Orwell Crossings Project will see the proposed construction of two new crossings near the town’s waterfront area, together with the refurbishment of an existing swing bridge across the lock that provides access to the Wet Dock and its marina facilities.

The aim is to ease traffic congestion in Ipswich and improve connections between the waterfront and the town centre. The project is also expected to act as a catalyst for further regeneration of the wider waterfront area.

The county council is seeking to appoint an architectural team and has engaged the services of the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) Competitions to find one.

The appointed architectural team will join an existing project team led by WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff, which will be responsible for providing structural and civil engineering input to the project. It is envisaged that the project will also seek to use early contractor involvement to aid development of the design concepts.

Suffolk county councillor Guy McGregor said: “We want to open up the design competition to find the most suitable architectural expert team to work with Suffolk County Council in the crucial design of this major project for the county town of Ipswich and Suffolk. We are getting some really positive feedback through our current consultation on this project and we look forward to working with the winning architectural team to realise a design that fits with Ipswich ambitions and continued success in the future.”

Further background to the project and details of the selection process are outlined in a Memorandum of Information available from: www.architecture.com/riba/competitions/enteracompetition/livecompetitions.aspx

A pre-qualification questionnaire and scope for procurement of architectural services is available by registering with Suffolk County Council’s e-Tendering system at: www.suffolksourcing.co.uk

Responses to PQQs will be used to select a shortlist of at least five candidates to participate in the design concept phase of the competition. Each short-listed team that submits a compliant tender for the competition phase and gives a clarification interview presentation will receive an honorarium payment of £10,000 (+VAT).

It is intended that the project will be delivered under a design & build contract and that the design team will be novated to the contractor. The council anticipates that construction will need to commence on site by 2020 in order to meet government funding conditions.

The deadline for submission of completed PQQ returns is 5pm Thursday 1st September 2016.