The department’s move comes after a report on the village by QS Gardiner & Theobald published last week. This said that partnering had been prevented by EP’s procurement rules, which require competitive tendering.
A spokesperson for EP said it was now rectifying this situation. “In the past two months, EP in discussion with the DETR has been able to allow supply-chain partnering to happen on this scheme. Provided there is some element of market testing at the initial stage, most parties are happy to see it.”
The recommendation is one of eight made by G&T in its review of the Millennium Village. The inquiry was ordered by deputy prime minister John Prescott after the scheme’s executive architect HTA Architects claimed that its environmental and social objectives had been substantially watered down.
In answer to a parliamentary question from Eltham MP Clive Efford last Thursday, Prescott said he had discussed the findings of G&T’s report with the heads of the Taylor Woodrow/Countryside Properties joint venture developing the village.
Prescott added that he had agreed that the development should proceed. EP released the first 5.9 ha tranche of land last Friday.
A source on the competition jury that advised the G&T inquiry said this week that HTA Architects had correctly identified shortcomings in the scheme. ”At the start of the inquiry, the scheme was not very good. The original ideas were great but when it came through to implementation, it was not up to scratch. A huge amount of work has now been done and it is now up to scratch. [The developers] are really committed to achieving what they set out to.”
Other points made by the report are:
- Communications should be improved within the design team and lead architect Ralph Erskine’s “ethos and proposals” for the village should be clarified in a new design code.
- A “design mentor” should be appointed to monitor the design team and provide expert opinion to EP. The jury source confirmed that this will be Ricky Burdett of the Cities and Architecture programme at the London School of Economics.
Bernard Hunt, director of HTA Architects, this week cast doubt on the report’s methodology. “Out of 16 consultees they listed, only four – LSE, Richard Rogers Partnership, Stanhope and HTA – are not bound in a commercial arrangement on the project.”
He added: “I am sure the government is glad we drew the need for [the report] to their attention.”
