ANDBC Preliminary Market Engagement Exercise - Appointment of an Operating Partner for a Creative Innovation Hub in Holywood, Co.Down

Ards and North Down Borough Council is currently preparing to initiate a procurement process to appoint an Operating Partner for a Creative Innovation Hub in Holywood, Co.Down. The Holywood Innovation Hub is a project funded through investment from the Belfast Region City Deal (BRCD) and Ards and North Down Borough Council.

It will focus on micro and small businesses within the digital, creative and screen industries: providing facilities and a secure environment to meet specific security, connectivity and technical needs. The proposed hub is intended to provide accommodation for the creative technology sector, specifically for start-up and smaller firms seeking to grow within the sector.

It would also seek to provide accommodation for larger established 'anchor' tenants and potentially act as a short-term flexible base for FDI projects supported by NI Screen. The proposed hub is also intended to create an ecosystem within the creative technology sector: improving skills and employability across Ards and North Down and the overall Belfast Region City Deal (BRCD) region.

A primary reason for market failure in this sector is stated as a lack of suitable accommodation. This project will address this situation, supporting the growth of firms in the digital creative sector beyond the initial 'work from home' phase.

The capital funding requirement for the proposal is £8,921,200 from the BRCD, with a further contribution of £1.1m from Ards and North Down Borough Council (ANDBC), further funding is required from the private sector to unlock this funding. ANDBC intends to appoint an operator for the Innovation Hub at an early stage of project development.

The operator will assume management responsibilities and associated risks as set out in the final contractual structure. The operator will be appointed prior to the procurement of the Integrated Consultancy Team (ICT) responsible for the design of the Innovation Hub, enabling operational requirements and commercial considerations to be incorporated into the design and helping to maximise the hub's long-term economic performance.

Prior to initiating the procurement, the Council is undertaking an Expression of Interest (EoI) and Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) Exercise . This EoI/PME exercise is being conducted pursuant to section 16 of the Procurement Act 2023 for the purposes of: (a) developing the Council's requirements and approach to the procurement; (b) designing conditions of participation and award criteria; (c) preparing the tender notice and associated tender documents; and (d) identifying suppliers capable of performing the proposed contract.

The pre-market engagement is intended to facilitate high-level conversations to identify potential interested suppliers and capabilities to inform the Council's procurement approach. A summary of the opportunity is detailed in the brochure and questionnaire documents that can be accessed via the CfT documents area (Resource ID 6717503) on the eTendersNI platform (https://etendersni.gov.uk).