(NU/1912) CAV Later Living Partner

Prior Information Notice Newcastle University Developments, Campus for Ageing and Vitality – Later Living Development Background The University and Newcastle University Developments Ltd acquired 27 acres of the 29-acre site in April 2019 and since then have arrived at a clear Vision with accompanying objectives as to what they want to achieve on the Campus for Ageing & Vitality (CAV), Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 6BE. Our vision for the Campus for Ageing and Vitality (CAV) is to facilitate the construction of the UK’s first “health innovation neighbourhood“. It will be a future focused area combining the best of research, innovation, accommodation, employment into a sustainable community and create something truly unique in helping people to live longer and healthier lives. The “Later Living” development forms an integral part of this vision and we are looking to identify a suitable purchaser which has the means and objective to develop up to 150 Later Living homes on up to 4 acres of the site. We will be looking for purchase proposals from buyers capable of developing homes made up of a variety of Later Living products, and tenures, covering the entire spectrum of independence. They should promote independent living for people in later life (starting age range 55-70 including inter-generational living). Later Living will complement the work of our principal Development partner, Genr8Kajima Ltd which is presently drafting plans to create a mixed use urban development encompassing academic, residential and commercial uses within the health innovation neighbourhood. Scope The University has ring-fenced up to 4 acres of the site for a Later Living development and wishes to sell this parcel of the site to a Later Living purchaser who intends to develop/operate the scheme; conditional upon the quality of their design proposals planning application and commitment to meeting the Universities overall objectives for CAV. In addition, the University would like to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the successful Later Living purchaser, whereby the purchaser will support the University in its research programme by facilitating introductions to its residents. It is currently expected that the successful purchaser will take possession of the land following capital receipt transfer in early 2025. The Process The tender process to identify the most appropriate purchaser will be conducted using the University’s e-tendering Portal (Proactis ProContract). The process will follow the format and principles of a competitive, fair, and transparent tender process for the sale of land, however, as this is considered a conditional sale of land agreement, it will sit outside of both of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016 (“Procurement Regulations”). The sale will be conditional on the purchaser demonstrating that it will build what it represents it will build within its tender proposal, including having all financing and planning permissions in place by an agreed longstop date. The University will have suitable remedies should the purchaser fail to build what it represents by an ultimate longstop date which will be set out within the tender documentation. This PIN is therefore being published voluntarily in order to notify the widest possible market of the purchase opportunity and in order to be transparent regarding the University’s view that the Procurement Regulations do not apply. No further Contract Notice will be published on the FTS website and in responding to this PIN the potential purchaser acknowledges that the Procurement Regulations will not apply to the process. The process will involve an Invitation for Expressions of Interest being issued to those who register on our e-tendering portal (CVP Code 45000000-7, NUTS Code UKC2) together with a pre-qualification questionnaire If you are interested in receiving this Invitation or have any other comments or clarifications then please contact gillian.mournian@ncl.ac.uk by no later than Friday 2nd June 2023 @ 12:00 to register your interest together with full details of your organisation and prime contact details of an individual or email address to receive the link to the e-tendering portal. We anticipate issuing the Invitation for Expressions of Interest by no later than 18th May 2023 and we anticipate allowing 30 days for the submission of responses, however the timetable shall be confirmed in the Invitation and through the portal. Following receipt of the Expression of Interest response documents, these will be assessed and some questions shall be scored and the responders ranked accordingly. We anticipate carrying forward up to 5 of the highest scoring bidders and will invite these potential purchasers to submit detailed purchase proposals at the next stage of the tender process. Potential purchasers will be short listed based upon financial and resource capacity, together with relevant past experience. Bidders will be required to provide evidence of both qualitative and financial capability. Short listed potential purchasers will then be invited to participate in the next stage of the tender process. The University’s vision and expectations for a purchaser’s development will be issued which is expected to consist of: the Conditional Land Sale Agreement; Memorandum of Understanding for Research; the vision for CAV; a demand assessment; indicative plots; and performance outputs for the quality aspects of the development that are considered important to the University in realising its vision. Bidders will be expected to provide purchase proposals which meet the University’s vision for CAV and the Later Living Development and to also offer a capital receipt for the plots, based upon their interpretation of demand in a final tender submission. The University will then score the proposals and reserves the right to accept the highest scoring proposal or to enter into negotiations with one or more potential purchasers and then seek final offers. Further details will be set out in the tender documents.