2 TENDER OPPORTUNITIES
1/4 Turnkey Technical Solutions
2/360 Review
Bids invited up £45,000 inc. for both tenders
SS Robin: Brief for “360 Degree” Review
Background:
The SS Robin is the world’s oldest complete steam coaster, currently moored in the Royal Docks in East London. It is held in trust by the SS Robin Trust, a registered charity. The SS Robin is an important piece of maritime and industrial heritage, but does not have a clear sustainable future.
The ship currently sits on a floating pontoon which in theory can be fitted out and used for interpretation or commercially. It is not clear however that the associated costs of achieving this make it a viable proposition.
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has agreed a Transition Grant for the Trust to investigate and reach this sustainable future. This will involve a “360 degree” review of all possible options (non-heritage and heritage).Given the limited resources of the SS Robin Trust, this is likely to lead to a heads of terms agreement with a third party organisation that will partner e.g. buy or lease all or some of SS Robin. For example this could be a 20 year agreement to lease the hold (a large space running the length of the ship) as a café, or indoor market, or exhibition space.
We need to assess options that both involve the SS Robin staying on the pontoon, (whether or not the pontoon is bought into use), and options that envisage the SS Robin being sited on land. Previous surveys have indicated that there is not a realistic prospect of the SS Robin being re-floated.
The SS Robin’s hold is essentially a rectangular steel box, 20 metres long, 6 metres wide and 3 metres high. This sits on a large floating pontoon, 50m x 15m x 3.15 m. There is one large space of about 275m2 and surrounding smaller spaces partitioned by bulkhead doors.
As this a ship, there are no statutory heritage requirements, though clearly we want to respect the vessel’s history. The ship could stay on the pontoon or move to land.
As we are looking primarily for commercial solutions which are more likely to be land based, we are not looking for consultants who primary expertise is either maritime or heritage, we are instead primarily looking for consultants with expertise in unusual, iconic, one off projects.
Objectives:
The key objective is to identify business models for the SS Robin which are robust, medium to long term together with evidence of interest from potential operators.
We think that the best way to achieve a viable future is to find a partner who will lease the hold, and possibly the pontoon. This lease will then help pay for the long term upkeep of the ship and hopefully some heritage activities. We will also consider options which include the sale of the SS Robin. The focus is on financially secure partners with a robust business model for the SS Robin.
The review will look at both heritage driven business models and commercial uses. Commercial uses should respect and preserve the heritage of the vessel. These then need to be paired with actual potential partners who have a practical proposition, and a potential base for the ship. We would envisage the review aiming to produce 3 or 4 such commercially viable propositions with identified operators and locations and outline business plan.
The focus of the 360 review should be to look beyond “the usual suspects”. For example possible partnerships with developers around the Royal Docks are already being explored and so should not form part of the review. We are holding a workshop on 17th March to identify further options.
The function of the 360 review is then to both come up with potential uses we haven’t already thought of, and then to focus on potential specific operators.
The success of the 360 review therefore will not be judged by the production of a lengthy report, but by whether or not we are able to close a deal with a new partner.
The priority would be to remain in East London near where the SS Robin was built. If this not practicable, the review should consider other options elsewhere in the UK and should not necessarily discount options from overseas, particularly if they are well placed to provide a long term future and preserve the vessel with a strong interpretive programme.
Resources:
The Project Officer can provide site access to the heritage, document support, query answering and other day-to-day support to fulfil the brief.
The Project Manager can provide higher level query answers and feedback on direction.
A wide range of supporting information, technical reports etc are available
There is separate strand of the Transition programme looking at the technical aspects of the proposed solutions, for example taking the SS robin of the pontoon and placing her on land. This to ensure that the proposed solutions from the 360 degree review are technically feasible, affordable, and provide sufficient information for partner organisations to be able to evaluate whether their propositions are feasible. This will be an interactive process and we envisage significant commercial and joint working between the two strands, facilitated by the project manager.
Timescale:
Please submit tenders by 31st March 2016 by email to
If you have any queries please contact Donald Findley at
Interviews will be held in early April. We expect work to be completed by the end of July 2016.
Both tenders can be found on the SS Robin Website
Details and Fee:
This work is being tendered competitively.
We will also be open to quotes which combine the technical brief and the 360 degree review as an integrated piece of work. See the Technical review on the SS Robin website.
Please submit your tender in no more than 4 sides of A4, plus background information about your business.
Please include any relevant previous experience, this does not have to be heritage or maritime. Please include details of the all staff/consultants that will be involved, their expertise, role, and day rates.
The successful organisation will be chosen based on their ability to demonstrate an understating of the brief, to show a flexible and transparent approach, to have the range of expertise required, evidence of track record, and evidence that integrated solutions can be delivered. Cost is not therefore the main driver, but be aware that the SS Robin Trust is only a small charitable organisation and the total budget for both the “Turnkey solutions” any additional investigations, fees, and the 360 review is no more that £45,000.
Please note that the scope of work does not include negotiating heads of terms with potential partners.
Expected Products:
A written report covering the possible options for the vessel, and some fuller, more detailed recommendations based on these. To include
- Possible locations (local, national and international, both maritime and land based)
- Possible uses (heritage, educational, commercial, and mixed) and associated business models
- Possiblepartners, (commercial, heritage, charitable, public and private sector
- 3-4 detailed propositions with named partner organisations together with detailed expression of interest from partner organisations and valid business model and plan
The SS Robin TrustLord Mawson OBE (Chairman)
2d/2e Royal Victoria Place Sir David Varney
London, E16 1UQ David Mann
Tel 0207 998 1343 Dr Paul Brickell
Email Rosemary Ewles
Frank Creber
David Green
The SS Robin Trust is a registered charity (1095884).
Honorary Member His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh KG, KT, OM, GBE
Patrons Lord Greenway, Jim Fitzpatrick MP