Engagement, consultation and decision-making

What engagement and consultation has been undertaken to inform the project?

Close engagement has been a priority throughout the project, and thousands of residents have been involved so far.  

In early 2024 a mailout was sent to 17,000 local homes to let them know about the consultation on the proposal to proceed with replacing the current facility. More than 3,600 people took part in the online survey and this was supported by a wide programme of drop-ins, workshops, exhibitions and engagement sessions across the city.   

Last year’s consultation on the design proposals invited more than 600 online responses, huge engagement from local media and included an opportunity for anyone to speak directly to the design team.  

A series of detailed face-to-face engagement sessions have ensured that everyone, from children’s swim clubs to disability groups, has had the opportunity to input into the design, helping shape the proposals now submitted for planning approval.  

infographic showing the engagement and consultation that has taken place
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How were the design team and contractor procured?

Following Cabinet’s decision to proceed with the project the officer team undertook a comprehensive examination of the available procurement routes. That process entailed considering the benefits of procurement frameworks (such as Pagabo, Scape, the Crown Commercial Service, and others) and comparing that to the benefits of a tender process. 

The team spent considerable time engaging and meeting with other local authorities and similar organisations who had recently procured architects and professional teams for similar projects. They visited a number of sports and leisure centres that had been recently completed or that were currently under construction and met the teams who had delivered them. These included Spelthorne Leisure Centre, Cranleigh Leisure Centre, Winchester Sport and Leisure Park, Ravelin Sports Centre and Kingston Leisure Centre. This provided an opportunity to learn lessons from those projects and their procurement arrangements. That in turn informed the council’s decisions for the best procurement route for the King Alfred project.  

The outcome of that process was that officers recommended that the architect and professional team for the King Alfred Regeneration Project be procured through the UK Leisure Framework, accessed through development partner Alliance Leisure. A decision was taken under delegated authority by the Corporate Director City Services to use the framework on 29 October 2024 in accordance with the delegated authority agreed at the July Cabinet meeting.

The UK Leisure Framework is the UK’s only leisure-specific procurement framework, and provides access to the best selection of architects, consultants, and main contractors all of whom have a successful track record in delivering outstanding sports and leisure facilities. Over 140 projects have been delivered through the framework, which is the UK’s leading procurement route for community sport and leisure facilities. 

Currently, across the construction sector many consultant teams and contractors are reluctant to participate in tendering exercises, given the high cost of preparing a bid and the uncertainty aboutwhether the bid will be successful. With that in mind, procurement through a framework frequently provides a more reliable and rapid means of securing the best team and best value. All consultants and contractors on the framework will have passed through a qualifying process, which includes examining value for money. 

Once the UK Leisure Framework was selected as the preferred procurement route, officers worked with Alliance Leisure to identify the architect and lead consultants on the framework best suited to taking forward the next stages of the design of the new King Alfred facility. A lead professional team was identified which whose skills and experience were best suited to delivering the new King Alfred facility, and once agreed with the Director acting under delegated authority, were appointed in January 2025. More information about the lead architects and the rest of the design team can be found on the ‘Professional Design Team’ page of this project website. 

 

In line with the council’s procurement requirements, the selection process for identifying the preferred contractor for the construction entailed running a mini-competition with contractors on the UK Leisure Framework. The shortlist of contractors was chosen with Alliance Leisure and the design team and reflected the contractors’ experience in delivering similar facilities on challenging coastal sites, and the contractors’ capacity and availability to deliver the project to the council’s planned schedule.  

 Through the mini competition process, Willmott Dixon Construction (WDC) emerged as offering the most compelling proposal and best value for money. WDC were appointed on a pre-construction services agreement (PCSA) agreement on 31 May 2025 by the Corporate Director using the delegated authority agreed by Cabinet at its meeting on 18 July 2024.  

 A decision on the appointment of the main contractor will be taken by Cabinet this Autumn. Currently, it is expected that Willmott Dixon will be recommended for that appointment. However, the Alliance Framework enables the council to leave the agreement, and for example, appoint a different main contractor to deliver the new facility, retaining ownership of all the design work created to that point.  

 

All elements of the procurement process were fully compliant with the council’s procurement requirements, and more details can be found in the two cabinet papers: 

The Access Agreement which gives the council access to the framework can be viewed on the council’s Contracts Register  

More information about the UK Leisure Framework can be found on their own website here: About the UK Leisure Framework – The UK Leisure Framework. Â