Annex 5
Letter, 5 January 2001, from the Pro-Vice
Chancellor at the University of Hertfordshire to the Chief Executive
of Sport England
de HAVILLAND CAMPUS—SPORTS FACILITIES
Many thanks for the meeting yesterday—I
found it very useful. Our discussion certainly clarified a number
of issues and I hope that we will be able to work with your officers
to take this project forward. Our aim is to enhance the facilities
that we will be offering to our community, whilst at the same
time providing some facilities that are appropriate for the development
of excellence.
I enclose as an Annex the specification that
was circulated as part of our "Invitation to Negotiate"
(ITN) to PFI consortia [not printed]. This specification,
as you will note, is quite broad and has been interpreted by different
parties in slightly different ways. The Sport England Technical
Guidance Notes and Standards were used in defining the sports
facilities. At the moment the only significant change is that
we are likely to have to settle for the eight court sports hall
rather than the 12 court facility that was originally envisaged.
I confirm that we are in a position where we
are now in discussion with two consortia—Carillion and Jarvis—who
will be reviewing their proposals during the next two months and
we would expect to go to the preferred provider position in early
March with a view to commencing construction in August/September
2001.
We are committed to opening the campus in September
2003 and we are past the point of no return on this project. I
also confirm that the planning position is that the site has a
covenant for university use for 80 years and that the PFI providers
have been instructed not to include any residual value at the
end of the term of our agreement. We can expect some intense activity
during the next eight weeks as the PFI providers seek to meet
our specifications within the financial framework that we have
identified. This period is clearly very important to us in terms
of the quality and affordability of the facilities. However, we
are committed to the scheme and would seek support from Sport
England to enhance facilities, rather than for funding for the
core facilities. With this in mind we will be particularly interested
in discussing further with your officers the possibility of extending
our planned 25 metre swimming pool to a facility of 50 metres
and including the equipment that provides the flexibility that
meets the needs of the local community and those of excellence.
We would also be interested if there is a way in which Sport England
could support our initial plans to construct a 12 court hall.
This would enable four courts to be dedicated for badminton use
only at all times and thus the county badminton development programme
to flourish. I understand from Nick Brooking, the University's
Director of Sport, that both these proposals are consistent with
the relevant associations' strategic plans. We have received positive
encouragement from David Sparks of the ASA in respect of the pool.
Clearly, in terms of timescale, we shall need
to take this forward during the next few months. The situation
is slightly delicate in that the PFI providers and the University
are working in an envelope of confidentiality and therefore we
need to be careful regarding any dissemination of information
that is within the bids. I shall seek some legal guidance on this
issue in the next few days, but I would envisage that it is not
an insurmountable problem.
Once again, many thanks for the meeting, I found
it extremely useful.
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