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Post by Justin on Aug 22, 2011 9:49:40 GMT -5
Invitation To Tender has been released.
Full details on the link above, but in summary:
"A ski slope and snow facility that has as a minimum a principal slope of 150m by 30m p; an academy slope of 50m by 30m; children’s real-snow play area; and a leisure ice pad. The optimum solution is a real snow ski slope, however the Council is prepared to consider modern alternatives to a real-snow ski slope."
I notice the council's readiness to consider an alternative to a real snow slope.
As well as maintaining pressure on the council to deliver a facility, we have to bear in mind that it has to be a *suitable* facility, and in my view anything other than a real snow slope will not be suitable. We already have an artificial (Dendex) slope in Cardiff, so we don't want or need a second.
We would welcome your views on this point, and a poll will be set up.
Movement, at least, but we need to continue adding pressure and making our voices heard.
Geraint
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Post by Justin on Aug 22, 2011 9:51:27 GMT -5
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Post by Justin on Aug 22, 2011 9:53:27 GMT -5
I received an initial response back from the council this afternoon, and while I didn't get an answer to all points, I did get this:
"the Council has not issued an Invitation to Tender (ITT), but has issued a PIN (Prior Indicative Notice) as a market sounding exercise to seek views from interested parties. It welcomes any comments you may wish to make in your submission."
So first thing's first, I would class this group as an interested party and fully intend to comment. Please respond to the question regarding real snow vs. dry slope. This is critical in my view.
There are already dry slopes in the area, so another dry slope (albeit indoors) would be way off the mark and definitely not what Cardiff needs.
The point is that these requirements are not set in stone, so we need to take this opportunity to positively influence the content of the ITT.
Geraint.
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ger
New Member
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Post by ger on Aug 31, 2011 17:10:16 GMT -5
Comments regarding the content of the PIN were submited to the council this afternoon.
Long document, but the crux of the reponse is that a dry slope will not meet the needs of the community, real-snow only otherwise people who presently travel will continue to do so and no-one will travel to Cardiff to use the facility, and that the primary slope should be a minimum of 170m (with revision of the length of the academy slope recommended as well). Also requested that appropriate schedule and priority be defined such that the snow slope be built immediately following the ice arena.
Now waiting to see if we get a response from the council...
Geraint
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Post by Justin on Sept 24, 2011 5:43:09 GMT -5
Update from Geraint:
Finally got time to read the tender document. Quick summary:
- Tender submission deadline is 16 December 2011
- Contract Award will be March 2012
- Tender is for "Phase 3" of the development (phases 1 and 2 being what's there already), to be completed (in its entirety) by 2015
- Ski slope is included in this phase with the same dimensions and wording as that issued in the PIN (despite our submitting our concerns to the Council about slope size and "modern alternatives" to real snow - obviously deaf ears on that one), the only amendment to the PIN wording was removal of the "leisure ice pad" from with in the ski-slope definition, instead changing the ice arena definition to including 2 ice pads (one of our recommendations, as well as something the ice community have been pushing for).
- Delivery of the ski slope is stated as needing to be delivered as part of a "first phase", but the exact meaning of this is still not 100% clear to me. We asked for clear prioritisation in the tender, but I don't think that's been done. Hopefully, with the ice arena being a stated priority, the ski slope will be high up the list for delivery...but frankly it's unclear.
- On the matter of surface choice, based on what we've heard so far, I have strong reservations about the Council's intentions and despite references in the tender to real snow being the "optimum solution", I'm not convinced...and I fear that we will end up with a poor alternative: Carpet. We'll be watching this very closely: and I feel it may be worthwhile us all writing to/emailing the Council to express this concern.
Now is the time to keep a *very* close eye on the way things develop...
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