North Wales Police

Constructing Excellence

Galliford Try wishes to nominate North Wales Police (NWP) for Client of the Year, for the North Wales Eastern Command and Custody Facility (ECC) project we have delivered together. Galliford Try has jointly prepared this submission with NWP, to emphasise our commendation of NWP’s integrity, project leadership and collaboration which has been instrumental to the project’s success.

Background
In 2014, the aging police custody suite in Wrexham was unfit for purpose. Alongside earlier closure of Mold custody suite, developing an ‘out of town’ facility serving both Wrexham and Mold, offered the most economical solution to secure the long-term future of police infrastructure for North Wales. NWP identified a suitable location (an industrial site in Llay, close to Wrexham), and developed a design to RIBA Stage 3. A business case based on the re-use of the existing warehouse was approved and procurement process to construct the ECC, via the North Wales Construction Framework (NWCF) was launched in 2015.

Challenges faced
Surveys carried out at Invitation to Tender (ITT) indicated the warehouse didn’t hold the structural capacity required to accommodate the adaptions ECC required. A new solution was needed, putting the future of the whole project in jeopardy.  Galliford Try, together with design partner PCE Ltd, proposed a design concept using a pre-cast concrete frame which could deliver a new build solution to the specifications and programme NWP required. NWP managed transition into a 2-stage Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) contract. Project success is down to NWP’s openness, collaboration and facing challenges together.