Seven bids were received and opened for the contract to design and construct the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) conceptualised 11 storey Brickdam Police Station, which will replace the edifice that was razed by an inferno last year.
The bids were opened by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) last week. Among the bidders are SRKN and Associates Limited. They are teaming up with The Mackay Practice, a Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) based Architectural firm and Tensen Hughes.
Also bidding are Innovative Engineering Consultancy Service, PME Consulting Engineers and Aleron and Stages Consultancy Engineering, WSP Caribbean Limited (another T&T company), KS&P Limited, AI AR and Beston Consulting Incorporated.
Back in February 2022, the Home Affairs Ministry had announced the tender for consultants to design a new, 11 storey Brickdam Police Station, with bidders being invited to submit their bids to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) by March 15.
According to a statement from the Ministry, a consultant is being sought to undertake the design service for the construction of the Brickdam Police Station, which was gutted by a massive fire last year.
“Bidding will be conducted through the National Competitive Bidding (NCB) Procedures specified in the Procurement Act 2003, and is open to all bidders. Bidders are required to submit technical and financial Proposals which must cover travelling expenses and reimbursements,” the statement had said.
In 2021, Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn had said that a modern Police station complex would be constructed at Brickdam. In Budget 2022, an allocation of $405 million was set aside for a new Brickdam Police Station. It had been announced that the Home Affairs Ministry would be consulting to determine the structural make-up of the building.
“The Brickdam barracks are under rehabilitation forced on with the issues by the fire for $20 million…In respect to the new Brickdam Police Station, we have made three conceptual designs, (of) which we have adopted one. We intend to get, along with our engineering group, work with some consultants in respect of the structural, foundation design and issues related to the reticulation of the building,” Minister Benn had informed the National Assembly.
On October 2, 2021, a fire flattened the wooden complex which used to be the Brickdam Police Station. Chase Green, a man who was arrested for robbery under arms, has since been remanded to prison for setting fire to the Brickdam Police Station. The fire, which started in the second storey in the administrative building, had destroyed some 80 per cent of the Police station.
Police Headquarters had said that Green confessed to starting the fire. Green reportedly confessed that he took a piece of sponge and wrapped it on a piece of wire which he lit and pushed through a ventilation hole in the cell over to a part that had some documents.
It was from there that the fire started.
