A London company has been chosen to carry out architectural services for the new Newlyn fish market following two days of presentations at the St Clare offices of Penwith Council. The selection follows a meeting of the Tender Board at Penwith last week, when members were convened to choose an architect to carry out the concept design of the proposed new fish market to be built at the foot of the Mary Williams Pier.

The selection process itself ran over two days - the first concentrated on the technical evaluation linked to a scoring matrix.

On completion of scoring, three companies were then invited to St Clare to give a formal presentation of their submission to the Tender Board panel, comprising the chairman of Newlyn Harbour Commissioners Douglas Williams; Pat French (Newlyn Harbour Commissioners), Nick Howell (Newlyn Fish Industry Forum/merchants), Susannah Clemence (VAN - Voice of Newlyn artists and community group), Tony Woodhams (Newlyn Fisheries Project Officer) and Patrick Valvona (Hyder Consulting).

Late on Friday evening and having listened to the presentations followed by a question and answer session, the board deliberated and finally awarded the contract to Pringle, Richards & Sharrat of London.

Penwith Technical & Contract Officer, Neil Clarke, who managed the proceedings said afterwards that the panel had been "very thorough" in their evaluation process.

"In selecting Pringle, Richards & Sharratt, they anticipate the company will undertake the work without any preconceived ideas on how the market should be constructed, but they anticipate them to be innovative and have vision of how the market may look and operate within Newlyn's distinctive environment and culture" he said.

Mr Clark explained: "The work that the architect will undertake will be to take the design of the building to 'Stage C' of the Royal Institute of British Architects plan of work, thereby determining the general approach to layout, design and construction.

"There will be a period of time assigned by the architect, to consulting with the relevant stakeholders. At this stage we are not talking about colours of tiles on walls, or types of wood to be used, or whether or not clear or stained glass should be used - that comes later on during design and construction.

"Once again we will consult with ward members, harbour groups and the community during the coming phases of work, and whilst Penwith Council officers are helping to facilitate this contract, it is on behalf of the Newlyn Pier and Harbour Commissioners and Government Office of the South West."

article copyright © THE CORNISHMAN