Press Release

Extension given to boost Design for Manufacture bids

English Partnerships has today announced that bidders involved in stage two of  the Design for Manufacture competition will be given an extra two weeks to develop their proposals for the £60,000 home.

Trevor  Beattie, Corporate Strategy Director for English Partnerships said, “This  competition is all about quality and after listening to the bidders, we  have decided to put the timescale for the competition back by two weeks to help bidders prepare the high quality proposals we are expecting.

“We’ve  seen  a tremendous response to this competition and are aware that, with  the  limited  number  of  suppliers in the market, some consortia are still  trying  to  finalise  the  members of their team.  We also know that everyone  wants  to submit the best proposal they can to do justice to this competition  and  the extension will maximise their opportunity to showcase what they can achieve.”

The new deadline for stage 2 responses is midday Friday 15 July 2005.

Dr  Ashley  Lane  from  Westbury Partnerships commented, “This is excellent news  to  facilitate  quality submissions befitting the aspirations of this scheme.   Having  now  fully comprehended the scope of stage two, this time extension  will  be  most  helpful  in  enabling  us to comprehensively and professionally meet the output both ODPM and English Partnerships require.”