1 Introduction
West Dunbartonshire Council, on behalf of the Antonine Wall Management Plan Partners (and as part of a wider National Lottery Heritage Fund project) wish to appoint a consultant with significant experience of working with refugees and asylum seekers in the community, to deliver a heritage based project.
2 Client
West Dunbartonshire Council on behalf of the Antonine Wall World Heritage Site Management Partners: West Dunbartonshire Council, Glasgow City Council, East Dunbartonshire Council, North Lanarkshire Council, Falkirk Council and Historic Environment Scotland.
3 Background to project
The Antonine Wall became part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site (alongside Hadrian’s Wall and the German Limes) in 2008. It runs through five local authority areas in central Scotland (West Dunbartonshire, East Dunbartonshire, Glasgow, North Lanarkshire and Falkirk) with both urban and rural sections. Further information on the site and its history can be found on the website: www.antoninewall.org
These five local authorities and HES together form a partnership group which, in 2016, applied to the National Lottery Heritage Fund to consider a three year project to raise awareness and develop understanding of the Antonine Wall WHS and associated heritage, particularly with communities in deprived areas. In 2017, partners received a Stage 1 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant to prepare a full Stage 2 Project proposal. In September 2018 they received notification that the full funding bid had been approved.
The project has a series of capital and revenue projects including five Roman themed playparks, five replica distance stones and 25 community projects across the five local authority areas. In addition, there is a volunteering programme, the 21st Century Legion, the reconstruction of a 1950s film about the Wall and an education programme which incorporates work with schools and a touring museum exhibition.
The overall aim of the project is to raise awareness of the Antonine Wall amongst the local communities living along its length and to promote a better understanding of the area’s Roman heritage, while delivering opportunities for social and economic regeneration. The individual projects were designed in collaboration with representatives of these communities in order to ensure the best chance of delivering the project aim. In addition, the project has remained responsive to change and flexible throughout, building on emerging opportunities to engage further with those individuals and groups less likely to engage with the heritage sector.
TENDER REQUIREMENTS
3 Scope of works
We are seeking an experienced consultant (or consultant working with sub-consultants) to deliver an engagement programme with refugees and asylum seekers living in the five local authorities along the Antonine Wall.
The Antonine Wall, when in use in the second century AD, was home to many diverse communities and individuals. Soldiers and civilians travelled to Scotland from all over the Roman Empire, from modern-day Europe, from the northern parts of Africa, from Syria and the Near East. Evidence uncovered by archaeologists reveals names of Syrian and African origin, cooking vessels suggesting styles imported from Africa, and artefacts imported from across the vast Roman empire.
Today the Wall is still home to peoples from many of these countries and the Antonine Wall project team and Partners wish to share their stories more fully and explore the diversity and richness of the narratives both in Roman times and today.
What we hope to achieve is the sharing of personal stories, knowledge, memory and experience that will allow us to augment interpretation for the sites and bring communities together. We also want these groups and individuals to feel that their stories matter and to help create re-usable engagement mechanisms / materials that the local authorities along the Wall (and the AW project) can use in future years with other such groups e.g. English language teaching resources with a distinctly Antonine Wall feel.
We have identified certain key areas around which this work can evolve and are seeking an experienced consultant to develop and deliver an engagement programme for us.
The areas identified are:
New narratives – how could we engage with these groups / individuals to create new options for interpretation on the Wall and what might these look like e.g. guided tours in their own language. Obviously, they may not wish to lead tours, and in the current pandemic, these might not even be face-to-face tours, but what new content or means of engaging audiences could be created based on their knowledge and experience? What new language resources could be created? What form will these take that are distinct from those currently offered to reach out to others in a similar situation?
Artefact Links – how we can look at some of the overseas / imported material found along the Wall and engage these groups to help us better understand them / present them to a wider audience? What sensitivities might have to be taken account of (both artefact and audience led)? Could we use food and cooking for example as a way of exploring artefacts and stories in more detail, perhaps through dining and demonstration events? Or are there particular craft skills that could be shared and explored?
Lived Experience – how can we draw out relevant stories, narratives, personal reflections and experiences that are relevant to the Wall perhaps around traditions, around feelings related to relocation, around contextualising new and old heritage (introducing modern-day Syrian refugees for example to the cultural remnants of their Roman-era countryfolk on the Wall)? How can we share these more widely between communities and widen understanding? What skills can these individuals and groups share and bring to the project e.g. cooks, teachers, writers or musicians?
Integration – how could we create materials / resources by working with existing groups and individuals, that can be used in future to help others in learning and integration? What might be the facts or themes that could help create a starting point for conversation or learning or exploration? Are there ways of incorporating the Antonine Wall and its wider heritage into English language lessons for example? Or are there learning visits and journeys that could help new arrivals to explore their local area through simple walks to parts of the Wall or families exploring the Roman themed playparks?
We would like to see a programme that fully engages individuals and groups in the development process through co-development and co-curation: enabling them to drive forward ideas, to influence the direction of the activities, to contribute actively, as we have been doing with other local community groups. We would like to see events that bring together these individuals and other more settled community groups along the Wall, encouraging sharing of information, stories and experience and helping to support wider integration.
We are aware of issues that will affect the successful delivery of such a project such as digital poverty, language barriers, travel limitations and additional support requirements in certain cases, so we wish the successful consultant to build in solutions to these within the overall programme. We are happy to pay travel, interpreter and other related support costs but these must be factored into the existing budget.
While the wider Rediscovering the Antonine Wall Project itself (of which this is a part) has one year left to run, we want the successful consultant to develop a programme that will have some form of legacy, allowing some work to be embedded within communities or available as resources online, to continue beyond the development year.
The successful consultant will be expected to identify relevant groups, individuals and organisations to work with in the 5 local authorities along the Wall. The project team will share what information they have, but the expectation is that the consultant will lead on this and bring previous knowledge, expertise and contacts to the project.
4 Budget
The total budget available for this commission is £15,000 excluding VAT to include all expenses including participant expenses, venue hire, catering etc.. An invoicing schedule will be agreed on appointment of the successful contractor(s), but it is suggested for all parts that there are three staged payments, with 25% on approval of work plan to allow for venue booking and events, 30% at the half way point subject to satisfactory evidence of progress and the final 45% on completion and delivery of the requested outputs.
5 Timescales
It is hoped that the successful contractor will start development work in August 2021, and deliver a costed activity plan by September 2021 that will be agreed with the project team, and subsequently begin face to face community engagement as soon as it is safe to do so within Covid restrictions (all Scottish Government and individual local authority restrictions will need to be followed). The project will run until July 2022, and plans should include an outline proposal for how the results of the work might be showcased / presented in our end of project celebrations due to take place around September / October 2022.
The timescales for this project are as follows:
Advertisement of tender opportunity 2 September 2021
Deadline for submissions: 12 noon 16 September 2021
Appointment of contractor(s) by 23 September 2021
Project Commences 1 October 2021
Agreement of work plan and timescales 8 October 2021
Interim review February/March 2022
Project completes 31 July 2022
Regular progress meetings will take place with the project team, either face to face or via Microsoft Teams, depending on ongoing restrictions.
6 Commission Project Management
The main contact for this commission within the Rediscovering the Antonine Wall project will be Emma McMullen, Antonine Wall Project Manager, based at West Dunbartonshire Council, the host organisation for the project. The successful consultant(s) will also be required to liaise with other project staff, the Antonine Wall Co-ordinator at Historic Environment Scotland, members of community organisations involved in the project, and members of the public from communities along the Wall.
Contact details for all staff, stakeholders, and community groups will be provided to the successful contractor in line with GDPR requirements.
7 Submission Requirements
Responses to this brief should be submitted to Emma McMullen, Antonine Wall Project Manager, by email: emma.mcmullen@west-dunbarton.gov.uk by noon on Thursday 16th September 2021. Submissions should include the following:
- Experience of working with refugees and asylum seekers and 3 examples of community engagement work / collaboration;
- Brief proposals (one side of A4) outlining what a proposed engagement strategy might include / look like;
- Timetable of key milestones for the work;
- A cost breakdown by work stage to include all expenses, outlining the number of days and day rate for each member of the team, including any sub-contractors that may be required;
- Two referees who can comment on previous relevant experience.
Submissions will be assessed on a quality/price framework as follows:
Quality:
- Methodology and approach to commission 40%
- Experience 30%
- Timetable 10%
- Proposed personnel 10%
Price:
- Price submission 10%.
Pictures: MELA Glasgow 2019. • ©Crown Copyright: Historic Environment Scotland