Bracknell Forest Charging Network Provision PIN

This is a soft market test to engage possible suppliers in advance of procuring a contract or contracts for a comprehensive residential and destination EV charging network across Bracknell Forest Borough.

Bracknell Forest Council has been exploring and investigating EV charging solutions since 2015, when we installed our first public use charge point in the High Street multi storey car park in Bracknell town centre. We have since added more chargepoints in this, and other, town centre car parks. From 2021 to 2023, we worked with a commercial supplier to deliver 34 ORCS funded charging sockets across 12 council owned Community car parks.

We are now looking to further expand the public chargepoint network in Bracknell Forest, but it is very important we achieve the best solution for the Borough.

Our overarching goal is to secure a partner or partners to provide investment and collaborate with us on the planning, installing and operation of a substantial borough wide chargepoint network.

From recent discussions with the Energy Saving Trust we anticipate we could secure LEVI funding in the region of GBP350,000 to contribute towards the on-street residential element of our charging network.

Our general principle for residential charging excludes charging points located on or in streetlights. Our streetlights cannot support 7kW chargers and are generally located at the back of the footway.

We have identified a list of destination sites where, subject to feasibility, we will be happy for EV chargers to be installed. A list of these sites is provided in the PIN documentation. We would welcome an indication of your interest in these sites, albeit we recognise that any interest will be subject to local DNO connection fees which are unknown at this stage.

It is our intention that any future contract will make provision for our Parish and Town Councils, registered social housing providers who are not for profit organisations such as housing associations, registered charities etc., or Community Groups, Churches, Village Halls, Schools and any other not for profit community landowners within the County to access and make use of the contract via the Council.

A questionnaire we would like you to respond to as part of our soft market testing is available within our portal. It is only intended to support the Council in the finalising this requirement, and will not form part of any future tender. Please submit your responses using the messaging function within the portal.