Houlder and partners developed strong bid for National Flagship Project before it went on hold
While it has been announced by the UK government that the National Flagship project will not be going ahead, we are proud of the work we did in leading Team Signal, comprising Houlder, Bannenberg & Rowell and Frazer-Nash Consultancy, through the design competition.
Being selected as one of the final two bidders for this project, out of a list of 19 companies who pre-qualified, was a great achievement by Team Signal. The competitive process involved extensive design and development work, which resulted in a comprehensive blueprint for a forward-looking vessel.
The bidding process, including the technical, strategic, operational, and creative factors that informed our design competition submission was one of the most challenging and stimulating design briefs we have undertaken.
Rupert Hare, Chief Executive Officer at Houlder commented: “Our excellent partners, and the Houlder team itself, were the perfect choice for this novel and complex project. The client team created a wide-ranging and future-facing brief that encapsulated sustainability, diversity, education, future technology, craft, stewardship, humanitarianism, research, trade and diplomacy. We are proud of our design and how it was able to meet the full range of requirements set. We will share more details in due course.”
Dickie Bannenberg at Bannenberg & Rowell said: “We would like to thank our consortium partners, all of whom approached a potentially arduous and extremely complex bid process with such positivity, good humour, diligence, rigour and camaraderie: Houlder, Frazer-Nash, Eckersley O’Callaghan, H2 Yacht Design, Reymond Langton and our own in-house team.”
Keir Gravil at Frazer-Nash Consultancy said: “Working on the National Flagship with our Team Signal partners was a privilege and the solution to the design challenge that we developed was certainly something very special. We are proud to have been a part of this project and know that if it demonstrates one thing, for those of us in Team Signal, if you give us a challenge we will rise to it.”
The National Flagship was a new concept and was never intended to be a replacement Royal Yacht. It was pitched as a vessel which can communicate the best of British ingenuity and industry overseas. Offering a secure setting for a full range of activities including trade missions, exhibitions, conferences, or high-level consular activities.