After a meeting on Monday, councillors announced that experienced local event producers Unique Assembly will now deliver both Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay festivals for 2022.
The council has said core festive attractions will be maintained, including the Christmas Market and funfair attractions in East and West Princes Street Gardens and on the Mound; an ice rink on George Street; new lighting and projections on George Street; charity installation Festival of Kindness in St Andrew Square; and a selection of free festive events and shows for families at the Ross Bandstand, such as the traditional Nativity Carol Concert.
The German firm Angel Event Experience will now have limited involvement in the operation of the Christmas Market after the company asked to be released from its contract in recent weeks.
AEE will work as a subcontractor to Unique Assembly, which will allow for celebrations to go ahead this year, while ensuring the 70 stallholders and local businesses who had been expecting to trade can still do so.
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Council Leader Cammy Day said:
“I’m delighted that we’ve been able to find a solution so quickly, ensuring Edinburgh’s world-famous Christmas celebrations can go ahead this year.
“We will, of course, conduct a full review into why this happened but our absolute priority is to ensure that we provide high-quality festive celebrations for the city – and that these should be delivered in the spirit of the feedback received in our consultation with residents, businesses and stakeholders.
“There’s no questioning the popularity of our Winter Festivals or the benefits they bring to the Capital – the enjoyment and wellbeing of our residents, but also the economic impact for our businesses and the city as a whole.
“Crucially, the new plans will deliver on the key elements of our public consultation, including reduced use of green spaces, more accessible and family-friendly attractions, greater use of local traders and a more even spread around the city centre.
“I have no doubt Unique Assembly will help us make it yet another great festive period for our Capital city.”
The council have said a review of the contract and procurement process will take place in the New Year.
Unique Assembly will now rescue Edinburgh’s holiday activities after German firm Angels Event Experience Ltd walked away from their £5million holiday market contract earlier this month.
AEE had been awarded the city’s Christmas market contract in June but told council chiefs a couple weeks ago that they can no longer deliver it.
Angels Event Experience was due to pay the council over £5m for the right to run the festive events and attractions for three years with two optional 12-month extensions.
The City of Edinburgh Council met on Monday behind closed doors to discuss plans to rescue the capital’s annual holiday market.
During a public portion of the meeting, Paul Lawrence, Executive Director of Place said tensions between the council and market contracts were present fairly early on.
“It's fair to say that through that process, there were some differences of opinion and some matters of tension between ourselves and the contractors,” Paul said.
A lot of details were withheld from the public due to 'commercial sensitivity', but Paul explained that communication between offices and council members “could and should have been improved.”
In terms of communication and briefing standards, Paul said he was “not convinced we met the terms of it.”
“I think the record sets out our regret at that position. I can only explain that by the kind of dynamic, and the difficult nature of the discussions that we wanted to [firm up details] before we sat down and brief members but I accept and apologise that that didn't happen.”
However, Paul said some officer and members would have been aware of certain issues through communication with organisations and third parties involved in the process.
“I am aware that some parties associated with some of the delivery organisations had correspondence with elected members through the process.
“It is often the case that third parties who are working with officers go to members and say, ‘Why isn't this being done?’ Then generally members get hold of us and say, ‘I've been approached by somebody, why isn't this happening?’ So I suspect some members knew that there were issues at play through these approaches.
“But to be absolutely clear when members were approached on these issues by third parties, my understanding is that they were always referred to [council] officers to try and get them sorted because that's what we're meant to do.”
Paul assured councillors and the public that elected officials could not have done much more to stop the current situation from happening “given the confines of the procurement process.”
“I think officers would want to look at the procurement approach used here and suggest whether alternatives might be better suited,” he said.
“I think that is a legitimate discussion to be had once we're out with the immediate challenge of delivering something for the public this year. But whether the procurement methodology itself was right, I think, is a matter up for debate."
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