Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 18 Feb 2026, 16:31 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

2223-0331 Garrett Street Affordable Workspace Project

Authority: Islington Council (Local council)

ServicesAbove thresholdConcessionSME suitableVCSE suitable
Concession value (operator's revenue)£2,500,000operator revenue, not the authority's budget
Tender notice expected 23 Feb 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 7 yrsends 31 Jul 2033 · starts 1 Aug 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

This contract seeks an operator to manage the upcoming affordable workspace on Garrett Street, EC1Y 0TY on a 7-year lease. Intended as a flexible creative workspace / makerspace covering 1,205 sqm over ground and 1st floor levels, it will increase the diversity of businesses supported through the AWS programme. The contract will be offered on a peppercorn rent in exchange for targeted social value that reflects the estimated £3.15m market rental value over the contract term. As with other Islington AWS sites there will be no monetary income directly delivered to the council. The operator will be responsible for business rates, discounted service charges and insurance.

CPV: Real estate services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 7 yrsSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Aug 2026 – 31 Jul 2033 (7 yrs)

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How Islington Council buys Real estate services (CPV 70), and who usually turns up

Islington Council’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Real estate services (CPV 70) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bid
This buyerIslington Council · all categories
What to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
i

How often small and medium firms win.

Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.

The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 112 of 141 known-size awards · market: no supplier sizes published
79%—

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
i

How often local firms win similar work.

Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 123 of 127 known-location awards · market: no winner locations published
97%—

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in the delivery region.

How long to a decision?
i

How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.

Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 6 decided notices · market: no decision dates published
110 days—

Half of these awards were announced within 110 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
i

How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.

Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.

The buyer’s share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 25 of 191 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: no bid counts or routes published
13%—

Missing bid counts may hide more single-bid awards. This share is a minimum.

How many bids did past lots attract?

i

How many bids past lots received.

Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.

Past bids do not predict this tender.

Last 36 months.

This buyer80 lots with bid counts · all categories
5% had one bid
The marketNo bid counts published
Buyer · select a colour for counts
1 bid5%
Buyer: 4 of 80 lots with published bid counts.
2–328%
Buyer: 22 of 80 lots with published bid counts.
4–646%
Buyer: 37 of 80 lots with published bid counts.
7+21%
Buyer: 17 of 80 lots with published bid counts.

How did awards compare with estimates?

i

Where winning prices landed against estimates.

Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.

Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.

Last 36 months.

This buyer4 lots with estimate and award · all categories · too few to chart
The marketNo estimate-and-award pairs published
2

Assess each lot
i

What past awards tell you about each lot.

See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.

No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #184 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£2.5m
Expected competition
i

How many bids this lot may attract.

The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.

Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 153 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet19% single-bid risk
Past bids on 153 similar lots
1 bid19%
29 of 153 similar past lots received 1 bid (19%).
2–331%
48 of 153 similar past lots received 2–3 (31%).
4–634%
52 of 153 similar past lots received 4–6 (34%).
7+16%
24 of 153 similar past lots received 7+ (16%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 bids.
Commercial price forecast
i

Where the award price may land.

The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.

No comparable awards for this lot yet.

A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £2.5m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

Who has supplied this buyer on similar work?
i

Who has done similar work for this buyer.

Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.

A past supplier may not bid again.

No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.

Who could compete for this lot?
i

Who could compete for this lot?

Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.

None is confirmed as a bidder.

Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.

About this data
  • Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
  • Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
  • Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
  • Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
Regulatory regime
Concession
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
18 Feb 2026, 16:31 GMT
Last source update
18 Feb 2026, 16:31 GMT
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-014960
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Real estate services
Delivery area
North East (UKC)North West (UKD)Yorkshire & Humber (UKE)East Midlands (UKF)West Midlands (UKG)East of England (UKH)London (UKI)South East (UKJ)
+1 moreSouth West (UKK)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06577c Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

18 Feb 2026 → 1 Aug 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published246 days ago
    18 Feb 2026, 16:31 GMT
  2. Tender notice expected240 days ago
    23 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
  3. Contract starts82 days ago
    1 Aug 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    18 Feb 2026, 16:31 GMT
    UK2

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Pipeline notice
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

London Borough of Islington

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PBMD-2513-CWJJ Islington Town Hall, Upper Street, Islington, London, London, N1 2UDContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure