Official UK procurement notice
Hounslow Heat Network · UK public procurement notice
Authority: London Borough of Hounslow (Local council)
Following Cabinet approval in December 2025, the London Borough of Hounslow ("the Council") intends to commence a procurement process in Spring 2027 to select a Heat Network Development Partner ("HNDP") to fund and deliver a district heating network across the borough (the "Hounslow Heat Network"). The Council proposes to partner with the HNDP through a Joint Venture with Golden Share.
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionFollowing Cabinet approval in December 2025, the London Borough of Hounslow ("the Council") intends to commence a procurement process in Spring 2027 to select a Heat Network Development Partner ("HNDP") to fund and deliver a district heating network across the borough (the "Hounslow Heat Network").
The Council proposes to partner with the HNDP through a Joint Venture with Golden Share.
Scheme Overview
The Hounslow Heat Network is a borough-wide low-carbon infrastructure programme to modernise and improve the resilience of heat supply across the borough. It is intended to be delivered in phases, starting with an anchor scheme using heat recovery from Thames Water's Mogden Waste Water Treatment Works and expanding in the future to serve public, commercial and residential customers across the borough.
- Scale: the full build-out is expected to supply 484 GWh of annual heat demand through a 69 km network.
- First phase (the reference scheme): 45 GWh annual heat demand through a 9.57km network with anchor loads, including West Middlesex University Hospital and new build and Council-owned assets.
- Funding: the Council has secured £10.55m of Green Heat Network Fund ("GHNF") funding.
- Strategic importance: identified by the Greater London Authority ("GLA") as a strategically valuable heat network area. Hounslow is also part of the National Zoning pipeline, having secured DESNZ funding to form a Zone Coordination Body for the borough and surrounding area.
Who Should Take Part
The Council would like to hear from organisations with experience in the development, financing, construction and operation of heat networks, including those able to bring capital and delivery capability to the project. Consortia are welcome, as are smaller organisations interested in future supply chain opportunities.
CPV: Boiler installations · Corporate finance and venture capital services · District-heating mains construction work · District-heating plant construction work · Energy and related services · Heat pumps · Heat-recovery systems · Heat-transfer station construction work · Heating works · Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning installation work · Heating-plant repair and maintenance work · Heating-system design services · +4 more
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How London Borough of Hounslow buys Construction work for pipelines, communication and power lines, for highways, roads, airfields and railways; flatwork (CPV 4523), and who usually turns up
London Borough of Hounslow’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Construction work for pipelines, communication and power lines, for highways, roads, airfields and railways; flatwork (CPV 4523) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in Greater London.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 40 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
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.
1 bid7% / 4%
2–313% / 26%
4–640% / 30%
7+40% / 39%
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.
Below estimate57% / 45%
Within ±2%43% / 23%
Above estimate0% / 32%
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.
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 #1CPV 4523Published estimate£500m
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 23 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid4%
2–326%
4–630%
7+39%
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.
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.
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.
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
- Works
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 3 Nov 2026, 15:06 GMT
- Last source update
- 3 Nov 2026, 15:28 GMT
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-104350- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0796d8Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
3 Nov 2026 → 18 Apr 2028 · 4 dates- Planning notice published1h ago3 Nov 2026, 15:06 GMT
- Today3 Nov 2026
- Market engagementin 31 days4 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
How The Engagement Will Work
The Council will conduct a two-stage preliminary market engagement.
Stage 1 will share details of the heat network and the current reference design work, so that interested parties can explore the opportunity and the Council can obtain feedback on the scheme proposal. It will comprise of a one-hour webinar presented by the Council on Wednesday 18 November 2026 at 12 noon, held online via Microsoft Teams.
Stage 2 is expected to be held in February or March 2027 and will be supported by a more detailed Project Information Document. This stage will include in person presentation, meetings at Hounslow House and a site visit to Thames Water's Mogden Sewage Treatment Works and West Middlesex University Hospital.
How To Take Part
If your organisation is interested in becoming the Council's Heat Network Development Partner and wishes to take part, please register your interest via the Council's eTendering portal procontract.due-north.com/Procurer/Advert/Adve… ↗ by 23:59 on Monday 16 November 2026 where a link is provided to the webinar. Questions may be submitted via the portal before and after the engagement up to the deadline of 1pm on 4 December 2026. The Council and its advisers will respond via the portal. The webinar presentation, together with an anonymised record of questions, responses and any other relevant information shared during the engagement, excluding information identified as commercially sensitive, will be made available on the portal to all registered parties.
Related Opportunity
The Council is also procuring a partner for a Strategic Energy Partnership ("SEP") to help fund and deliver a diverse portfolio of energy projects and programmes across the borough. A separate preliminary market engagement notice has been published for that opportunity [Find a Tender reference]. Organisations may take part in either or both engagements.
Fair And Transparent Engagement
- Taking part in this engagement is not a condition of taking part in any future procurement and will not give any organisation an advantage.
- A summary of the questions, answers and key information shared at each stage will be published to all registered parties via the portal and included in any future procurement documents. Questions will be anonymised and commercially sensitive information will not be disclosed.
The Council is supported by Womble Bond Dickenson (UK) LLP, AECOM and Amberside Advisors. When registering, please declare any relationship with the Council, its officers or its advisers that could give rise to a conflict of interest.
Indicative Timetable
The indicative timetable for the Hounslow Heat Network engagement and procurement is as follows (subject to change):
Stage 1 Engagement
Preliminary market engagement notice published: Tuesday 3 Nov 2026
Registration deadline; webinar invitation and information pack issued: Monday 16 Nov 2026, 23:59pm
Webinar: Wednesday 18 Nov 2026, 12:00
Deadline for submission of questions: Wednesday 4 Dec 2026, 1pm
Publication of Stage 1 engagement feedback: By Thursday 15 Jan 2027
Stage 2 engagement
Stage 2 in person event including site visit (details to follow): Feb/ Mar 2027
Procurement
Tender notice published with tender documentation: Spring 2027
The Council currently expects to use the competitive flexible procedure under the Procurement Act 2023, including stages of dialogue. The procedure will be confirmed in the tender notice and associated tender documents.
All communications will be via the Council's eTendering portal procontract.due-north.com/Procurer/Advert/Adve… ↗ .
_______________________________________________________________
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
This notice is not a call for competition or an invitation to tender and does not bind the Council to carry out a procurement process.
Information provided through this engagement is subject to change and does not represent final decisions or commitments.
The Council and its advisers are not liable for any costs that interested parties may incur in taking part in this preliminary market engagement.
Information submitted may be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. Please identify any information you consider commercially sensitive. Personal data will be handled in line with the Council's privacy notice (www.hounslow.gov.uk/privacy-notice ↗).
This engagement is carried out in compliance with sections 16 and 17 of the Procurement Act 2023.
- Tender notice expectedin 108 days19 Feb 2027, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts18 Apr 2028, 00:00 BST
Notice history
3 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 3 Nov 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published3 Nov 2026, 15:06 GMTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published3 Nov 2026, 15:26 GMTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published3 Nov 2026, 15:28 GMTUK2
Published amendments (1)
Update link to the tendering portal.
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
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender