Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 10 Aug 2026, 15:30 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Maidstone, Fairmeadow, Public Conveniences Repurposing

Authority: Maidstone Borough Council (Local council)

ServicesBelow threshold
Sectors: Real estate services (70) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline value£0pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 yrends 1 Jan 2028 · starts 1 Jan 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Preliminary Market Engagement - Former Public Toilet Building, Fairmeadow, Maidstone

Maidstone Borough Council is seeking views and expressions of interest from community organisations, charities, social enterprises and other interested parties regarding the future use of the former public toilet building located within Fairmeadow, Maidstone.

The Council is undertaking this preliminary market engagement exercise to understand the level of market interest, potential occupation models and possible future uses for the building. The property is currently vacant and comprises approximately 70m2 of internal floor space, positioned adjacent to the River Medway and close to Maidstone town centre. Existing utility connections are present.

The Council is particularly interested in proposals that deliver community benefit, encourage activity and engagement within Fairmeadow, enhance the riverside environment, are financially sustainable and secure the long-term occupation and management of the building.

Interested parties are invited to submit a response to the questions listed in the document titled 'Supplier Engagement - Fairmeadow PC'

Please note: This is a preliminary market engagement exercise only and is not a tender opportunity. The Council is seeking information to help inform its future approach to the building and reserves the right to undertake a separate procurement, leasing or disposal process at a later date. Participation in this exercise will not result in the award of any contract or lease.

Submission Deadline: 5:00pm, Friday 4 September 2026.

For more information about this opportunity, please visit the eSourcing portal at:

www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk/tenders/UK-UK-Maidst… ↗

To respond to this opportunity, please click here:

www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk/respond/56C7X7A24N ↗

CPV: Building rental or sale services · Non-residential property renting or leasing services · Property management services of real estate on a fee or contract basis

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published

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

How Maidstone Borough Council buys Non-residential property renting or leasing services (CPV 7022), and who usually turns up

Maidstone Borough Council’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: Non-residential property renting or leasing services (CPV 7022) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerMaidstone Borough 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: 13 of 24 known-size awards · market: CPV 7022 · UK-wide, n=20
54%40%

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.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 12 of 23 known-location awards · market: CPV 7022 · UK-wide, n=10
52%50%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
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.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 23 decided notices · market: division 70 · South East England (authority’s region), n=14
42 days53 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 42 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.

Both shares are minimums: 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 9 of 35 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 7022 · UK-wide, n=30
26%57%

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.

Last 36 months.

This buyer42 lots with bid counts · all categories
29% had one bid
The market5 lots with bid counts · CPV 7022 · UK-wide
0% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid29% / 0%
Buyer: 12 of 42 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
2–336% / 20%
Buyer: 15 of 42 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
4–629% / 80%
Buyer: 12 of 42 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 5 lots with published bid counts.
7+7% / 0%
Buyer: 3 of 42 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 5 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 buyer14 lots with estimate and award · all categories
71% below estimate
The market14 lots with estimate and award · division 70 · South East England (authority’s region)
43% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate71% / 43%
Buyer: 10 of 14 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 6 of 14 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%21% / 43%
Buyer: 3 of 14 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 6 of 14 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate7% / 14%
Buyer: 1 of 14 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 2 of 14 lots with an estimate and award.
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 #1CPV 7012 monthsNo real estimate

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 70. The comparison uses that group.

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 21 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet14% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 21 similar lots
1 bid14%
3 of 21 similar past lots received 1 bid (14%).
2–324%
5 of 21 similar past lots received 2–3 (24%).
4–648%
10 of 21 similar past lots received 4–6 (48%).
7+14%
3 of 21 similar past lots received 7+ (14%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 4 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 real estimate
The buyer published £0 as the estimate (a placeholder, not the contract’s value), so there is nothing to forecast against.

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
Below threshold
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
10 Aug 2026, 15:30 BST
Last source update
10 Aug 2026, 15:30 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-075835
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Building rental or sale servicesNon-residential property renting or leasing servicesProperty management services of real estate on a fee or contract basis
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06e065 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

10 Aug 2026 → 1 Jan 2027 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published78 days ago
    10 Aug 2026, 15:30 BST
  2. Market engagement53 days ago
    4 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST

    Preliminary Market Engagement - Former Public Toilet Building, Fairmeadow, Maidstone

    Maidstone Borough Council is seeking views and expressions of interest from community organisations, charities, social enterprises and other interested parties regarding the future use of the former public toilet building located within Fairmeadow, Maidstone.

    The Council is undertaking this preliminary market engagement exercise to understand the level of market interest, potential occupation models and possible future uses for the building. The property is currently vacant and comprises approximately 70m2 of internal floor space, positioned adjacent to the River Medway and close to Maidstone town centre. Existing utility connections are present.

    The Council is particularly interested in proposals that deliver community benefit, encourage activity and engagement within Fairmeadow, enhance the riverside environment, are financially sustainable and secure the long-term occupation and management of the building.

    Interested parties are invited to submit a response to the questions listed in the document titled 'Supplier Engagement - Fairmeadow PC'

    Please note: This is a preliminary market engagement exercise only and is not a tender opportunity. The Council is seeking information to help inform its future approach to the building and reserves the right to undertake a separate procurement, leasing or disposal process at a later date. Participation in this exercise will not result in the award of any contract or lease.

    Submission Deadline: 5:00pm, Friday 4 September 2026.

  3. Today
    27 Oct 2026
  4. Contract startsin 65 days
    1 Jan 2027

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    10 Aug 2026, 15:30 BST
    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

Maidstone Borough Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PGRT-5366-CGWY Maidstone House, King Street, King Street, Kings Hill, Maidstone, South East, ME156JQContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure