Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 9 Jan 2026, 14:10 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Market Engagement - Tropical World Redevelopment

Authority: Leeds City Council (Local council)

WorksAbove thresholdSME suitable
Planned pipeline value£15,000,000pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 yr 10 moends 3 Dec 2029 · starts 1 Feb 2028

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Tropical World Zoo in Leeds is owned and operated by Leeds City Council. Due to the age and condition of the building it is considered to be nearing end of life and as such the Council are in the early stages of exploring the opportunity to redevelop the attraction.

Based on very early estimates it is anticipated that the construction value will be in excess of £15m.

This market sounding exercise is intended to determine market interest to tender for construction and to try and help determine the most appropriate approach to procurement for a project of this type.

This market sounding exercise is not an invitation to tender or a request for formal expressions of interest. The Council, as contracting authority, is issuing this request for information only to assess the reaction of the market and to inform our procurement strategy.

CPV: Leisure centre construction work

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 1 yr 10 moSME
Contract period: 1 Feb 2028 – 3 Dec 2029 (1 yr 10 mo)
Delivery: Yorkshire & HumberEligibility: SME eligible

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Leeds City Council buys Building construction work (CPV 4521), and who usually turns up

Leeds City 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: Building construction work (CPV 4521) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerLeeds City Council · division 45
The marketBuilding construction work (CPV 4521) · Yorkshire and the Humber
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: 27 of 32 known-size awards · market: CPV 4521 · Yorkshire and the Humber, n=148
84%80%

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.

Here, local means registered in Yorkshire and the Humber.

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 25 of 40 known-location awards · market: CPV 4521 · Yorkshire and the Humber, n=208
63%48%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Yorkshire and the Humber.

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: 5 decided notices · market: CPV 4521 · Yorkshire and the Humber, n=29
41 days27 days

Half of these awards were announced within 41 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 13 of 66 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 4521 · Yorkshire and the Humber, n=220
20%45%

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 buyer5 lots with bid counts · broad CPV 45
60% had one bid
The market84 lots with bid counts · CPV 4521 · Yorkshire and the Humber
58% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid60% / 58%
Buyer: 3 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 49 of 84 lots with published bid counts.
2–340% / 19%
Buyer: 2 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 16 of 84 lots with published bid counts.
4–60% / 18%
Buyer: 0 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 15 of 84 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 5%
Buyer: 0 of 5 lots with published bid counts. Market: 4 of 84 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 buyer11 lots with estimate and award · broad CPV 45
55% below estimate
The market36 lots with estimate and award · CPV 4521 · Yorkshire and the Humber
50% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate55% / 50%
Buyer: 6 of 11 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 18 of 36 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%27% / 17%
Buyer: 3 of 11 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 6 of 36 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate18% / 33%
Buyer: 2 of 11 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 12 of 36 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 452122 monthsSME suitablePublished estimate£15m
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 84 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet58% single-bid risk
Past bids on 84 similar lots
1 bid58%
49 of 84 similar past lots received 1 bid (58%).
2–319%
16 of 84 similar past lots received 2–3 (19%).
4–618%
15 of 84 similar past lots received 4–6 (18%).
7+5%
4 of 84 similar past lots received 7+ (5%).
Check who supplied similar work and whether the route limits bidders.
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 £15m, 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
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
9 Jan 2026, 14:10 GMT
Last source update
9 Jan 2026, 14:10 GMT
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-001903
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Leisure centre construction work
Delivery area
Yorkshire & Humber (UKE42)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0602ef Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

9 Jan 2026 → 1 Feb 2028 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published284 days ago
    9 Jan 2026, 14:10 GMT
  2. Market engagement262 days ago
    30 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT

    To complete the PME, please download the PME document from Jaggaer ref: tender_60. To access Jaggaer, please use the following weblink: leedscitycouncil.ukp.app.jaggaer.com/esop/ogc-host/public… ↗

  3. Today
    20 Oct 2026
  4. Contract starts
    1 Feb 2028

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    9 Jan 2026, 14:10 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

Leeds City Council

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PJYG-6658-PPMY Civic Hall, Calverley Street, Leeds, Yorkshire & Humber, LS1 1URContact name, email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure