Official UK procurement notice
Provision of Cambridge City Centre District Heat Network
Authority: Cambridge City Council (Local council)·On behalf of: BURO HAPPOLD LIMITED
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionSince June 2023 Cambridge City Council has been working with consultants and academic partners to develop an Outline Business Case for a City Centre District Heating Network. Detailed Project Development has now completed, proposing a low carbon network using air source and river source heat pumps, and supported by a transition to electric boilers from gas boilers to supplement peak heat demand.
This work has been brought forward through a partnership between the City Council, the County Council, and 19 Academic institutions with significant heating demand in the city centre. Connections to many of these partner heat loads now forms the basis of the Minimum Viable Product identified for delivery through a Partner-invested Joint Venture Partnership, and with strategic ambition to expand such a network across the City in the long term, informed by an informal Heat Zoning review which has also been completed.
A Cambridge City Centre Heat Network represents a timely and valuable opportunity for Cambridge's academic institutions and public-sector organisations, who all share ambitious decarbonisation goals, and we are now seeking expressions of interest from potential partners who wish to be appointed to the established partnership to provide Design, Build, Operation and maintenance Services, inclusive of metering and billing. We feel that establishment of a new district heating network in a city of Global significance is a momentous opportunity, and we wish to procure a DBOM partner who shares our vision and understanding of the opportunities which this may bring.
We request that all interested parties put forward contact details for appropriate representatives who wish to be involved with early market testing on the Contracting opportunity, with meeting dates to be confirmed between 23rd February and 6th March 2026. Please contact [email protected]
The Council will be represented by Amberside Advisors, who together with Buro Happold and Sustainability Co have provided specialist consultancy services for the DPD Study. Formal procurement is anticipated for Q3 2026, and remains subject to both Council Cabinet approval, and successful receipt of Funding from the Green Heat Network Fund, for which bidding is targeted in March/April 2026.
Procurement is anticipated to seek Commercial stage services, moving into a main contract and formal start of works by end-2027. A Phased 5-10yr constriction period is anticipated, with first heat on for phase 1 connections targeted for 2030.
CPV: District-heating mains construction work · Energy and related services · Heating works · Urban development construction work
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Cambridge City Council buys Construction work for pipelines, communication and power lines, for highways, roads, airfields and railways; flatwork (CPV 4523), and who usually turns up
Cambridge City 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: 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 East of England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside 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 27 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 bid6% / 18%
2–319% / 21%
4–631% / 39%
7+44% / 21%
How did awards compare with estimates?
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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 estimate27% / 45%
Within ±2%60% / 31%
Above estimate13% / 24%
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 4523Estimate not published
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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 28 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid18%
2–321%
4–639%
7+21%
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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- Procedure method
- Below threshold - open competition
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Works
- 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
- 17 Feb 2026, 17:26 GMT
- Last source update
- 9 Jul 2026, 09:09 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-064462- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06568bFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 15 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
Timeline
17 Feb 2026 → 31 Jan 2027 · 6 dates- Planning notice published249 days ago17 Feb 2026, 17:26 GMT
- Market engagement232 days ago6 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
We request that all interested parties put forward contact details for appropriate representatives who wish to be involved with early market testing on the Contracting opportunity, with meeting dates to be confirmed between 23rd February and 6th March 2026.
- Latest notice published108 days ago9 Jul 2026, 09:09 BST
- Today25 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 7 days31 Oct 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Submission deadlinein 52 days15 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 98 days31 Jan 2027
Notice history
6 events · 6 releases on Find a Tender · since 17 Feb 2026- Planned procurement notice published17 Feb 2026, 17:26 GMTUK3
- Preliminary market engagement notice published17 Feb 2026, 17:45 GMTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published3 Jul 2026, 14:26 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published7 Jul 2026, 18:39 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published9 Jul 2026, 09:00 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published9 Jul 2026, 09:09 BSTUK2
Published amendments (4)
Additional information and engagement from previous 17 February 2026 Notice. Second round of Preliminary Market Engagement: Contact details are to be provided to: [email protected] and Engagement meetings are proposed to be held between 13 July and 14 August 2026. Since June 2023 Cambridge City Council has been working with consultants and academic partners to develop an Outline Busin…
Second round of PME
Second round of Engagement meetings are proposed to be held between 13 July and 14 August 2026. Following initial soft market testing in Q1 2026, we request that all interested parties put forward contact details for appropriate representatives who wish to be involved with a second round of Preliminary Market Engagement on the Contracting opportunity for Design, Build, Operation and Maintenance (D…
Second round of Engagement meetings are proposed to be held between 13 July and 14 August 2026. Following initial soft market testing in Q1 2026, we request that all interested parties put forward contact details for appropriate representatives who wish to be involved with a second round of Preliminary Market Engagement on the Contracting opportunity for Design, Build, Operation and Maintenance (D…
Routine re-releases (6)
- 2026-07: 1 release · 3 Jul 2026
- 2026-02: 2 releases · 17 Feb 2026, 17 Feb 2026
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
5 public bodies on the noticeOther public bodies
- AMBERSIDE ADVISORS LTDProcuring entitySpecialist Consultancy Services
- BURO HAPPOLD LIMITEDProcuring entitySpecialist Consultancy support
- SHARPE PRITCHARD LLPProcuring entityLegal support
- THE SUSTAINABILITYCOMPANY LTDProcuring entityConsultant
Official documents & specifications (6)
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
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender