Official UK procurement notice
Refurbishment and Restoration of the Theatre Royal Margate
Authority: Thanet District Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Theatre Royal Margate is the second oldest theatre in the UK, Grade II* listed and the original structure was built in 1787. It closed its doors to the public in 2022 and Thanet District Council are now looking for an experienced contractor to carry out the capital works. The reopening of the Theatre Royal is essential to maximising Margate’s arts offering to the community and feeds into Thanet District Council’s wider Town Plan.
Scope: Essential refurbishment works to the Theatre Royal are required to enable its reopening. The scope of works will include careful heritage sensitive redecoration and specialist plasterwork, new stairs, toilets, bars and extension with lift. Alongside HVAC upgrades to meet Part L (where feasible in a Listed Building), and fire and life safety upgrades to meet Part B within the parameters of a Listed Building. The project has an estimated Construction Value of £4,100,000.00
Funding: It should be noted the project is currently solely funded by the UK Government’s Town Deal. With this, strict deadlines have been set to secure this funding which are outlined in the next section.
Estimated Contract Value: £4,100,000.00 excluding VAT
Estimated Contract Value: £4,920,000.00 including VAT
Further information on this project can be obtained from the Planning Application submitted and RIBA Stage 3 Design information via the Thanet District Council Planning Portal.
Procurement Timeline: The project is currently at RIBA Stage 4, having completed a wider Masterplan vision for the Theatre Royal, 19 Hawley Square, and connecting the public realm. Following its completion, a ‘Phase 1’ scope was defined and has been taken through to be developed to a RIBA Stage 4 detail. This design is due to be completed in early June 2026, following which the Tender process will be undertaken.
The design team has been appointed based on their specific heritage and theatre experience. The design team include the following roles:
- Project Manager and Quantity Surveyor
- Lead Designer/Architect
- Civil & Structural Engineer
- Mechanical & Electrical Engineer
As the scheme seeks to refurbish the second oldest theatre in the UK, the works are deemed specialist and thus require specialist design input. Therefore, specialists have been appointed to support the development of the RIBA Stage 4 design, including Stage Lighting and Audio Visual (SLAV), Sustainability, Theatre Technical, Acoustics, and Fire Engineering.
The project will be procured via an Open Procedure with a Traditional single-stage procurement process, using a JCT Standard Form of Contract 2024.
This project has a strict deadline to meet in order to enable the reopening of the Theatre Royal for Pantomime season 2027.
Indicative dates for procurement are outlined below (based on an Open Procedure with a Traditional single-stage procurement process approach):
RIBA Stage 4 Completed and Tender Released: Early June 2026
Tenders Returned: Late July 2026
Contract Award: September 2026
Practical Completion: September 2027
Procurement Approach: Due to the estimated contract value being close to the Public Procurement Threshold for Works including VAT, the decision has been taken that the procurement exercise will follow an above threshold open competitive procedure utilising the Council’s eProcurement Portal, the Kent Business Portal.
For Suppliers to participate in the procurement opportunity, you will need to register on the Kent Business Portal. Please go to the Kent Business Portal (www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk ↗) and follow the registration process.
Access to Procurement Documents: All documents relating to the procurement exercise for this project will be made available on the Kent Business Portal, following the UK4 Tender Notice being issued (Anticipated early June 2026).
CPV: Auditorium construction work · Construction work for art and cultural buildings · Construction work for buildings relating to artistic performances · Construction work of leisure facilities · Entertainment building construction work · Theatre construction work
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1PlannedPublished value£4,100,000
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Thanet District Council buys Building construction work (CPV 4521), and who usually turns up
Thanet District 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: Building construction work (CPV 4521) →
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 South East England (authority’s region).
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.
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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 60 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?
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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 bid13% / 16%
2–325% / 30%
4–625% / 32%
7+38% / 22%
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 estimate37%
Within ±2%22%
Above estimate41%
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 4521Published estimate£4.1m
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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 69 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid16%
2–330%
4–632%
7+22%
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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.
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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
- Open procedure
- 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
- 30 Mar 2026, 11:13 BST
- Last source update
- 30 Mar 2026, 11:13 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 14 Aug 2026
- Authority reference
T671- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-028964- Latest notice
- Planned procurement notice (UK3)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-067785Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 17 Jul 2026, 14:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 7 Jul 2026, 14:00 BST
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
30 Mar 2026 → 4 Sept 2026 · 6 dates- Planning notice published213 days ago30 Mar 2026, 11:13 BST
- Tender notice expected142 days ago8 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
- Clarification questions by114 days ago7 Jul 2026, 14:00 BST
- Submission deadline104 days ago17 Jul 2026, 14:00 BST
- Award decision expected by75 days ago14 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts55 days ago4 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Planned procurement notice published30 Mar 2026, 11:13 BSTUK3
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 (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender