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Published 4 Aug 2025, 20:11 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Tate Galleries - Principal Contractor - Tate Britain Garden

Official notice

Authority: Tate (Central government)·On behalf of: WARD WILLIAMS ASSOCIATES LLP

WorksOpen procedureAbove thresholdSME suitable
Published estimate£4,000,000≈ £4.4m / year · £4,800,000 inc. VAT · 1 value update
Submissions closed 12 Sept 2025
Contract term 11 moends 30 Sept 2026 · starts 13 Nov 2025

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Tate Britain is creating a bold new garden for London in collaboration with celebrated garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith and the Royal Horticultural Society. Generously funded by the Clore Duffield Foundation, the Clore Garden will transform Tate Britain's exterior and offer beautiful natural spaces for residents, students and visitors to enjoy.

The Clore Garden will:

  • transform Tate Britain's landscape, enhancing existing architecture and restoring sightlines
  • amplify biodiversity through diverse planting, and improve sustainability
  • create space to enjoy art outside the gallery, with works shared from Tate's collection
  • feature a new café terrace with room for outdoor programmes, talks and learning events
  • include a new classroom for school groups and adult learners to connect art with nature (separate contract).

Complementing Tate Britain's classical architecture, the garden's organic design will invite discovery year-round. From magnolias and blossom in spring, to seed heads and evergreens in autumn and winter, there will be eye-catching plants to delight in across the seasons. The garden will be fully accessible with quiet spaces, seating and interactive water features. The project includes the removal of and creative refabrication of existing landscaping to create new fluid pathways through the garden.

The project includes a separate new purpose-built garden classroom which is subject to an interdependent but separate procurement exercise. The garden includes key features aimed at celebrating the beauty of nature, creating a space of amenity where artwork can be explored in a different context whilst simultaneously allowing areas of public enjoyment and education to take place concurrently. The garden project includes works to elevate and improve existing listed features such as gates and railings, works to improve legibility and access and, additionally, key areas of interaction through a bespoke water feature and pond. New services will be provided including a proposed irrigation borehole, a new irrigation system, pathway lighting and event power. Works subject to a Section 278 Order, include the revised front layby, kerb lines and associated drainage and utilities.

The contract will be let as a traditional contract under a JCT Standard Building Contract, with tenderers acting as the Principal Contractor. The tenderers will act as Principal Contactor as defined in the Construction Design Management Regulations 2015 which will include the role to oversee a directly appointed contractor the Garden Classroom.

CPV: Construction work

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · value published
Lot #1 11 moSMEPublished value£4,000,000
Contract period: 13 Nov 2025 – 30 Sept 2026 (11 mo)Value: £4,000,000 exc. VAT · £4,800,000 inc. VAT
Delivery: LondonEligibility: SME eligible
Pre-qualification & selection criteria (PQQ)2
  • Economic & financial standing

    For insurance cover, the requirement is £5m for public liability, £5m employers' liability (compulsory insurance) and £2m professional indemnity insurance. Bidders that do not currently hold these levels of insurance will need to do so prior to award, at no extra cost to Tate. Any bidder who does not satisfy Tate that they hold the required levels specified for the contract or agree to increase to these levels will fail. Please note, if you agree to increase you will need to provide the supporting evidence requested prior to award.

    Prompt Payment of Suppliers

    Bidders should provide confirmation that they have systems in place to ensure that organisations in your supply chain are paid on time, including that you have procedures for resolving disputed invoices promptly and effectively and details about your payment performance, including the percentage of invoices paid within 60 days

    Provision of accounts

    Bidders should submit the latest 2 years audited accounts as an appropriately referenced appendix.

    Turnover Test

    These accounts should show an average turnover of at least £5,000,000 over the past 2 years accounts.

    Liquidity Test (Acid Test)

    (Current Assets - Stock) / Current Liabilities

    From the latest 2 years accounts, the average result of the Test should be 1.0 or greater e.g. Y1 - 1.3, Y2 - 1.6 equals an average of 1.45.

    Where a Bidders will be submitting unaudited accounts, the supplier must satisfy themselves that they qualify for an audit exemption in line with the latest regulation. The latest regulation is set by the government and can be found on www.gov.uk ↗ under "audit exemptions". If the supplier has any queries on this, please raise a question via the messaging tool as per the instructions in Section 1. Introduction - Questions and Contact Details.

  • Technical & professional ability

    Bidders must possess relevant experience, demonstrated by on-going and historical contract information. This experience should be more thoroughly evidenced in responses to MS1, however Bidders should provide outline information in response to this question.

    Bidders should ensure that nominated contacts from their references are prepared and ready to provide a reference in support of their bid.

    Bidders who are unable to demonstrate this will fail.

What it takes to win
i

How this buyer will score bids.

The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).

Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add more
How bids were scored
  • Quality
Conditions of participation2
  • Economic & financial standing

    For insurance cover, the requirement is £5m for public liability, £5m employers' liability (compulsory insurance) and £2m professional indemnity insurance. Bidders that do not currently hold these levels of insurance will need to do so prior to award, at no extra cost to Tate. Any bidder who does not satisfy Tate that they hold the required levels specified for the contract or agree to increase to these levels will fail. Please note, if you agree to increase you will need to provide the supporting evidence requested prior to award.

    Prompt Payment of Suppliers

    Bidders should provide confirmation that they have systems in place to ensure that organisations in your supply chain are paid on time, including that you have procedures for resolving disputed invoices promptly and effectively and details about your payment performance, including the percentage of invoices paid within 60 days

    Provision of accounts

    Bidders should submit the latest 2 years audited accounts as an appropriately referenced appendix.

    Turnover Test

    These accounts should show an average turnover of at least £5,000,000 over the past 2 years accounts.

    Liquidity Test (Acid Test)

    (Current Assets - Stock) / Current Liabilities

    From the latest 2 years accounts, the average result of the Test should be 1.0 or greater e.g. Y1 - 1.3, Y2 - 1.6 equals an average of 1.45.

    Where a Bidders will be submitting unaudited accounts, the supplier must satisfy themselves that they qualify for an audit exemption in line with the …

  • Technical & professional ability

    Bidders must possess relevant experience, demonstrated by on-going and historical contract information. This experience should be more thoroughly evidenced in responses to MS1, however Bidders should provide outline information in response to this question.

    Bidders should ensure that nominated contacts from their references are prepared and ready to provide a reference in support of their bid.

    Bidders who are unable to demonstrate this will fail.

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
Closed
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Yes (GPA)
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
4 Aug 2025, 20:11 BST
Last source update
4 Aug 2025, 20:13 BST
Award evaluation window
Submission end – 23 Sept 2025
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-045888
Latest notice
Tender notice (UK4)
Classification (CPV)
Construction work
Delivery area
London (UKI32)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0580f4 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Run through: portal not identified
Electronic submission allowedLanguage: EN
Submission deadline
12 Sept 2025, 12:00 BST
Clarification deadline
27 Aug 2025, 17:00 BST
Submission channel
Official e-sourcing portal
Electronic submission
Allowed
Accepted languages
en
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

secure.marketdojo.com/signup ↗

The invite code to use is EC73CB3296.

If you experience any difficulty in registering or participating, contact the HelpDojo live chat or [email protected]

Timeline

4 Aug 2025 → 13 Nov 2025 · 5 dates
  1. Tender notice published
    4 Aug 2025, 20:11 BST
  2. Clarification questions by
    27 Aug 2025, 17:00 BST
  3. Submission deadline
    12 Sept 2025, 12:00 BST
  4. Award decision expected by399 days ago
    23 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
  5. Contract starts349 days ago
    13 Nov 2025

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 4 Aug 2025
  1. Tender notice published
    4 Aug 2025, 20:11 BST
    UK4
  2. Tender notice published
    4 Aug 2025, 20:13 BST
    UK4

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

2 public bodies on the notice

Tate

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PVXL-7942-GJXJ Tate, Millbank, London, London, SW1P 4RGContact email

Other public bodies

  • WARD WILLIAMS ASSOCIATES LLPProcuring entityProject ManagersGB-COH: OC401502GB-PPON: PZHW-6682-BGCZ Truro, South WestContact email

Official documents & specifications (4)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Tender pack and attachments

Notices published for this procedure

  • Tender notice tenderTender noticeUK4Tender notice on Find a Tender
  • Tender notice tenderTender noticeUK4Tender notice on Find a Tender