Official UK procurement notice
The Core Refurbishment — UK public procurement notice
Authority: Newcastle City Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNewcastle City Council is seeking to appoint a contractor to deliver the comprehensive CAT A refurbishment of The Core at Newcastle Helix. The project includes mechanical and electrical upgrades, reconfigured floorplates, improved communal facilities, a new entrance lobby and sustainability improvements. The procurement will follow a two-stage design-and-build approach, including a pre-construction phase, with the main works delivered under an amended JCT Design and Build Contract 2024
CPV: Building construction work · Electrical installation work · Refurbishment work
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Published value£7,000,000
- Value
- £7,000,000 exc. VAT · £8,400,000 inc. VAT
What it takes to wini
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 morei
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).
Published sub-criteria (5)
- Team, Experience and Resources — 15%
- Programme and Methodology — 20%
- Approach to Second Stage — 15%
- Price — 40%
- Social Value — 10%
Published award criteria (5)
- Team, Experience and Resources — Assessment of the proposed project team, team CVs, relevant Category A refurbishment experience, and BREEAM and Fitwel experience.
- Programme and Methodology — Assessment of the pre-construction and construction programme, site logistics and management methodology, and soft landings and aftercare arrangements.
- Approach to Second Stage — Assessment of the proposed procurement and design management approach and subcontractor long list.
- Social Value — Assessment of the proposed social value commitments. Mandatory social value requirements will be assessed separately on a pass/fail basis.
- Price — Assessment using a £6,000,000 notional net construction value, tendered preliminaries, design fees, PCSA fee and overheads and profit. The offered SIP discount applicable to Day 10 payment will be applied to calculate the Evaluated Tender Sum. The lowest Evaluated Tender Sum receives 40 marks; other scores are calculated as: lowest Evaluated Tender Sum divided by the supplier's Evaluated Tender Sum, multiplied by 40.
No conditions of participation were published on the notice; check the tender documents.
- Price carries 40 of 100 points — a 10% discount moves about 4 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
- Turnover usually expected at this size: about £13,102,564 (twice the annual value).
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring — the tender pack may use another formula. Turnover is an indicative market norm (≈2× annual value), not a published condition.
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How Newcastle City Council buys Other building completion work (CPV 4545) — and who usually turns up
Newcastle 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: Other building completion work (CPV 4545) →
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.
Here, local means registered in North East England.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in North East England.
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.
Half of these awards were announced within 73 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.
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.
1 bid9% / 29%
2–322% / 7%
4–630% / 7%
7+39% / 57%
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.
Below estimate63% / 31%
Within ±2%11% / 13%
Above estimate26% / 56%
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 4545Published estimate£7.0m
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.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid6%
2–36%
4–621%
7+67%
i
Where the winning price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
Based on 13 comparable awards. Each lot reflects its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative.
A guide, not a price to bid.
Middle 50%£6.0m–£7.0m
Estimate£7.0m
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.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovia Infrastructure LimitedWorked for this buyer | City Centre Transformation Programme - Northumberland Streetnotice published Nov 2023 | — | — | 79% match |
| John Flowers LtdWorked for this buyer | 009106 - Discovery Museum Roof Replacementruns to Apr 2027 | — | £3.3m | 76% match |
| SIGMA CATERING EQUIPMENT LIMITEDWorked for this buyer | Cragside Primary School - Kitchen Refurbishment Worksnotice published Jun 2026 | — | — | 75% match |
| RJL INTERIORS LTDWorked for this buyer | 009316 - Discovery Museum Gallery Refurbishment Worksnotice published Apr 2026 | — | — | 74% match |
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.
| Supplier | Won in this category | Live contracts | Award vs estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| £1.1bn31 awards in 36m · last this month | 2 live · £72k iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | 11% below n=2 | |
| £23m13 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago | 7 live · £20m iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | at estimate n=5 | |
| £56m13 awards in 36m · last 4 months ago | 6 live · £71m iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | at estimate n=3 | |
| £1.1m5 awards in 36m · last 1 months ago | 1 live · £211k iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | no comparable pairs | |
| £37m21 awards in 36m · last 11 months ago | 7 live · £282m iPublic contracts this supplier still holds. Its awards whose published end date is still in the future, with their values. Many contracts publish no end date, so this is a floor, not the whole book. Unexpired says nothing about spare capacity. | 13% above n=1 |
Coverage and what to read with care
- Each figure explains itself. The on a figure says what it is, how it is counted and which scope this notice’s own record came from (class, division, all categories, or the authority’s 24-month row). The two sides are never blended. A lot’s own market is read at its delivery region where the lot names one; where it names several, or none that can be resolved, the chart falls back to the UK-wide record for the same category and says so under the bar. An empty cell means the source published nothing usable. Long form: Methodology.
- When we call out a difference. A buyer figure is only flagged against the market when the sample is large enough that the gap is unlikely to be chance; at most two callouts appear, always phrased as a comparison with both numbers and the sample size.
- Coverage (re-measured 5 Oct on the live record, 94,497 awarded procedures of the last three years). 51 % publish a bid count and 72 % a delivery region, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice names none, labelled. Of the 17,687 award-vs-estimate pairs, 34 % sit exactly on the estimate — the buyer published the award at the figure it advertised. n is on every figure; a thin sample is muted, never hidden, and a distribution is not drawn as percentages below ten observations.
- “Match”, text similarity, the expected-bid figure and the distribution drawn beneath it are model outputs, not published facts or win probabilities. Find a Tender does not publish who is bidding. Never shown: contact details, payment behaviour, or a recommended price.
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
- Open for tender
- 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
- 5 May 2026, 08:48 BST
- Last source update
- 7 Oct 2026, 12:22 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end — 20 Nov 2026
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-094689- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0690d0Find a Tender
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via OPEN-UK- Requests to participate (first stage)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 6 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 2 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
7 published dates · Europe/London- Planning notice published161 days ago5 May 2026, 08:48 BST
- Next notice expected104 days ago30 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
- Tender notice published6 days ago7 Oct 2026, 12:22 BST
- Clarification questions byin 20 days2 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Submission deadlinein 24 days6 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT
- Award decision expected byin 39 days20 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 48 days30 Nov 2026
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Notice history
7 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 5 May 2026- Tender notice published7 Oct 2026, 12:22 BSTUK4
- Published value updated to £7,000,0007 Oct 2026, 12:22 BSTwas £6,500,000
- Status changed to active7 Oct 2026, 12:22 BST
- Deadline published: 6 Nov 2026, 12:00 GMT7 Oct 2026, 12:22 BST
- First tender notice published7 Oct 2026, 12:22 BST
- Pipeline notice published5 May 2026, 08:48 BSTUK1
- First planning notice published5 May 2026, 08:48 BST
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Bidding documents and specifications Procurement documentation is available through the OPEN portal at the above link.
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender