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Published 2 Oct 2026, 11:36 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Trafford Waters - Architect

Authority: LONDON & QUADRANT HOUSING TRUST (Central government)

ServicesSME suitable
Sectors: Architecture & Engineering (71) Delivery: North West (UKD3)
Published estimate£800,000≈ £267k / year · £960,000 inc. VAT
Tender notice expected 13 Nov 2026from the planned procurement notice
Contract term 3 yrsstarts 15 Jan 2027

What is being bought

Published requirement description

L&Q are undertaking this preliminary market engagement (PME) to inform the design of a future procurement exercise for an Architect for our Trafford Water site.

About L&Q

L&Q is one of the UK's largest charitable housing associations, owning and managing over 105,000 homes across Greater London and Greater Manchester. Alongside its core role as a housing provider, L&Q is an active developer and regeneration partner, delivering new homes across a range of tenures, including affordable housing, market sale and build-to-rent. L&Q's development programme focuses on creating high-quality, sustainable places that support thriving communities and respond to local housing needs.

London and Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) is seeking to procure an architect for RIBA stages 2 and 3 in relation to plots 3.4 and 5.3 at Trafford Waters, Manchester, M41 7JE. L&Q may seek to expand the remit of this appointment to cover other stages, and sites in the Trafford Waters Development.

The Project

Trafford Waters is a 53-acre regeneration site being master developed by Peel Group, with outline consent for up to 3,000 homes alongside significant public open space, commercial uses, and a new school. L&Q have already delivered an initial phase of the site, the Pearson Place scheme, comprising 83 apartments, and are now progressing the acquisition of further plots 3.4 and 5.3 within the masterplan.

Read the full description (978 more characters)

Initial feasibility studies highlight the requirement for a high quality, high density family housing scheme that aligns with the requirements of the Trafford Design Code reflects the high density aspirations of the Outline Planning Consent (Reference: 85282/OUT/15).

An initial high level programme is as follows, please note all dates are indicative and subject to change.

Pre Market Engagement: October 2026

Tender / Framework call off: October 2026 – January 2026

Start of Services: January 2027

Planning Submission: May 2027

Start on Site: January 2028

L&Q wish to understand the capacity and capability of potential suppliers in the market to deliver our aims for high quality high density family housing schemes to inform our route to market. L&Q are eager to explore services beyond traditional architectural services – including how you can help us:

1. Ensure viability of the site

2. Assist with sales development / promotion of the dwellings

3. Manage risks of the development

CPV: Architectural and related services · Architectural design services · Architectural services for buildings · Landscape architectural services · Urban planning and landscape architectural services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Lot 1Planned 3 yrsSME
Contract period: 15 Jan 2027 — 31 Dec 2029 (3 yrs)Eligibility: SME eligibleDelivery: North West
71200000 Architectural and related services71220000 Architectural design services71221000 Architectural services for buildings71400000 Urban planning and landscape architectural services71420000 Landscape architectural services

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
No (one-off requirement)
First published
2 Oct 2026, 11:36 BST
Last source update
2 Oct 2026, 11:36 BST
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Architectural and related servicesArchitectural design servicesArchitectural services for buildingsLandscape architectural servicesUrban planning and landscape architectural services
Delivery area
North West (UKD3)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-077f7a

How it was run

Submission deadline
—

Timeline

4 published dates · Europe/London
  1. Planning notice publishedjust passed
    2 Oct 2026, 11:36 BST
  2. Market engagementin 15 days
    16 Oct 2026, 23:59 BSTL&Q are requesting that potential suppliers complete the questionnaire via in-tend, and submit their responses. This PME is not intended to form part of any tender evaluation or selection process.
  3. Tender notice expectedin 43 days
    13 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
  4. Contract startsin 105 days
    15 Jan 2027, 00:00 GMT

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Pipeline notice
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    2 Oct 2026, 11:36 BSTUK2

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

LONDON & QUADRANT HOUSING TRUST

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-COH: IP030441 29-35 West Ham Lane, London, London, E15 4PN

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure