IN Brief:
- Supplier awards have been made across Pagabo’s £5 billion Major Works and £26 billion Developer-Led Schemes frameworks.
- The two procurement routes are scheduled to begin on 19 October after standstill periods lasting eight working days.
- The Developer-Led framework spans seven lots covering consultancy, legal services, special purpose vehicles, development agreements and development management.
Pagabo has named suppliers across two national procurement frameworks with combined estimated ceilings of £31 billion, ahead of the Major Works 2026 and Developer-Led Schemes 2026 agreements beginning on 19 October.
The award decisions cover 108 suppliers across the two procurement exercises. Contractors including Morgan Sindall, Wates and BAM have secured positions on Major Works, while the Developer-Led appointments include Avison Young, Savills, Morgan Sindall Consortium, Capital & Centric and Cityheart.
The frameworks remain within their mandatory standstill periods before launch. Appointment gives suppliers access to the procurement routes, but it does not guarantee them a share of the stated values or create construction revenue without subsequent client commissions.
Major Works and Developer-Led Schemes perform different functions. The £5 billion Major Works framework is intended for construction projects valued at £5 million and above, including new buildings, refurbishment, retrofit, fit out and associated civil engineering.
The £26 billion Developer-Led Schemes framework covers a broader development process. Its seven lots include development consultants, legal providers, special purpose vehicle arrangements, development agreements and development management services.
A special purpose vehicle can provide a dedicated legal structure through which partners hold assets, finance work or deliver a scheme. That differs from a conventional construction contract, where a client appoints a contractor principally to carry out defined building or civil engineering works.
Development agreements provide another route where land, planning, funding and construction responsibilities need to be allocated between a public body and a development partner. The contract can establish obligations and delivery milestones before the final construction packages are procured.
Development management services allow a client to appoint expertise to organise a programme without transferring the whole development opportunity to a private partner. Consultancy and legal lots provide separate support where those services are needed independently.
The range of services explains why the £26 billion ceiling should not be interpreted as £26 billion of conventional building contracts waiting to be allocated. It represents the anticipated maximum value available through several development and professional service routes across the framework term.
YPO is the contracting authority for both agreements, with Pagabo responsible for framework management, supplier relationships and client support. The organisations are operating through a strategic partnership rather than a joint venture, and each retains its separate legal and operational identity.
The Developer-Led framework has a term of four years and has been procured under the Procurement Act 2023 and associated regulations. Its structure allows public bodies to select a route suited to the commercial form of a regeneration or development programme rather than forcing every project into a standard construction framework.
Major Works provides a more direct route into physical construction. Projects may involve individual buildings, phases or programmes, with appointed contractors competing for or receiving individual commissions under the framework rules.
The £5 billion Major Works framework has already reached award stage. The combined supplier decisions also complete the Developer-Led selection, establishing the organisations that can compete for commissions through both agreements.
Framework appointment still leaves substantial work between supplier selection and construction. Individual schemes may require business cases, funding approval, land agreements, planning consent, design development and project specific procurement before physical work begins.
The same principle applies to development partners. A place on Developer-Led Schemes gives an organisation access to opportunities but does not transfer land or guarantee that a regeneration programme will proceed. Each client still has to establish the commercial and planning basis for its own project.
Pagabo and YPO are also operating a separate Civil Engineering, Infrastructure and Enabling Works framework that began during the autumn. Together, the procurement routes divide major building work, wider development activity and infrastructure into agreements designed around different delivery requirements.
The framework model can shorten procurement for public bodies because suppliers have already passed the competition needed to secure a position on the agreement. Clients still have to follow the relevant call off procedure, however, and the framework does not remove the need to define scope, evaluate project requirements and agree a contract for each commission.
Both new agreements are due to begin on 19 October once the standstill periods have concluded. Their practical value will be determined by the projects brought through them and the commissions secured by appointed suppliers, rather than by the combined £31 billion ceiling alone.
