IN Brief:
- Stepnell Developments has been appointed to Lot 5 of the four-year £26bn Pagabo Developer-Led Framework.
- Its stated appointment covers developments worth up to £50m across the Midlands, South West and South East.
- The framework enables future procurement opportunities but does not itself award Stepnell a specific project or revenue.
Stepnell Developments has secured a place on Lot 5 of Pagabo’s second-generation National Framework for Developer-Led Schemes, positioning the property development business to work with eligible public sector landowners on projects valued at up to £50 million. The appointment covers opportunities in the Midlands, South West and South East, where specific schemes will require their own funding, commercial arrangements and project decisions.
The developer-led route is intended to help public authorities progress operational estates, surplus land and redevelopment opportunities where planning, capital investment and construction may need to be organised together. Stepnell’s development arm can pursue projects involving the repurposing or redevelopment of buildings and sites, rather than being confined to the delivery of a construction package specified by a client. The company describes its offer as combining development, investment, construction and energy capabilities within the wider group.
Stepnell says it is one of nine suppliers in its Lot 5 grouping, while Pagabo identifies 52 appointed suppliers across the framework’s seven lots. Those counts concern supplier selection at different levels of the procurement structure. The framework’s £26 billion figure is an aggregate estimated value of work that may be procured over four years; Stepnell’s appointment establishes eligibility to pursue qualifying opportunities in its named regions, with individual developments requiring separate client decisions and agreements.
Pagabo manages the four-year arrangement for YPO, the centralised procurement authority, and the framework became operational in October 2026. It was established under the Procurement Act 2023 and associated regulations. Councils, housing organisations, education clients and healthcare bodies can use the route for eligible work, although each must establish the scope of its project, its authority to proceed, funding and the commercial arrangement required for the particular site.
The commercial role of a developer differs from a contractor appointed under a conventional construction works agreement. A public landowner may have a site whose existing buildings are obsolete, costly to operate or no longer required for their original function. A development partner can help assess options, develop a business case, organise planning and assemble a delivery approach. The precise allocation of design, construction, investment and sales or occupation risks must then be set out in the agreement for that site.
Where estate rationalisation involves several properties, the sequence of redevelopment can be tied to the relocation of services and the release of land. Moving an occupied operation into another building may have to precede demolition, while utility capacity, site access and the condition of existing structures constrain when construction can begin. A development agreement must define the order of those steps and specify the responsibilities and risks borne by the public landowner and development partner.
The Lot 5 appointment is separate from Stepnell’s earlier places on Pagabo’s £5 billion National Framework for Major Works. Those construction appointments relate to Lot 2, for works from £5 million to £15 million, and Lot 3, for schemes from £15 million to £30 million across specified UK regions. The developer-led appointment, secured by Stepnell Developments, creates a separate route for projects involving land and development agreements.
Development proposals emerging through the new framework will still need to address their physical delivery constraints. Reusing an occupied estate can require surveys of structural condition, building services, contamination and asbestos before decisions about retention or demolition. New facilities may be subject to highway access requirements, electricity connection capacity, flood risk, drainage and biodiversity obligations. These issues influence the cost and programme of development before a contractor mobilises, and the agreement must establish which organisation will investigate and manage each risk.
Stepnell intends to draw on its development, construction and energy capabilities when pursuing eligible projects. The physical options will vary by property: replacing plant in an occupied building, upgrading insulation or repurposing existing floor space involves different costs and constraints from clearing a site and constructing new accommodation. Business cases must consider both capital spending and future operation, with environmental performance assessed against the actual building or site. Stepnell has identified no individual project or technology installation under its Lot 5 appointment.
Stepnell Developments can now engage with eligible public sector organisations that are considering how to use or redevelop property assets in the Midlands, South West and South East. The first project carried forward through the arrangement would need a site-specific brief, appropriate call-off process and an executable development agreement, followed by the necessary planning and funding approvals. The four-year framework provides the route through which those commissions can be pursued.
