Contracts

Ten contractors have joined the NHS Hospital 2.0 Alliance framework. The £37bn programme will allocate hospital schemes from £500m to about £1.5bn, using standardised designs and industrialised delivery, with Wave 1 projects scheduled to start on site between 2027 and 2030.

Lower Thames Crossing has signed an £80m green hydrogen contract. GeoPura will supply 2,500 tonnes of hydrogen as a managed service, targeting replacement of more than 12 million litres of diesel during construction.

Portsmouth is launching engagement for a £75m coastal framework programme. Acting for the Southern Coastal Group and SCOPAC, the council has published a preliminary market engagement notice for a Coastal and Flood Works framework, split into three lots, with procurement due to start in April 2026.

SCF6 bidder engagement events are scheduled for March 2026 regionally. Devon and Hampshire will host sessions in Winchester and Exeter ahead of procurement for the next Southern Construction Framework, valued at £5.4bn including VAT, due to go live in May 2027.

City of London approved record office space in 2025 alone. New figures show more than half a million square metres consented, roughly equivalent to ten Gherkins, with a large share already under construction across the Square Mile’s eastern cluster.

Bradford City Village has secured planning consent for phase one. The decision approves 97 townhouses across Chain Street and the northern Oastler site, alongside outline approval for later phases spanning the former Oastler and Kirkgate shopping centre plots.

Seddon has secured a £5m Potteries Museum contract in Stoke-on-Trent. The design-and-build scheme covers a new entrance, upgraded public areas, and expanded open storage for collections.

COWI will design Iceland’s Fljótagöng tunnel and new approach roads. The contract for Vegagerðin covers about 24 km of roads and a 5.3 km tunnel linking Siglufjörður and the Fljót district, with design due to finish in November 2026.