IN Brief:
- The £1bn H3 framework will cover housing, regeneration, demolition, remediation, enabling works, retrofit, and defence housing.
- The framework is split into 12 lots, with SME places reserved on selected low-value and specialist workstreams.
- The agreement is due to run from October 2026 to October 2030, with an option to extend into 2031.
LHC Procurement Group has opened procurement for a £1bn housing, regeneration, and demolition framework for public-sector construction programmes across England.
The Housing, Regeneration and Demolition H3 framework will cover new-build residential schemes, retrofit and estate regeneration, demolition, remediation, enabling works, and defence housing. A separate Welsh Procurement Alliance framework, valued at £75m, has also been issued for Wales, covering retrofit, remediation, enabling works, and defence housing.
The English framework is divided into 12 lots, ranging from small housing schemes of one to 10 homes through to larger residential developments above 50 homes and buildings over 18 metres. Other lots cover retrofit and estate regeneration, demolition services, remediation, enabling works, and defence housing.
LHC is reserving up to three places for micro or small businesses on selected lots, including small new-build housing, low-value retrofit, low-value demolition, remediation, and enabling works. Successful suppliers will act as principal contractor and take on associated design duties.
The framework will be available to councils, housing associations, arm’s-length management organisations, government bodies, NHS organisations, emergency services, schools, colleges, and other public-sector clients.
The agreement is scheduled to run from 26 October 2026 to 25 October 2030, with an option to extend to 2031. Bids are due by midday on 17 June, with award decisions expected on 15 October.
The expanded scope reflects the growing overlap between new housing delivery, retrofit, land remediation, and enabling works. Public clients are being asked to unlock brownfield and constrained sites while also improving existing housing stock, which means procurement routes now have to accommodate a broader mix of build, demolition, remediation, and technical site-preparation work.
The SME reservation gives smaller regional contractors a defined route into selected workstreams. Large national frameworks can be difficult for smaller contractors to access, even where local and lower-value packages sit well within their technical capability. Reserved places on selected lots should help councils and housing associations maintain access to local supply chains, particularly where delivery is linked to employment, apprenticeships, and social value commitments.
The principal contractor and design-duty requirement also points to a more integrated delivery model. Clients are seeking suppliers that can manage design risk, coordinate technical disciplines, and carry projects through complex front-end site conditions before above-ground construction begins.
The framework lands against continuing pressure on housing supply, ageing public-sector estates, and defence accommodation commitments. It is less a single-category construction agreement than a procurement route for the mixed reality of public-sector development: rebuild, refurbish, remediate, and make sites viable before conventional construction can start.
