Public sector procurement specialist SCAPE has announced the seven contractors that will deliver up to £14bn of capital expenditure via its Net Zero ready construction frameworks, following the conclusion of what it describes as a rigorous procurement process.

Kier, Morgan Sindall, GRAHAM, Willmott Dixon, McLaughlin & Harvey, John Sisk & Son and Mace have been appointed to deliver the SCAPE Construction framework for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, collectively worth up to £12bn, while Morgan Sindall, Kier and McLaughlin & Harvey will deliver the procurement authority’s newly launched SCAPE Scotland Construction framework worth £2bn – operated and managed by SCAPE Scotland. Each partner will be supported by an extensive local supply chain.

The four-year frameworks – which are available for use by all public sector organisations - will accelerate the delivery of new-build and refurbishment projects of all values between 2021 and 2025.

With close alignment to the government’s Construction Playbook and a focus on climate action response via the built environment, SCAPE say these frameworks are intended to offer a better way to build and refurbish the public estate, whilst stimulating local economic activity. 

Contractors have been selected for their ability to deliver against SCAPE’s long held standards in construction quality, safety, and efficiency; as well as their ability to deliver truly sustainable development through social value, environmental improvement and positive economic impact in communities. The framework has been carefully designed to enable clients to benefit from industry transformation, with consideration towards digital construction, platform design and modern methods of construction. 

Clients will benefit from a number of innovative features in the new frameworks, offering more procurement options and enhanced control of their projects including:

A unique parallel lotting structure, offering a choice of delivery partner while retaining the free early engagement and direct award experience that was pioneered by SCAPE; 

• A new lifecycle contract form, ideal for retrofit or new build, supporting clients with energy conservation and the operational efficiency and performance of their assets beyond the construction phase for up to five years. The new feature, which completes the frameworks’ ‘Net Zero ready’ offer, will help to build and validate a client’s business case for low carbon buildings, and address the historic performance gap between design aspiration and in use performance of assets;
• A new commercial model that includes a standard pricing template to provide greater transparency, while contractors will also commit to 19-day (or better) payment terms for their supply chain partners;
• Enhanced tailoring of project KPIs and success criteria for every project, leveraging the Construction Innovation Hub’s Value Toolkit to define success for the client;
• Support from SCAPE’s dedicated framework management team, with performance in delivery measured against market-leading benchmarks for environmental performance, sustainability, social value and the use of local supply chains.

SCAPE’s next generation of frameworks build on the success of the SCAPE construction, national construction and SCAPE construction and minor works frameworks, which both expire in September 2021.

The results of the procurement are as follows:

SCAPE Construction framework / Framework value: £12bn:

• Lot 1: England & Wales. Project value: £0 - £7.5m.  Morgan Sindall.
• Lot 2: England & Wales. Project value: £0 - £7.5m. Kier.
• Lot 3: England & Wales. Project value: £7.5m - £75m. Willmott Dixon.
• Lot 4: England & Wales. Project value: £7.5m - £75m. Morgan Sindall.
• Lot 5: Northern Ireland. Project value: £0 - £7.5m. GRAHAM
• Lot 6: Northern Ireland. Project value: £7.5m - £75m. McLaughlin & Harvey
• Lot 7: England, Wales & Northern Ireland. Project value: £75m+. John Sisk & Son.
• Lot 8: England, Wales & Northern Ireland. Project value: £75m+. Mace.

SCAPE Scotland Construction framework / Framework value: £2bn:

• Lot 1: Scotland. Project value: £0 - £7.5m. Morgan Sindall.
• Lot 2: Scotland. Project value: £0 - £7.5m. Kier.
• Lot 3: Scotland. Project value: £7.5m+. Morgan Sindall.
• Lot 4:  Scotland. Project value: £7.5m+. McLaughlin & Harvey.

Adrian Hill, acting deputy managing director at SCAPE, said: “Construction shapes the world around us and right now the public sector is focussed on creating a better built environment. Whether that’s through excellence in sustainability or projects that leave a positive legacy for a local community, this is their goal, and our new frameworks will help them to get there quickly and efficiently.

“The contractors selected submitted bids of an outstanding quality and they now have an opportunity to set new standards of excellence and return significant value to the public sector from its investment.” 

John Simons, acting group procurement director at SCAPE, said: “Our next generation of frameworks are designed to empower the public sector at a time when it is not only playing a critical role in the recovery from the pandemic, but also helping tackle our climate emergency and delivering construction projects that create value for all in society.

“We have built on more than 15 years of experience to bring in new innovations, greater control and choice so that our colleagues in the public sector can meet their increasingly complex and multi-layered objectives, whilst still allowing them to do so through our proactively managed direct award model and its foundations of rigour and compliance.”