Building Safety Higher Risk Buildings Framework

Portsmouth City Council (the Council) is issuing this notice as it is planning to issue a tender to establish a Framework to provide building safety projects for several higher risk residential buildings within the Portsmouth area.
It is anticipated that the framework will be established for an initial 4-year period, with the option to extend by up to a further 2 years in intervals to be agreed.
The framework will have an estimate value range of £60m - £120m of work that may be procured through the procurement route based upon the Building Safety Programme for 2025 to 2030.
The framework, although primarily for delivery of projects that cover high rise buildings with higher construction value works, will also cover low - medium rise blocks in order to package up phases of work by consideration of geography.
The Council do however anticipate that approximately 70% of low-medium rise blocks building safety projects will be let via other arrangements including for the existing and re-tendered framework agreements held by the Council & the Council's term service maintenance contracts.
It is not proposed to set a minimum or maximum project value for call offs, as whilst the contract value ranges may differ the core work is of a similar nature, ie. of high complexity, requiring a high level of engagement from the contractor with the majority of the projects utilising design and build and requiring significant resident engagement.
The Council's Standard Framework Agreement will be used for the overarching framework. Most call-off contracts will be let using JCT Pre-Construction Agreement for 1st stage pre-construction activities and the JCT Design & Build Contact for 2nd stage construction works. However, the Council is considering allowing for use of the full suite of JCT contracts.
It is the Council's intention to commence the procurement in April 2026 to allow for award in August 2026 ahead of the commencement of the first project on site in May 2027.
To streamline procurement of contractors and allow high rise programme to be accelerated the Council intends to establish a single framework consisting of 3- 4 suppliers on the primary tier and 2-3 suppliers on a reserve tier to provide contingency in the event of performance and / or capacity issues.
The Council is intending to invite proposals for Millgate House, as part of the tendering process to establish the framework agreement with the highest ranked framework contractor being awarded a call-off package of work including the Millgate House project.
Should up to the next 3 highest ranked suppliers achieve a score within a percentage of the highest-ranking supplier, it is also the council's intention to award a call off package of work to each of these suppliers also.
In total the Council anticipates partnering with up to 4 contractors who will work on a pipeline package of multiple projects, including the Design, Construction and compliance with legal and regulatory authorities such as the Building Safety Regulator.
It is anticipated that each pipeline package will consist of 3 - 5 projects of varying individual complexities, with anticipated value ranging from £8M initially up to approximately £30M, with higher end value subject to business case sign off of later stages and subject to package contractor performance. Overall, the packages offered will be of equal value and complexity to each other.
The Council's intention is that contractors will be required to meet minimum performance KPIs to be awarded further works within the Pipeline.
Beyond allocation of packages from the original tender process, the council will also reserve the right to award further work via mini competition or direct award on basis of:
- ranking
- subsequent linked work phases
- application of framework rates basis
- enabling continuity of work force during BSR period
Local Government Review
As part of the wider Local Government Review (LGR), the Council is required to actively engage in discussions with neighbouring authorities to explore potential opportunities for collaboration, shared service delivery, and governance alignment. While this engagement is ongoing, no formal decisions or agreements have been reached at this stage.
The likely impacts of Local Government Review are being considered and will be included for within the estimate total value of the opportunity, with full details to be provided when the formal tender notice is issued.
Portsmouth City Council & Successor Unitary Authority established as result of Local Government Re-organisation which will likely broadly cover Portsmouth, Gosport, Fareham & Havant boundaries. Gosport Borough Council, Fareham Borough Council and Havant Borough Council will also be able to utilise the framework in advance of the new unitary authority vesting on 1st April 2028.
In the event of reorganisation, contracts will include clauses that allow for the assignment of the contract to successor authorities. Any assignment clause is li