Framework Announcement: Burnley Borough Council £50m Planned & Capital Works

Burnley Borough Council has released the second of three related frameworks covering its upcoming maintenance, construction and professional services requirements across its estate.

The three frameworks are:

• Repairs & Maintenance Framework
• Planned & Capital Works Framework
• Construction & Professional Services Framework

Together, the frameworks are designed to provide a joined-up route to market covering the full lifecycle of the Council’s property requirements – from day-to-day repairs through to major capital projects and the professional services required to support them.

Following the release of the Repairs & Maintenance Framework, this second opportunity focuses on considerably larger planned, structural and capital projects.

Worth an estimated £50 million excluding VAT, Burnley Borough Council’s Planned & Capital Works Framework is divided into five lots covering general building, historical buildings, mechanical works, electrical works and external works/groundworks.

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Planned & Capital Works Framework Factfile

Framework: Planned & Capital Works Framework
Contracting authority: Burnley Borough Council
Sector: Construction and capital works
Estimated value: £50 million excluding VAT
Location: East Lancashire
Framework length: 4 years
Number of lots: 5
Tender submission deadline: 5pm on 17 November 2026
Expected commencement: 1 April 2027

The Council intends to appoint a number of contractors across the five lots, with the resulting framework expected to operate from April 2027 until March 2031.

Importantly for smaller contractors, all five lots are identified as particularly suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

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Where Does the Planned & Capital Works Framework Fit?

Burnley Borough Council is procuring three separate but related frameworks at the same time.

While the Repairs & Maintenance Framework focuses primarily on reactive works across the Council’s property portfolio, the Planned & Capital Works Framework is intended for larger-value planned, structural and capital projects.

The third procurement, the Construction & Professional Services Framework, provides a separate route for the professional services supporting the Council’s property-related works.

For construction contractors, the distinction between reactive and planned works is particularly important when deciding which opportunities to pursue.

Businesses with experience delivering larger construction projects, refurbishment programmes, structural works, heritage restoration, M&E capital works or major external works should therefore assess the Planned & Capital Works Framework alongside the Council’s reactive maintenance opportunity.

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What Does the Planned & Capital Works Framework Cover?

The framework covers larger-value planned, structural and capital project works across Burnley Borough Council’s estate.

Its scope includes works to historical and listed buildings, mechanical and electrical capital works and extensions and groundworks projects.

Rather than creating a single general construction lot, the Council has divided the framework into five areas:

Lot 1 – General Building

Estimated value: £24 million excluding VAT

The largest lot on the framework covers general building works across commercial buildings within Burnley Borough Council’s portfolio.

With an estimated value of £24 million, this lot accounts for a substantial proportion of the overall framework and is likely to be particularly relevant to general building contractors with experience delivering planned and capital projects within operational estates.

Lot 2 – Historical Building Work

Estimated value: £16 million excluding VAT

Lot 2 covers works to historical buildings within the Council’s commercial property portfolio.

Worth an estimated £16 million, this is another significant element of the framework and creates a more specialist opportunity for contractors with appropriate experience in restoration and heritage construction.

Bidders targeting this lot should consider the strength of their evidence around comparable historic-building projects, specialist construction methods and working sensitively within heritage environments.

Lot 3 – Mechanical Works

Estimated value: £2 million excluding VAT

This lot covers mechanical works across commercial buildings within the Council’s portfolio.

It provides a dedicated opportunity for mechanical contractors rather than incorporating these requirements into the wider general building lot.

Lot 4 – Electrical Works

Estimated value: £2 million excluding VAT

Lot 4 covers electrical works across Burnley Borough Council’s commercial property portfolio.

Electrical contractors considering this opportunity should begin identifying relevant public-sector, commercial or comparable estate projects that demonstrate their ability to deliver planned electrical works safely and effectively.

Lot 5 – External Works / Groundworks

Estimated value: £7 million excluding VAT

The final lot covers external works and groundworks across the Council’s portfolio.

With an estimated value of £7 million, the lot creates a sizeable opportunity for contractors specialising in areas such as groundworks, excavation and associated external construction works.

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Who Is the Framework Relevant To?

Compared with the broad range of specialist maintenance trades covered by Burnley Borough Council’s Repairs & Maintenance Framework, this opportunity is more directly focused on contractors capable of delivering planned and capital construction projects.

It could therefore be particularly relevant to:

• General building contractors
• Principal contractors
• Planned works contractors
• Refurbishment contractors
• Heritage and restoration specialists
• Mechanical contractors
• Electrical contractors
• Groundworks contractors
• External works specialists
• Contractors experienced in public-sector estates

All five lots have also been identified as particularly suitable for SMEs, making this a potentially significant opportunity for regional and specialist contractors as well as larger construction businesses.

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How Will Work Be Awarded?

Burnley Borough Council has not specified an overall maximum number of suppliers for the framework.

Once established, contracts may be awarded either with or without further competition, depending on the framework arrangements and requirements of an individual project.

The framework is being established solely for use by Burnley Borough Council.

For bidders, understanding the call-off process will be important. Securing a place on a framework does not necessarily guarantee a particular volume or value of work, so contractors should review the tender documents carefully to understand how future projects will be allocated.

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How Will Bids Be Evaluated?

Tender submissions will be evaluated on a 60% quality / 40% cost basis.

The published quality criteria include:

• Understanding of Requirements
• Delivery Methodology – Planned Works
• Health, Safety and Compliance
• Social Value and Community Benefits
• Environmental Sustainability
• Framework requirements

The cost assessment considers areas including the Schedule of Rates, daywork labour rates, daywork plant rates, preliminaries, overheads and profit.

With 60% of the available score allocated to quality, the written submission will play a significant role in determining the outcome.

Competitive pricing alone won't be enough.

Contractors will need to demonstrate that they understand the requirements and have credible systems, resources and experience in place to deliver planned and capital projects successfully.

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What Should Contractors Be Preparing?

The first decision should be which lot or lots provide the strongest fit for your business.

A £50 million framework can be an attractive opportunity, but contractors should avoid automatically targeting every lot that appears broadly relevant.

Instead, consider where you have the strongest combination of:

• Relevant project experience
• Contract values of a comparable scale
• Technical capabilities
• Qualified and experienced personnel
• Supply-chain capacity
• Health and safety evidence
• Quality-management procedures
• Environmental performance
• Social value evidence
• Resources to manage planned projects

This is particularly important where specialist experience is fundamental to the lot.

For example, contractors targeting the Historical Building Work lot should be able to evidence relevant restoration experience rather than relying entirely on general construction projects.

Similarly, mechanical, electrical and groundworks bidders should focus on evidence directly relevant to their chosen discipline.

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Demonstrating Planned Works Experience

One of the published quality criteria specifically addresses Delivery Methodology – Planned Works.

This should be an important area of preparation.

Planned works require a different delivery approach to reactive maintenance. Bidders may need to demonstrate how they will programme projects, coordinate resources, manage subcontractors and supply chains, maintain quality and control risk throughout delivery.

Depending on the individual requirements, strong evidence could include examples of:

• Project mobilisation
• Programme management
• Site management
• Supply-chain coordination
• Risk management
• Quality assurance
• Stakeholder communication
• Change control
• Cost control
• Health and safety management
• Project handover
• Performance monitoring

Where possible, these processes should be supported by examples showing how they have worked successfully on previous contracts.

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Social Value and Environmental Sustainability

Social value and environmental sustainability both feature within the quality assessment.

Contractors should therefore avoid treating these areas as generic policy statements.

Strong social value responses should establish what your business will actually deliver, how commitments relate to the contract and how results will be measured and reported.

Depending on the contractor and project, this could include apprenticeships, employment opportunities, work experience, local supply-chain expenditure, community initiatives and skills development.

Similarly, environmental responses should connect wider sustainability policies with practical contract delivery.

This could include waste reduction, responsible sourcing, lower-emission vehicles and plant, carbon monitoring, material reuse and other measures relevant to construction and capital works.

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Procurement Timeline

Contractors interested in the opportunity should be aware of the following dates:

Tender notice published: 29 September 2026
Enquiry deadline: 5pm on 2 November 2026
Tender submission deadline: 5pm on 17 November 2026
Estimated award decision: 21 January 2027
Expected framework commencement: 1 April 2027
Expected framework end: 31 March 2031

Tender documents are available through The Chest procurement portal under reference DN831033, and submissions must be received electronically through the portal before the deadline.

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How Bid Writing Service Can Help

Large construction frameworks can require considerable internal resource, particularly where contractors are considering multiple lots.

Even businesses with strong operational experience can struggle to translate that expertise into the structured, evidence-led responses required by public-sector evaluators.

Bid Writing Service works with construction businesses of different sizes to support the complete tender process.

For Burnley Borough Council’s Planned & Capital Works Framework, this could include:

• Bid/no-bid and lot-selection support
• Tender and compliance reviews
• Bid planning and management
• Quality response writing
• Planned works methodologies
• Construction case studies
• Health and safety responses
• Social value responses
• Environmental and sustainability responses
• Evidence development
• Tender reviews and quality assurance
• Final submission support

Our support can be tailored around your existing internal resources, whether you need an experienced writer to manage the complete quality submission or additional capacity alongside an established bid team.

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Preparing for Burnley Borough Council's £50m Framework

The Planned & Capital Works Framework represents the second part of Burnley Borough Council’s wider three-framework procurement programme.

With an estimated value of £50 million, five distinct lots and a four-year duration, the framework creates significant opportunities for contractors operating across general construction, heritage works, mechanical and electrical services and groundworks.

However, the scale of the opportunity also makes early preparation important.

Businesses should use the time ahead of the 17 November 2026 deadline to identify their strongest lots, review the tender documentation, assess existing evidence and begin developing the project examples and methodologies required for the quality submission.

If you're considering bidding for Burnley Borough Council’s Planned & Capital Works Framework, Bid Writing Service can support your team from initial bid strategy through to final submission.

Get in touch with our team at info@bidwritingservice.com to discuss your target lots and the support you need.