Procurement Hub, a procurement specialist that is part of Places for People, have named Willmott Dixon preferred bidder to be sole contractor on its newly created Major Projects Framework, which has the potential to deliver £2.5bn of construction work over the next four years.

The framework covers all public-sector projects on a single source basis and is open to every public body to use for construction of new and existing buildings as well as retrofit, refurbishment, repairs and maintenance. It provides public bodies with OJEU compliant access to Willmott Dixon’s construction expertise, along with that of the company’s partners Robertson, who will deliver Procurement Hub projects in Scotland, and Farrans, responsible for Northern Ireland. Fortem will deliver repairs work through another Procurement Hub framework, Built Environment.

Group chief executive Rick Willmott:

“We have a relationship with Places for People stretching back over a decade and teaming up with its Procurement Hub gives us another important channel alongside our existing frameworks to deliver high-quality construction projects for our public sector customers.

“As a recent Queen’s Awards for Enterprise winner for Promoting Opportunity, we’ll also focus on how we can improve the life opportunities of people living close to those projects we deliver through this framework.”

Procurement Hub is a leader in driving innovation and change; and specialising in the procurement of frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems that deliver best value and efficiencies to their customers. As a division of Places for People Group, it is part of one of the largest property management, development, regeneration and leisure companies in the UK.

This is the latest major framework for Willmott Dixon, which is on Scape Group’s National Construction Framework and the Southern Construction Framework. In the last five years, it has delivered over 200 projects under both frameworks, and it was recently declared Southern Construction Framework’s contractor of the year for the second successive time.

A big focus of Willmott Dixon’s work through frameworks is supporting SMEs and strengthening local economies, with the company able to take a collaborative approach to supply chain selection with each customer. On its current work with Scape, 79 per cent of project spend is with companies based within 40 miles of the project, while 90% of overall project spend is with SMEs.

Rick says, “Procurement Hub’s Major Projects framework is another important way for public bodies to acquire a capital project. Single source frameworks provide particular benefits in that they give customers a streamlined, consistent procurement process to gain access to experienced contractors already vetted for quality, durability and competitiveness.”

Rick continues, “With our excellent geographic coverage in England and Wales alongside the support of delivery partners Farrans and Robertson, we look forward to engaging with existing and new public sector customers through Procurement Hub.”

Willmott Dixon has people based in all its offices in England and Wales with specific responsibility for the success of each individual framework the company has a place on. The company delivers a variety of projects under existing frameworks, which include building M-SParc, Wales’ first science park in Anglesey, under the North Wales Framework, upgrading Old Admiralty Building for Scape as the new home of the DfE and making Bristol’s famous Colston Hall concert arena a venue fit for hosting the UK’s best entertainment acts, delivered under the Southern Construction Framework.