Public bodies awarded 173 construction contracts worth £153.5m in week to 18 October

Public-sector buyers published 173 construction works contract awards with a combined stated value of £153.5 million on Find a Tender between 12 and 18 October 2026, according to open contracting data published by the Cabinet Office.

The awards appeared in 170 notices from 93 buyers. Every one of the 173 contracts stated a value, and together they came to £153,506,300.

The median stated value was £97,128, meaning half of the contracts were worth more than that and half less. Of the 173, 21 were worth £1 million or more.

The week before, 5 to 11 October 2026, the same count found 156 contracts with a total stated value of £340.3 million.

The largest awards

The largest contract by stated value was "AT1259 Luton Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure", awarded by Luton Council to Zest ECO Limited at £45.0 million excluding VAT. The notice, published on 13 October, gives the same date for signature and classifies the work as construction work for highways and roads, with the place of work given as East of England.

In the notice, Luton Council said it has been awarded LEVI funding from The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles to develop the public electric vehicle charging network in Luton, and that the money will be used to attract private investment into the network.

The second largest was "Ledsham School", awarded by Cheshire West and Chester Council to Read Construction Holdings Limited at £12.0 million including VAT. The notice describes the work as construction of Ledsham school in Ellesmere Port. The contract was signed on 9 October 2026.

Moray Council's "Bilbohall Housing Phase 1" went to Ogilvie Construction Limited at £11,602,566 excluding VAT. The council said in the notice that the contract covers 28 units and shared infrastructure in the Bilbohall area of Elgin, forming the first phase of the Bilbohall Masterplan, with planning permission granted under reference 24/00705/APP. The contract was signed on 31 July 2026.

The Royal Borough of Greenwich awarded "Greenwich Builds, Phase 2, Years 2 & 3, Batch 1 - Contractor" to Building Associates Ltd at £8,952,553 excluding VAT. According to the notice, the batch consists of 28 units across four schemes: Aberford Gardens (7), Heavitree Close (6), Southwood Road (8) and Westmount Road (7). It was signed on 21 August 2026.

Albyn Housing Society Limited awarded "2024/25 043 Alness, Dalmore Phase 7" to Capstone Construction Scotland Ltd at £8,007,921 excluding VAT. The notice describes a new 36 unit housing development with associated roads, footpaths, drainage and external services. The contract was signed on 19 December 2025 and published on 16 October 2026.

The 10 largest awards of the week are set out in the table below.

Regions, buyers and suppliers

By stated value, East of England had the most, with 17 contracts worth £50.3 million. By number of contracts, South East had the most, with 49.

Hampshire County Council published the most contracts, with 29, followed by Newark And Sherwood District Council (9), East Riding of Yorkshire Council (7), Housing 21 (7) and Herefordshire Council (5).

Suppliers named on more than one contract were Tucker and Tunstalls Limited and Green Building Maintenance Limited, each with four, and Aumas Limited, FR Scott Ltd and A.J. Taylor Electrical Contractors Limited, each with three.

A further five notices were for framework agreements or multi-supplier arrangements. Because their values are ceilings on possible future spending rather than contracts for work, they are left out of all the figures above.

Largest construction works contracts published 12 to 18 October 2026

Rank	Contract	Buyer	Supplier	Stated value	Place of work
1	AT1259 Luton Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure	Luton Council	Zest ECO Limited	£45,000,000	East of England
2	Ledsham School	Cheshire West and Chester Council	Read Construction Holdings Limited	£12,000,000	North West
3	Bilbohall Housing Phase 1	Moray Council	Ogilvie Construction Limited	£11,602,566	Scotland
4	Greenwich Builds, Phase 2, Years 2 & 3, Batch 1 - Contractor	Royal Borough of Greenwich	Building Associates Ltd	£8,952,553	London
5	2024/25 043 Alness, Dalmore Phase 7	Albyn Housing Society Limited	Capstone Construction Scotland Ltd	£8,007,921	Scotland
6	Ruan Minor Glebe - JCT D&B - CHL 154	Coastline Design and Build Limited	EBC Partnerships Limited	£6,559,560	South West
7	Anchorage A-Frames Replacement Scheme	Humber Bridge Board	Spencer Bridge Engineering Limited	£5,999,851	Yorkshire and the Humber
8	PRN25093 LMH Redevelopment	Choice Housing Ireland Limited	Felix O'Hare & Company Limited	£5,519,321	Northern Ireland
9	Heating Installations and Upgrades	Reading Borough Council	T.S.G. Building Services PLC	£4,500,000	South East
10	Castlecombe Housing Development - main works	London Borough of Bromley	Etec Contract Services Limited	£3,688,949	London

How the figures were compiled

The figures come from every notice published on Find a Tender, the UK government's procurement notice service, between 12 and 18 October 2026, read from its open contracting data feed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Only signed contracts classified by the buyer under division 45 of the Common Procurement Vocabulary (construction work) are counted; notices of an intention to award, supplies contracts, frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems, awards naming four or more suppliers and any single contract of £1 billion or more are excluded. Values are as stated in each notice, excluding VAT where that figure is given and otherwise including VAT, which applied to 11 of the 173 contracts this week. The figures cover only contracts that public bodies have published on Find a Tender, so private-sector contracts and public contracts not yet published are not included.