Tender
Severn Trent opens engagement on 200 million pound design framework
By Staff Writer | 25 August 2026
Severn Trent Water and Hafren Dyfrdwy have published a preliminary market engagement notice ahead of a framework agreement for capital design services. The notice appeared on 25 August 2026 at 11:10am under the identifier 080744-2026 as a UK2 market engagement notice, and gives an estimated total framework value of 200 million pounds excluding value added tax.
The two companies are named on the notice as the contracting authorities, both classified as private utilities, with Severn Trent registered in Coventry and Hafren Dyfrdwy in Wrexham. The Welsh devolved regulations are recorded as applying to Hafren Dyfrdwy. The framework is stated to be a closed framework under the Procurement Act 2023 rules and is intended to support delivery of the capital investment programme across AMP8, AMP9 and AMP10.
This is not a call for competition. The notice says so in terms, and adds that all descriptions, values, dates and timelines are indicative at this stage, that the 200 million pound estimate is provided for indicative purposes only and may be amended as the procurement develops, and that responding is not a prerequisite for taking part in any later stage.
The engagement event and the dates that matter
The authorities intend to run preliminary market engagement through a supplier day on 29 September 2026 at Cranmore Park Conference Centre in Shirley. The milestone recorded against the engagement is scheduled and carries a due date of 9 October 2026, which is the point at which the engagement period closes on the face of the notice.
The notice sets out three purposes for the exercise: to assess market capacity and appetite to deliver works at the scale envisaged, to inform the supply chain formally about the tender process including timeframes and lotting strategy, and to identify opportunities to support participation by small and medium sized enterprises and wider supply chain engagement. Information gathered may be used to shape the final procurement strategy and the tender documentation.
What follows the engagement is a UK4 notice, which the authorities say will carry the full details including the tender documentation and the proposed lotting strategy. The number and structure of lots is expressly reserved, so a supplier reading the current notice cannot yet tell whether it is being asked to bid for a discipline, a geography or the whole design service. The procurement codes on the notice are 71320000 and 71336000, engineering design services and technical support services.
What the framework is meant to buy
The scope described is end to end capital design services across the full design development lifecycle, starting with optioneering, for delivery across the two companies' operating areas in England and Wales. Design is the part of a water capital programme where the cost of a mistake compounds: an option chosen at the wrong point on the cost curve is carried through every later stage, and a design produced in isolation from the delivery contractor produces the change control that the framework is meant to avoid.
The design services procurement sits alongside a larger exercise. The company said on 17 July 2026 that it was preparing a pre market engagement notice for a new generation of capital delivery frameworks representing up to 25 billion pounds of investment over the next eight to fifteen years across the Midlands, and that the design services tender process would be undertaken in parallel with it as an integrated component of the project lifecycle. It described the wider procurement as expected to commence in early 2027.
This is a major opportunity for the market to partner with Severn Trent on one of the UK's most ambitious water infrastructure programmes. We've achieved strong results with our existing partners, and we're now looking to build on that success through a more integrated and collaborative delivery model that creates better outcomes for customers and communities.
Paul Baxter, capital delivery director, Severn Trent
Reading it as a supplier
Two figures are circulating and they are not the same thing. The 200 million pounds on this notice is the estimated value of the design services framework alone. The larger sum quoted in July is the investment the delivery frameworks are intended to support, and it is a programme figure rather than a contract value. Confusing the two is the easiest error available on this story.
The practical consequence of the notice is a date. A firm that wants to influence the lotting strategy has until 9 October 2026 to say so, and the supplier day on 29 September is where the timeframes and the lotting will be described. After the UK4 notice the strategy is set, and the only remaining question is whether a bidder fits the lots someone else has drawn.