Contract award
Melton cancels combined repairs award and splits it three ways
By Staff Writer | 24 August 2026
Melton Borough Council has published a contract award notice recording three separate contracts for repairs, void works and kitchen and bathroom replacement across its housing stock, after cancelling the single combined award it published in November 2025. The notice was published on 24 August 2026 under the identifier 2026/S 000-080190 and carries the reference MBC1518.
The description states the position in one sentence. The original award for this contract was awarded to Lot 4, the combined lot, and the decision was taken by the authority to cancel that award and re-award the lots as individual contracts. The earlier notice, identifier 2025/S 000-077753, was published on 27 November 2025 and recorded a single award of the combined lot at 12,425,000 pounds excluding value added tax and 14,910,000 pounds including it, to the contractor that has now taken Lot 3.
Three contracts now stand in its place. Lot 1, day to day repairs, is awarded to Jeakins Weir Limited at 5,567,625 pounds excluding value added tax and 6,681,150 pounds including it. Lot 2, void repairs, is awarded to Gratton Construction Limited at 5,912,396 pounds excluding value added tax and 7,094,875.20 pounds including it. Lot 3, replacement kitchens and bathrooms, is awarded to Foster Property Maintenance Limited at 9,730,458 pounds excluding value added tax and 11,676,549 pounds including it. All three are recorded as above the relevant threshold. The card carries no single value because the notice publishes none. The three lot figures together come to 21,210,479 pounds excluding value added tax, which is arithmetic on the published figures rather than a total the notice states.
The dates are the same across all three. The award decision date is 6 February 2026 and assessment summaries went to tenderers on 12 May 2026. The standstill ends on 3 September 2026 for Lot 1, eight working days, and on 4 September 2026 for Lots 2 and 3, nine working days. Contract dates run from 5 September 2026 to 31 March 2031 with a possible extension to 31 March 2033, described as subject to supplier performance. The procedure was an open procedure and the buyer acting for the council is Welland Procurement. One tender was received for each lot, one was assessed at the final stage in each case, and all three contractors are recorded as small or medium sized enterprises.
What the notice does and does not explain
The notice gives the fact of the cancellation and the fact of the re-award. It does not give the reason for either, and it does not record whether the combined lot award was challenged or abandoned before a contract was signed. The 2025 notice recorded that award as pending rather than active, but the current notice does not explain it and nothing here supplies it.
The comparison of figures needs care. The 2025 combined award of 12,425,000 pounds and the three lot awards are not directly comparable on the face of the notices. The earlier tender notice described estimated annual values of 600,000 pounds, 425,000 pounds and 750,000 pounds for the three lots; the current notice publishes whole contract sums to 31 March 2031.
The obligations the lots carry
Lot 1 covers repairs to existing stock, including works identified by the council's own housing health and safety rating system surveys or by surveys the council instructs others to carry out. Some works require attendance within twenty four hours and the rest carry varying stipulated timescales. Any out of hours call handling centre must be based in the United Kingdom. The notice records that the council instructs in the region of 5,000 responsive repairs a year, and it directs bidders to be mindful of the council's damp and mould policy and to be aware of the necessity for the council to adhere to Awaab's law.
Lot 2 covers works to make a home suitable for immediate re-occupation within specified timeframes and to the Melton void quality standard. It may not be subcontracted, aside from specialist interventions such as asbestos removal, because the council wishes to work directly with a main contractor. The notice records roughly 150 empty homes a year and around three voids a week. Lot 3 covers wholesale replacement of kitchens and bathrooms in occupied homes, with indicative numbers of 80 kitchens and 40 bathrooms in 2026-27, 90 and 30 in 2027-28 and 100 and 25 in 2028-29.
Those points carry contractual weight. A twenty four hour attendance obligation, a prohibition on subcontracting an entire lot and a stated obligation to work to statutory response timescales are all matters a contractor prices and an authority later measures performance against. The notice does not name the form of contract, does not publish the performance mechanism, and does not say how the extension to 31 March 2033 is triggered beyond the words subject to supplier performance.