Tender
Southwark tenders six million pound door entry and refurbishment works
By Staff Writer | 21 August 2026
The London Borough of Southwark has put a 6,000,000 pound contract for door entry, warden call and refurbishment works out to tender. The notice was published on 20 August 2026 and tenders close on 17 September 2026. The contract runs from 19 April 2027 to 18 April 2030.
The procurement is being run as a restricted procedure, so interested parties are selected before being invited to tender. Submission is electronic and is being administered through a dynamic purchasing system operated on behalf of London boroughs. The review body named on the notice is the London Borough of Haringey.
The notice gives no description of the works beyond the title and a direction to the invitation to tender documents. The classification does carry more detail: alongside architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services, the notice lists engineering services, consultative engineering and construction services, energy and related services, and electrical services. The delivery region is London.
Variants are not permitted and the notice records no renewal and no options. The value is stated once, at lot level and at contract level, as 6,000,000 pounds.
What the practitioner should take from this
The first point is the classification, because it is the only real description available. Door entry and warden call are electrical and communications systems, and the classifications listed are consistent with an electrical and building services package rather than a general building contract, even though refurbishment works appear in the title. Anyone considering this opportunity should read the invitation documents for where the boundary sits between the systems work and the builder work, because that boundary decides whether the contractor needs a building capability at all.
The second point is the eight month gap between the tender deadline and the contract start. Tenders close on 17 September 2026 and the contract does not begin until 19 April 2027. A price held for that long carries an inflation exposure that is ordinarily dealt with either by a fluctuations provision or by a validity period shorter than the gap. Bidders should establish which of the two the client intends, and should not assume the tender validity period matches the gap.
The third point is the warden call element. Warden call and community alarm systems serve sheltered and supported housing, so the works are in occupied accommodation used by residents who depend on the system that is being replaced. That drives the programme: the changeover sequence, the temporary cover arrangements while a system is out, and the resident liaison obligations are usually more onerous than the installation itself, and they are where a contractor loses time it cannot recover.
The fourth point is the procurement route. A restricted procedure run through a dynamic purchasing system means the selection stage has already narrowed the field, and admission to the system is a precondition rather than an advantage. A contractor not already admitted should check the admission timetable against the 17 September deadline before spending anything on a bid.
The fifth point is the three year term with no renewal and no options recorded. A fixed three year term on a systems replacement programme across a borough implies a defined property list rather than an open call-off, so the quantity and location schedule in the invitation documents is what the price actually rests on. Where that schedule is indicative, the mechanism for adjusting the price if the property list moves is the provision to look for.
No property count, no list of estates, no lot breakdown and no named incumbent are published, and none is stated here.