Kier, Morgan Sindall and McLaughlin & Harvey will be supported by an extensive local supply chain, supporting Scottish SMEs whilst aiding the post-pandemic recovery and creating local jobs across Scotland.

The four-year framework – which has been designed to minimise economic leakage, is available for use by all Scottish public sector organisations - will accelerate the delivery of new-build and refurbishment projects of all values between 2021 and 2025.

With a focus on climate action response via the built environment, the new framework offers a better way to build and refurbish Scotland’s public estate, whilst stimulating local economic activity.

SCAPE Scotland said the contractors have been selected for their ability to deliver against its long held and lofty standards in construction quality, safety, and efficiency; as well as their ability to deliver truly sustainable development through community benefits, environmental improvement and positive economic impact in Scottish communities. The framework has been carefully designed to enable clients to benefit from industry transformation, with consideration towards digital construction, platform design and modern methods of construction. 

Scottish public sector clients will benefit from a number of innovative features, promising a better way to build in the new frameworks, offering more procurement options and enhanced control of their projects including:

• A unique parallel lotting structure, offering a choice of delivery partner while retaining the free early engagement and direct award experience that was pioneered by SCAPE Scotland. 
• A new lifecycle contract form, ideal for retrofit or new build, supporting clients with energy conservation and the operational efficiency and performance of their assets beyond the construction phase for up to five years. The new feature, which completes the frameworks’ ‘Net Zero ready’ offer, will help to build and validate a client’s business case for low carbon buildings, and address the historic performance gap between design aspiration and in use performance of assets.
• A new commercial model that includes a standard pricing template to provide greater transparency, while contractors will also commit to 19-day (or better) payment terms for their supply chain partners.
• Enhanced tailoring of project KPIs and success criteria for every project, leveraging the Construction Innovation Hub’s Value Toolkit to define success for the client.
• Support from SCAPE Scotland’s dedicated framework management team, with performance in delivery measured against market-leading benchmarks for environmental performance, sustainability, community benefits and the use of local supply chains.

SCAPE Scotland’s next generation framework builds on the success of the SCAPE Scotland’s National Construction and Minor Works framework, which expires in September 2021.

The results of the procurement are as follows:

Adrian Hill, acting deputy managing director at SCAPE Scotland, said: “Construction shapes the world around us and right now the Scottish public sector is focused on creating a better built environment. Whether that’s through excellence in sustainability or projects that leave a positive legacy for a local community, this is their goal, and our new frameworks will help them to get there quickly and efficiently.

“The contractors selected submitted bids of an outstanding quality and they now have an opportunity to set new standards of excellence and return significant value to Scotland’s public sector from its investment.” 

Lillian McDowall, senior business manager at SCAPE Scotland, said: “Our next generation of frameworks are designed to empower Scotland’s public sector at a time when it is not only playing a critical role in the nation’s recovery from the pandemic, but also helping tackle our climate emergency and delivering construction projects that create value for all in Scottish society.

“We have built on more than 15 years of experience to bring in new innovations, greater control and choice so that our colleagues in the public sector can meet their increasingly complex and multi-layered objectives, whilst still allowing them to do so through our proactively managed direct award model and its foundations of rigour and compliance.”

Morgan Sindall Construction was selected for all four of the Lots it competed for, including two lots in England and Wales, which cover projects up to £7.5 million and £7.5m to £75m.

Pat Boyle, managing director of Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “We are delighted to have been appointed by SCAPE as their partner on this important national framework. As a purpose-led organisation, we understand what SCAPE seeks to achieve and we are fully aligned in our commitments to enhancing the communities in which we work, encouraging future generations into the industry by nurturing an increasingly diverse talent pool, and working together to achieve Net Zero carbon.”