Fusion21 opens £100m framework for refurb work

North West-based Fusion21 – which supports public sector bodies on delivering capital work programmes – has alerted contractors to a £100m framework focusing on refurbishment.

The framework, known as the Fusion21 Youth Investment Fund DPS, will focus on improvement works and alterations to existing buildings, “to bring them up to modern standards and ensure they are fit for purpose”. The properties could include both occupied and empty buildings.

The scheme will operate using the dynamic purchasing system (DPS) rather than a traditional framework system. This means that suppliers will be pre-checked and approved to speed up the award of individual contracts.

In a departure from other schemes, new contractors will be permitted to join the DPS at any time during its two-and-a-half year timeframe, which will run from 28 June 2023 to 31 January 2026. There will also be the option to extend the framework by a year.

Interested contractors have been asked to submit tenders here by midday on 9 June.

The framework will supplement Fusion21’s £290m Youth Investment Fund Phase 2, which it named contractors on in February. Twenty-five firms including EW Beard, Wernick Buildings and Pick Everard were named on that framework, which will fund both refurbishments and new buildings, including some using modular techniques, for up to 300 youth centres.

Fusion21 also appointed contractors to a £125m decorating framework in March.