Some of the UK’s biggest facilities management and building services contractors have secured positions on a new government framework valued at up to £120 billion, opening the door to a major pipeline of public estate work over the next eight years. The Government Commercial Agency framework, RM6378, is set to become a recommended procurement route for facilities management services across central government. It will also be available to local authorities, NHS organisations, police forces, fire and rescue services, education bodies and devolved administrations. Competition for the largest Total Facilities Management contracts has attracted many of the sector’s leading names. Eighteen businesses have been appointed to the highest-value lot, covering individual contracts worth more than £15 million annually. The successful firms include Amey, CBRE, Compass, Dalkia, Equans, G4S Facilities Management, ISS, JLL, Kier, Mitie, OCS, Robertson Facilities Management, Serco, Skanska, Sodexo, Vinci Facilities, Vivo Defence Services and Wates. For the construction and built environment industry, the framework also represents a substantial opportunity for contractors delivering hard FM, engineering, maintenance and asset management services across the public estate. Forty businesses have secured positions on the major Hard FM lot for contracts valued above £2 million per year. Among those appointed are Amey, BAM FM, CBRE, Dalkia, Equans, Galliford Try, Graham Asset Management, Kier, Mears, Mitie, NG Bailey, OCS, Robertson, Serco, Skanska, Vinci Facilities, Vivo and Wates. The framework has been structured to accommodate public sector estates and contracts of significantly different scales. Total FM is divided into three bands covering contracts worth up to £2 million annually, between £2 million and £15 million, and more than £15 million. Hard FM is split between contracts below and above £2 million a year. A core group of contractors has achieved particularly strong coverage across the framework. Fifteen firms secured places across all five Total FM and Hard FM lots: Amey, CBRE, Equans, ISS, JLL, Kier, Mitie, OCS, Robertson, Serco, Skanska, Sodexo, Vinci Facilities, Vivo Defence Services and Wates Property Services. A further group, including BAM FM, Dalkia Facilities, Galliford Try Facilities Management, Graham Asset Management and Mears FM, secured positions across four lots. The scale and duration of the framework make it an important development for the management and maintenance of the UK’s public buildings and infrastructure. Alongside day-to-day FM provision, major hard services contracts can encompass the engineering, maintenance and long-term performance of complex property portfolios. With public bodies continuing to face pressure to improve building efficiency, modernise ageing estates and manage assets more effectively, the framework provides a long-term procurement platform through which significant programmes of FM and building services work can be commissioned. The agreement is scheduled to operate for eight years, running through to August 2034, giving successful contractors access to what could become one of the most significant public sector facilities management pipelines in the UK. Main Total FM and Hard FM winners Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

OakNorth, the bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs, has provided a loan to West Coast Estates, an Aberdeen-based property development and investment company, to fund the acquisition of two commercial assets in Aberdeen and St Andrews, with headroom available to support further acquisitions. West Coast Estates was founded 35 years ago and is led by Sarfraz Ali and Iftikar Mian, who have built a portfolio of retail, industrial, and roadside commercial developments across Scotland, with particular expertise in EV charging, neighbourhood, and roadside assets. The business model involves identifying sites and securing planning permissions, working closely with end users to meet their occupational requirements. The OakNorth facility has supported the acquisition of two assets that exemplify this model. In St Andrews, West Coast Estates has completed the acquisition of Craigtoun Road, a 7-acre mixed-use development opportunity with planning consent for over 60,000 sq ft of retail, office, and employment space. The scheme – which is expected to create over 170 permanent and 100 construction jobs – has attracted significant occupier interest, notably from Home Bargains as the anchor retailer. In Aberdeen, West Coast Estates has acquired Grampian House on Virginia Street, a former warehouse that has received planning permission for conversion into the UK’s first indoor drive-thru, ultra-rapid EV charging hub, pre-let to Fastned on a 35-year lease. Fastned is Europe’s third-largest ultra-rapid EV charging operator with over 2,100 chargers across more than 350 locations in nine countries. The business will install 12 ultra-rapid charging bays capable of delivering up to 400kW – providing up to 100 miles of range in five minutes – alongside a café, shop, and waiting area within the existing warehouse structure, targeting a winter 2026 opening.  Iftikar Mian, Director of West Coast Estates, commented: “These two acquisitions represent years of work – identifying the sites, building the relationships, progressing the planning, and agreeing pre-lets and pre-sales to de-risk the projects. That’s how we operate, and it requires a lender who understands the strategy. OakNorth took the time to genuinely understand what we were trying to achieve and why, and structured a facility that reflected that understanding. They were direct, they moved at pace, and they backed us without requiring us to justify the model from scratch – which, after 30 years of doing this, makes a real difference.” Fraser McPhail, Debt Finance Director at OakNorth, continued: “Sarfraz and Iftikar have developed a distinctive and highly disciplined approach to commercial development in Scotland – patient, methodical, and with a genuine eye for sites that others overlook. The Aberdeen EV hub is a particularly compelling asset: a Fastned tenancy, a 35-year lease, and a genuinely pioneering format that reflects both the strength of the operator and the quality of the site West Coast Estates identified and secured. St Andrews is an equally strong story – one of the most commercially constrained planning environments in Scotland, with a scheme of genuine scale and ambition already well underpinned by a pre-sale to Home Bargains. We look forward to supporting West Coast Estates across further opportunities as they continue to grow their portfolio.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals