Non-residential Construction DPS

The Building Safety Act 2022 has significant implications for any organisation in England commissioning construction projects, not just those managing higher-risk residential buildings. The Act established a new regulatory framework around building safety that includes requirements for a “golden thread” of building information maintained throughout the building’s lifecycle, enhanced competence requirements for those involved in design and construction, and stronger accountability for building owners and managers. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland each have their own building and fire safety legislation covering similar ground. For public sector organisations in England commissioning construction through this DPS, the practical impact is felt in several areas. Design and construction teams must demonstrate competence under the Act’s provisions. Building information must be created, maintained, and handed over in a structured format that supports ongoing building management. The responsible person for building safety must be identified and their obligations understood before construction begins.

The Act works alongside existing legislation including CDM 2015, which extends to England, Scotland, and Wales with Northern Ireland’s own equivalent regulations, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in England and Wales, or the equivalent fire safety legislation in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and building regulations, which also differ by nation. For organisations managing education buildings, healthcare facilities, or civic buildings where public safety is paramount, wherever in the UK they’re based, construction should be planned, documented, and delivered to the highest safety standards that apply locally. The contractors on this DPS have been assessed for their understanding of these obligations and their capability to deliver within the relevant requirements.

The Education Estates Strategy, published in February 2026, represents the largest investment in England’s education buildings since 2010. £38 billion has been committed from 2025-26 to 2029-30, including nearly £20 billion for the School Rebuilding Programme to rebuild over 750 schools and colleges by 2034-35, £710 million for renewal and retrofit, £3.7 billion for SEND capital, and almost £3 billion per year for long-term maintenance by 2034-35. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland each run their own school capital investment programmes, and the same procurement challenge applies wherever your school estate sits. For multi-academy trusts, local authorities, and college corporations in England accessing this funding, the procurement challenge is significant.

Construction projects need to be procured compliantly, delivered within funded timescales, and managed to standards that satisfy the DfE’s new estate management requirements and annual reporting from autumn 2026. This DPS provides a compliant procurement route that’s significantly faster than running a standalone construction tender. School construction projects can be procured through any of the four lots depending on the approach: modular buildings for rapid classroom expansion, traditional construction for comprehensive school rebuilds, or refurbishment for upgrading existing school buildings. For organisations delivering SEND capital programmes, the DPS covers the specialist fit-out and adaptation works that creating new SEND provision requires. Inprova’s team supports education organisations with specification development, competition management, and the evidence and documentation that funded programme reporting demands.

Healthcare construction operates under specific technical guidance that doesn’t apply to other sectors, though the detail differs by nation. In England, the Health Technical Memoranda (HTM) series sets standards for healthcare building design and engineering, covering areas including ventilation (HTM 03-01), water systems (HTM 04-01), electrical services (HTM 06-01), and fire safety (HTM 05-02), with Healthcare Building Notes (HBN) providing guidance on design and planning. Scotland runs its own Scottish Health Technical Memoranda and planning guidance, and Wales and Northern Ireland have their own equivalent estates guidance. NHS England’s approach requires NHS construction projects in England to satisfy these technical standards alongside standard building regulations, CDM 2015, and the Procurement Act 2023, with the equivalent legislative framework applying in each other nation. CQC inspects the safety and quality of healthcare environments in England, with Healthcare Improvement Scotland performing the equivalent role in Scotland, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales covering NHS and independent healthcare in Wales, Care Inspectorate Wales covering social care there, and the RQIA performing the equivalent role in Northern Ireland, and construction that doesn’t meet the relevant estates standards can affect an organisation’s inspection outcome.

For NHS and health bodies procuring construction through this DPS, the mini-competition process allows you to set requirements specific to healthcare environments: estates guidance compliance, infection control during construction, clinical decant planning, out-of-hours working arrangements, and the specific safety protocols that construction adjacent to occupied clinical spaces demands. Inprova’s team understands the additional complexity that healthcare construction involves and can support you with specification development that addresses these sector-specific requirements alongside standard construction procurement considerations.

Yes. Police forces, fire and rescue authorities, and ambulance services all have construction requirements that this DPS can serve. Police custody suites need to meet specific Home Office design standards around detainee safety, CCTV coverage, and secure access. Fire stations require vehicle bay specifications, equipment storage, watch room facilities, and residential quarters that meet operational standards. Ambulance stations need vehicle maintenance areas, equipment decontamination facilities, and crew rest areas. Training facilities across all blue light services need specialist spaces that replicate operational environments. Many blue light buildings are also historic, sometimes listed, which means construction and refurbishment must work within heritage constraints while bringing buildings up to modern operational and building safety standards.

HMICFRS inspections scrutinise governance and value for money, covering policing across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and fire and rescue services in England, with HM Fire Service Inspectorate Scotland and HMICS covering Scotland, and Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland covering fire and rescue services in Northern Ireland, meaning the procurement process and contract management need to be documented and defensible wherever you’re based. The DPS provides the compliant procurement route and the contractor assessment that satisfies these governance requirements. The mini-competition process allows you to specify the operational requirements, security standards, and specialist facility needs that your building type demands. For organisations managing construction across multiple sites, the DPS provides a consistent procurement route without running separate tenders for each project.

These two pieces of legislation operate simultaneously on every construction project procured through the DPS, but they govern different aspects. CDM 2015 governs health and safety throughout the design and construction process in England, Scotland, and Wales, with Northern Ireland’s own equivalent CDM regulations covering the same ground: the client’s duty to appoint competent designers and contractors, the requirement for a principal designer and principal contractor, and the obligations around construction phase plans, risk management, and welfare facilities.

In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the Procurement Act 2023 governs how the procurement itself is conducted: the competition procedure, evaluation methodology, transparency notices, and contract management obligations, with Scotland’s own procurement legislation carrying equivalent requirements. Where they interact most directly is in contractor assessment and selection. Procurement legislation requires evaluation against published criteria, and CDM competence should be one of those criteria for any construction procurement. The DPS supports this because all contractors have already been assessed for health and safety management as part of their qualification. Your mini-competition evaluation can then focus on project-specific CDM arrangements: the proposed principal contractor’s approach to managing your specific site risks, their construction phase plan, and their coordination arrangements. For organisations where the CDM client role is held by a non-specialist, which is common in schools, smaller trusts, and blue light services, Inprova’s team can advise on how CDM responsibilities interact with the procurement process and what your specification needs to cover.

Construction contracts offer some of the strongest social value opportunities of any procurement category because the work is physical, local, and labour-intensive.In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the Procurement Act 2023 requires contracting authorities to have regard to maximising public benefit, with Scotland’s own procurement legislation carrying an equivalent sustainable procurement duty, and UK central government applies a minimum 10% social value weighting. Within a construction mini-competition, you set your own evaluation criteria, which means you control how social value is weighted and what you ask contractors to commit to. Typical social value commitments in construction include local employment and apprenticeship creation, engagement with local subcontractors and material suppliers, work experience placements for schools and colleges in the area, community engagement during the construction phase, environmental measures including waste reduction, sustainable material sourcing, and carbon reduction in construction operations, and investment in skills development within the local construction workforce. The key to making social value work in construction is specificity. Asking a contractor to “support local communities” produces vague commitments. Asking them to “create two construction apprenticeship positions for residents within 10 miles of the site” produces something measurable and enforceable. Inprova’s team supports you in developing social value evaluation criteria that are specific to your project and your local priorities. Quantum tracks social value delivery through the contract lifecycle, so commitments made at tender are evidenced through delivery rather than forgotten once construction begins.

Many public sector buildings are heritage assets. Victorian schools, Georgian civic buildings, converted historic structures used as libraries or community centres, and listed police and fire stations all present construction challenges that standard approaches don’t account for. Listed building consent may be required alongside standard planning permission. The design and construction approach must balance modern building performance, accessibility, and safety requirements with the preservation obligations that heritage designations impose. Materials, methods, and finishes may need to be sympathetic to the original building character. And specialist conservation skills may be needed alongside standard construction capability. The Refurbishment lot (Lot 4) on this DPS is particularly relevant for heritage projects, covering upgrades, extensions, and comprehensive modernisation of existing buildings. The mini-competition process allows you to specify heritage-specific requirements: conservation accreditations, experience of working with listed buildings, understanding of the planning constraints that apply, and the ability to coordinate with heritage officers and conservation bodies. For organisations managing portfolios that include a mix of modern and historic buildings, the DPS provides a single procurement route that covers both, with the flexibility to tailor each competition to the specific building’s requirements and constraints.

The Construction DPS and the Capital Works DPS serve different types of projects. The Construction DPS covers major construction projects: building new facilities, comprehensive refurbishment, extensions, and projects that involve principal contractor appointments with full project management from design through to handover. The four lots cover modular, panelised, traditional, and refurbishment construction methods. The Capital Works DPS covers planned improvement works across existing building portfolios: heating replacement programmes, electrical upgrades, insulation, window replacement, internal refurbishment, and similar component-level improvement works delivered as programmed maintenance rather than full construction projects. The right choice depends on the nature and scale of your project. A major school rebuild or a new community health centre sits on the Construction DPS. A programme of heating and window replacements across twenty existing school buildings sits on the Capital Works DPS. A comprehensive single-building refurbishment involving structural changes, reconfiguration of spaces, and significant building works would typically sit on the Construction DPS, while individual classroom upgrades within the same school might sit on the Capital Works DPS. For programmes that span both, you can use both procurement routes. Inprova’s team advises on which DPS fits each element of your programme.