Planning

Room to Grow - Garden rental rooms for foster carers

SOMERSET COUNCIL

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Planning

16 Sep 2025 at 09:24

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Somerset Council is in the planning stage of a procurement process titled "Room to Grow - Garden rental rooms for foster carers," under the goods category. This initiative is aimed at supporting foster carers in Somerset, UK, by funding rental garden rooms, facilitating the use of existing rooms in their homes for fostering purposes. The procurement process includes a Preliminary Market Engagement event scheduled for 13th October 2025. The event will be held virtually, and interested parties must register by 8th October 2025. The plan is to start the contract period from 1st December 2025, and the specific location for delivery is within Somerset, UK (region UKK23). This process is not a formal procurement call but rather an engagement to gather insights from potential suppliers. Steve Barker from Somerset Council is the contact person for this tender.

This tender offers significant opportunities for businesses involved in prefabricated buildings, particularly companies specialising in garden rooms that meet specific needs like home offices or gyms. The Preliminary Market Engagement event provides a platform for businesses to understand future needs and position themselves accordingly. This initiative is particularly attractive for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) looking to expand or adapt their offerings to include garden rooms suitable for foster carers. The engagement process also encourages creative approaches to service provision and geographical expansion, benefiting businesses that can provide flexible solutions and collaborate within the local community. By engaging with this process, businesses can align with a project that not only helps them grow but also contributes positively to community well-being by supporting foster care services.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

Room to Grow - Garden rental rooms for foster carers

Notice Description

This is not a call for competition and is not yet a contract opportunity. ** PLEASE NOTE: By Expressing an Interest in this event via the portal you are not confirming your place at the event. Please follow the instructions below to reserve your place. ** Background Here at Somerset Council we are excited to be exploring ways to support our foster carers to increase their fostering capacity by freeing up an internal bedroom. We are hoping to do this via funding rental garden rooms in which they can house their home office, hobby room, gym, storage or for any other reason that is currently blocking a room in the house which could be used for fostering. The idea of renting the garden room would be should the carer decide to stop fostering we will no longer pay the rent to the foster carer. The carer can either choose to continue the contract themselves or terminate the contract and the garden room be removed. We are aware of a provider that is currently offering this service but that does not cover the majority of our county and fostering area and who only offer specific sizes of garden room to rent. We would therefore be keen to engage with anyone that currently offers this service or would be interested in expanding their business to do so in order to offer our foster carers more choice. By providing this service to our foster carers and increasing their ability to care for more looked after young people you will be supporting children in care to remain closer to home and improving their outcomes. It is anticipated that any new arrangements would commence from December 2025.

Planning Information

Preliminary Market Engagement Event A Preliminary Market Engagement event will be held on 13.10.2025 at 11:00am. Somerset Council are inviting organisations, that might be interested in delivering these services either individually or in partnership with others to attend. The event will be an opportunity to inform and shape future options. Somerset Council are keen to hear feedback from a range of providers as part of the wider consultation for this service. Organisations that take part will not be advantaged or disadvantaged in any way in any potential future formal procurement. Commercial confidentiality will be respected. This notice does not represent a formal commitment by Somerset Council to undertake a procurement procedure. Event Details: • Date: Monday 13th October 2025 • Time: 11am • Venue: Virtual, teams link to follow. If you are unable to attend the event but would like to register interest for your company please answer the following questions: 1) Do you currently offer rental garden rooms? If so, what is your current lead time for installation? 2) If it is not something you currently offer but would be willing to explore this within your business please advise how long you think this would take to set up and when you would be able to start offering this service? 3) Would your service include the full package- flooring, insulation, lights and an electrician to connect and provide safety certificate? If not, please advise what it would include or what would be optional extras. 4) Please confirm what geographical area you would be able to deliver and install to. Please email responses to stephen.barker@somerset.gov.uk Event Registration: To attend this event please send a message to stephen.barker@somerset.gov.uk providing the name of your organisation, the name of the person(s) wishing to attend (Max 2 per organisation) and a contact email address for each to enable us to send through the full details of the event and the venue. Please ensure that those attending from your organisation are the most appropriate to feed into the discussions. If you are unable to attend the event, the presentation, notes and associated documentation will be available through the e-tender system https://supplierlive.proactisp2p.com/Account/Login Deadline for registering: 08.10.2025 Somerset Council reserves the right to cancel or re-arrange this event at its own discretion. Thank you.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-059b03
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/056835-2025
Current Stage
Planning
All Stages
Planning

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Goods
Procurement Method
Not Specified
Procurement Method Details
Not specified
Tender Suitability
SME
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

44 - Construction structures and materials; auxiliary products to construction (except electric apparatus)

CPV Codes

44211000 - Prefabricated buildings

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
16 Sep 20255 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
13 Oct 2025Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
1 Dec 2025 - 30 Nov 2026 6-12 months
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Planning
Lots Status
Planning
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
SOMERSET COUNCIL
Contact Name
Steve Barker
Contact Email
stephen.barker@somerset.gov.uk
Contact Phone
Not specified

Buyer Location

Locality
TAUNTON
Postcode
TA1 4DY
Post Town
Taunton
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLK South West (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLK6 North Somerset, Somerset and Dorset
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLK62 Somerset
Delivery Location
TLK23 Somerset CC
Local Authority
Somerset
Electoral Ward
Bishop's Hull & Taunton West
Westminster Constituency
Taunton and Wellington

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

Download

The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts. 

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