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Heat and Power Supply and Heat Pump Operation - Birmingham Children's Hospital

Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

Award

12 Oct 2026 at 14:46

UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Award

12 Oct 2026 at 14:44

UK5 - Transparency Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is procuring a long-term heat and power service for Birmingham Children’s Hospital. The supplier will provide heat and electricity through the existing district heating network and operate and maintain the Trust-funded ground source heat pump. The new arrangement replaces the heat and power obligations under the existing agreement, while retaining services needed for the hospital’s heat and power resilience strategy. The work supports the Trust’s carbon-reduction objectives while maintaining continuity of supply and technical compatibility between the heat pump and the existing combined heat and power system. The delivery location is Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Birmingham.

The procurement is complete and was directly awarded to Birmingham District Energy Company Limited. The award date was 30 September 2026; the contract is due to run from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2051. The awarded value is £73,302,983 excluding VAT (£76,968,132 including VAT). There is one lot. The Trust used a direct award because the supplier has exclusive rights to supply heat and power through its district energy network, and integrating another operator was judged technically incompatible: different operating parameters could reduce efficiency, raise costs or cause plant shutdown. The supplier currently operates the network and supplies the hospital’s existing combined heat and power system. A contract signature was scheduled for 14 December 2026.

This requirement is best suited to an established district energy operator with control of, or authorised access to, the relevant heat network and the ability to integrate generation assets operating on shared pipework. Credible delivery requires expertise in supplying heat and power to a critical hospital, operating and maintaining ground source heat pump equipment, and coordinating it with combined heat and power plant. Suppliers need to manage reliability and resilience, including planned responses to plant ageing, declining heat-pump or ground-loop performance and network outages. Experience adapting controls and operating regimes as demand, regulation and energy prices change would also be relevant. The award demonstrates that network access and technical compatibility were decisive: a technically capable provider without the ability to operate within the incumbent network arrangement would not meet this buyer’s stated rationale.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

Heat and Power Supply and Heat Pump Operation - Birmingham Children's Hospital

Notice Description

Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust (the "Trust") intends to enter into a contract with Birmingham District Energy Company ("BDEC") on the terms described below (the "Contract"). The parties to the Contract shall be BWC Management Services Limited ("BWCMSL") (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trust), and/or the Trust (or in each case, any successors thereof) (with the contracting entity/entities referred to as the "Authorities"), and BDEC. Pursuant to the Contract, BDEC will supply heat and power to Birmingham Children's Hospital via the existing District Heating Network scheme, utilising a ground source heat pump ("GSHP") acquired by the Trust with funding from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero's Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. The Contract will require BDEC to operate and maintain the ground source heat pump as part of the overall transaction. BDEC currently supplies heat and power services to Birmingham Children's Hospital in relation to the Trust's existing Combined Heat and Power ("CHP") system through a back-to-back agreement between Birmingham City Council and BDEC (the "Current Arrangement"). The Contract will supersede all of the obligations relating to heat and power pursuant to the Current Arrangement. However, the Authorities will continue to require certain services currently provided through the Current Arrangement, under the new Contract, to the extent that such services are required as part of the Authorities' heat/power resilience strategy. The Contract will support the Trust's objective of meeting NHS England's carbon reduction targets by 2027, five years ahead of its mandated target, while ensuring continuity of service and technical compatibility across the network.

Procurement Information

BDEC has exclusive rights to supply heat and power to Birmingham Children's Hospital by virtue of the Current Arrangement, and it currently has exclusive ownership and operation of its district energy network scheme which supplies heat to the Trust. It would not be possible for the Authorities to permit an alternative supplier to operate and manage the GSHP plant and equipment as part of the provision of the service independently of the district energy network scheme. The Trust has no ability or right to oblige BDEC to allow a third party to deliver heat on the network. This ground is demonstrated by the technical incompatibility of operating two independent energy centres for the CHP and GSHP systems at incompatible specifications on the same heat network (even if BDEC was to allow a third party to deliver heat on its network). In particular, the differing operating parameters of the respective systems mean that, if the outputs are not aligned, this could result in inefficiencies in the operation of the plant, higher operational costs, or plant shutdown, given that both systems utilise the same pipework. Achieving compatibility would give rise to disproportionate technical difficulties in operation.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-0785bf
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/096146-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Goods
Procurement Method
Direct
Procurement Method Details
Direct award
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Large

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

09 - Petroleum products, fuel, electricity and other sources of energy

CPV Codes

09323000 - District heating

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
£73,302,983 £10M-£100M
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
12 Oct 20261 weeks ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
30 Sep 20263 weeks ago
Contract Period
1 Jan 2027 - 31 Dec 2051 Over 5 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Pending
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
BIRMINGHAM
Postcode
B4 6NH
Postcode Area
Birmingham
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLG West Midlands (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLG3 West Midlands
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLG31 Birmingham
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
Birmingham
Electoral Ward
Ladywood
Westminster Constituency
Birmingham Ladywood

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

BIRMINGHAM DISTRICT ENERGY COMPANY LIMITED

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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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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