---
title: "Appointment of a Creative Team for Blyth Celebrates Festival of Energy"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-051b78"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-051b78"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-051b78.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-051b78.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY COUNCIL"
published: "2025-11-21"
---

# Appointment of a Creative Team for Blyth Celebrates Festival of Energy

Buyer: NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY COUNCIL  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-051b78

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## Summary

Northumberland County Council, based in Morpeth, has completed the procurement process for the appointment of a Creative Team to manage the inaugural Blyth Celebrates Festival of Energy. This public authority utilised an open procedure under the UKPGA 2023/54 legislation to invite bids, with the tender ID NCC1583, focusing on event and festival organisation services. The contract, covering service delivery in Blyth, is scheduled from October 2025 to March 2026. The tender was concluded with the award on 21st November 2025 to "WALK THE PLANK," a company located in Salford. The procurement tag indicates the process has transitioned from the tender to the contract award stage.

This project presents a valuable opportunity for businesses in the creative events and festival management sector. It caters effectively to organisations capable of delivering high-profile events that engage a wide-ranging audience, including stakeholders from local communities and the energy sector. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with a strong track record in innovative event management, especially those experienced in educational and experiential programmes, could significantly benefit. The Festival of Energy aims to elevate Blyth as a distinguished destination for creativity and renewables, potentially attracting further investments and expanding business portfolios in the region. Businesses interested in future tenders should consider aligning their capabilities with such strategic community and sectoral objectives.

## Notice

Northumberland County Council has appointed a Creative Team that will design, create, produce and deliver a high profile and impactful inaugural Festival of Energy that will attract interest from a wide-ranging audience including local people of all ages, key partners in Blyth and the national / international arts and renewables / energy sectors. Northumberland County Council (NCC) were successful in attracting PS355,384 from North East Combined Authority (NECA) for a Festival of ENERGY in Blyth, taking place in February 2026 in partnership with ORE Catapult, Port of Blyth and Newcastle University.

### Planning Information

Northumberland County Council (NCC) were successful in attracting £355,384 from North East Combined Authority (NECA) for a Festival of ENERGY in Blyth, taking place in February 2026 in partnership with ORE Catapult, Port of Blyth and Newcastle University. 
We are now inviting Expressions of Interest from exceptional and exciting creative events and festivals companies that have an excellent track record of delivering high quality events, from concept to every aspect of delivery. The Festival of ENERGY is a creative and artistic response to the globally recognised, innovation in renewables, taking place in Blyth, Northumberland. 
The Festival of ENERGY will offer a key highlight and finale event as part of Blyth Celebrates yearlong cultural programme. The four-day event and participatory programme will develop co-designed content with local communities, building new audiences and attracting visitors to the town securing Blyth as a new visitor destination for creativity and innovation and recognised as a world leader in the renewables sector, reflected in the vision of the Energising Blyth regeneration project. 
The Festival of ENERGY will deliver an expansive engagement programme from September - December 2025 to explore and delve into the significant renewables sector in Blyth to be showcased and profiled during an intensive long weekend (4 days) in February 2026. The Festival will deliver educational and experiential opportunities through talks, tours, film, interaction and spectacle. We want to demystify and showcase the industry, to capitalise on Blyth's unique economic strength to attract national audiences and support future investment and profile. 
NCC's procurement process is managed through a new portal called https://www.open-uk.org/ You will need to register on the OPEN portal to ensure you will be able to respond to this opportunity. 
The timelines currently for this project are outlined below (please note these are not confirmed and are subject to change):
Invitation to Tender published - June 2025
Submission deadline for ITT responses - July 2025
Notification of Award - End July 2025
Contract Start - August/September 2025
Festival - late February 2026
The project is due to start in August / September 2025 with the 4-day Festival taking place in late February 2026. Where we hope to attract 10,000 people, engage with 500 local people and 25 volunteers over the project.
Please note that this Market Engagement Document is not an invitation to tender, and you are under no obligation to complete it. This document does not form any requirement of an invitation to tender. The Council is issuing this request for information only. No supplier selection or supplier preference is implied.
All responses will be treated confidentially and used solely to inform the Council's approach to the future commissioning of services.
This Market Engagement document is to be returned to Northumberland County Council by Wednesday 28th May at 12 Noon via the OPEN Tender Portal https://www.open-uk.org/
1. Market Engagement Questions
Q1 Will the timescales outlined above be achievable? 
Q2 Please advise if you have any queries regarding the event. 
Q3 The tender documents will be published in June to be returned in July, do you intend to submit a bid? If not please detail your reason why not.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076038-2025 |
| Notice type | UK7 - Contract Details Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Planning, Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 21 Nov 2025 |
| Submission deadline | 11 Jul 2025 |
| Future notice date | 28 May 2025 |
| Award date | 27 Aug 2025 |
| Contract period | 27 Oct 2025 - 31 Mar 2026 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £355,000 |
| Lots value | £355,000 |
| Awards value | £355,384 |
| Contracts value | £355,384 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY COUNCIL |
| Locality | MORPETH |
| Post town | Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Postcode | NE61 2EF |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLC North East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLC4 Northumberland, Durham and Tyne & Wear |
| ITL 3 | TLC42 Northumberland |
| Local authority | Northumberland |
| Electoral ward | Morpeth Kirkhill |
| Westminster constituency | North Northumberland |
| Delivery location | TLC North East (England), TLC2 Northumberland, and Tyne and Wear |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | WALK THE PLANK |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

### Codes

- 79952000 - Event services
- 79953000 - Festival organisation services

## Release History

- 21 Nov 2025 at 13:29 - Award - UK7 - Contract Details Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076038-2025
- 28 Aug 2025 at 12:54 - Award - UK6 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/051980-2025
- 16 Jun 2025 at 13:19 - Tender - UK4 - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/032624-2025
- 21 May 2025 at 14:28 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/024124-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/076038-2025
  21st November 2025 - Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/051980-2025
  28th August 2025 - Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/032624-2025
  16th June 2025 - Tender notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/024124-2025
  21st May 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- http://www.northumberland.gov.uk
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents
- https://www.open-uk.org/
- https://www.walktheplank.co.uk/

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-051b78. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-051b78.json.