--- title: "Grounds Maintenance and Gardening Servces" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06b04b" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06b04b" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06b04b.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06b04b.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "FIRST GARDEN CITIES HOMES" published: "2026-06-08" --- # Grounds Maintenance and Gardening Servces Buyer: FIRST GARDEN CITIES HOMES Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06b04b [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06b04b) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06b04b.json) ## Summary First Garden Cities Homes, an English Registered Provider of Social Housing located in Letchworth Garden City, is currently in the planning stage of procuring a contract for "Grounds Maintenance and Gardening Services." The procurement is categorised under services in the grounds maintenance industry, within the region of North Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, UK. This process includes a resident consultation to finalise the service specifications, and interested parties must express interest by 24 July 2026. The contract, divided into two lots, will commence on 1 January 2027, following the expiration of the current contract on 31 December 2026. The procurement aims to foster participation from SMEs, encouraging environmentally responsible and innovative approaches. This tender presents substantial opportunities for businesses that specialise in grounds maintenance and have a focus on high-quality service and environmental responsibility. Businesses with qualified horticultural professionals and innovative solutions in service delivery are particularly suited to compete. It is an excellent growth opportunity for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) looking to broaden their client base by demonstrating their ability to deliver quality, sustainable services. Participants have the chance to influence the tender's final structure through early engagement, which underscores a collaborative approach encouraged by First Garden Cities Homes. ## Notice First Garden Cities Homes Limited is an English Registered Provider of Social Housing. We were formed on 1 March 2020 through the amalgamation of Howard Cottage Housing Association and Welwyn Garden City Housing Association, two organisations with a combined history of over 170 years of providing affordable homes. Howard Cottage HA was established in 1911 to provide affordable housing in Letchworth, the world's first Garden City, whilst the eponymous Welwyn Garden City HA was founded fifty years later for the same purpose. Today, First Garden Cities Homes is a modern, dynamic 2400 homes housing association with an active development programme and deep roots in its communities. Our current contract for the Grounds Maintenance and Gardening Services services expires on 31/12/2026 and there is no option to extend or renew in a manner compliant with the Procurement Act 2023. We are now starting the process of procuring a new contract to provide the services. A GIS mapping project has already been commissioned to ensure that we have the most accurate information available about the scope and volume of the works at approximately 65 locations across North Herts and Beds. This will be completed prior to tender publication and form part of the tender pack. We are now accepting expressions of interest for participation in a market engagement exercise ahead of publishing a tender. The requirement will be divided into two lots of broadly similar volume, organised by geography, to create a manageable scale of delivery for providers of different sizes. Our homes sit within a Garden Cities context, and the appearance and condition of the grounds are central to the identity of these places and to the pride residents take in them. A consistently high quality, well presented standard of finish is therefore essential, and we do not believe this can be achieved through solely unskilled labour. We will expect at least some of the operatives attending site on every occasion to hold relevant horticultural qualifications or demonstrable equivalent experience, and we are interested in how providers structure and deploy their workforce to meet this standard reliably. Environmental responsibility and social value matter to us. We welcome approaches that advance environmental initiatives across our sites, and we are keen to understand how SMEs can be supported to compete to further our social value aims. We also invite innovation. We want to hear how providers would bring new methods, technology and ideas to improve quality, efficiency and sustainability. We are currently undertaking a consultation exercise with our residents to understand the levels of quality and detail they expect from the service, and the outcome of that work will inform our final specification. Once this is complete we will contact interested parties to arrange meetings to give potential suppliers the opportunity to shape this procurement. ### Planning Information In the first instance please register your expression of interest using the email address in this notice. Once the resident consultation is complete and we have a a clear understanding of their expectations we will contact interested parties to initiate dialog. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/054001-2026 | | Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Services | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | SME | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 8 Jun 2026 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 3 Aug 2026 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | 1 Jan 2027 - 31 Dec 2031 | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | Not specified | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planning | | Lots status | Planning | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | FIRST GARDEN CITIES HOMES | | Locality | LETCHWORTH GARDEN CITY | | Post town | Stevenage | | Postcode | SG6 1NY | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLH East (England) | | ITL 2 | TLH2 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | | ITL 3 | TLH26 North and East Hertfordshire | | Local authority | North Hertfordshire | | Electoral ward | Letchworth South West | | Westminster constituency | North East Hertfordshire | | Delivery location | TLH2 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 77 - Agricultural, forestry, horticultural, aquacultural and apicultural services ### Codes - 77314000 - Grounds maintenance services ## Release History - 8 Jun 2026 at 16:38 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/054001-2026 ## Documents - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/054001-2026 8th June 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ## Notice URLs - https://www.fgch.co.uk - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents ## 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-06b04b. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06b04b.json.