--- title: "Expression of Interest/Pre-Market Engagement for Playful Structures Peterborough City Centre" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06e82f" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06e82f" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e82f.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e82f.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "Peterborough City Council" published: "2026-08-20" --- # Expression of Interest/Pre-Market Engagement for Playful Structures Peterborough City Centre Buyer: Peterborough City Council Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06e82f [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06e82f) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e82f.json) ## Summary Peterborough City Council is exploring the design, manufacture and installation of four to six permanent playful public realm structures in St John’s Square, Peterborough. The project forms part of the Pride in Place Impact Fund and the wider Cathedral and St John’s Square Vision Plan. The structures are intended to improve the appearance, usability and inclusiveness of the civic space, encourage exploration, informal play and social interaction, and create opportunities to sit, recline, climb, balance, gather and pause. They should also work as high-quality public art, civic furniture and distinctive place-making features. The concept is for an inclusive city-centre setting serving a broad range of ages and abilities, rather than a segregated or traditional children’s play area. The procurement covers goods, furniture, recreational and cultural services. This is a preliminary market engagement and expression-of-interest exercise at the planning stage; it is not an invitation to tender. The Council expected the engagement material to become available through its e-tendering portal from 24 August 2026, with responses expected by 14 September 2026 at noon. It plans to use the responses to inform the project budget and future procurement. The anticipated contract period for the single planned lot is 2 November 2026 to 31 December 2027. The Council has not set a contract value at this stage: participants are asked to provide an expected value or value range for guidance. The engagement asks suppliers to explain their delivery model, including whether design, development, manufacture, installation and handover would be delivered in-house, subcontracted or through separate contracts. The engagement is suited to small and medium-sized enterprises, voluntary, community and social enterprises, and organisations with experience delivering permanent creative installations in public spaces. Relevant participants may include arts organisations, community interest companies, artist collectives and creative practices able to combine design, fabrication and installation. The work is likely to require capability across full design, development, manufacture, installation and handover of durable playful structures, with an understanding of inclusive design, informal play, civic furniture, public art and place-making. Suppliers should prepare evidence of comparable completed structures, including photographs or examples of work, and a project case study covering successes, issues, solutions and lessons learnt. Businesses should also decide which stages they can deliver directly and where specialist subcontractors or delivery partners may be needed before the future procurement reaches the market. ## Notice Peterborough City Council is seeking expression of interests/pre-market engagement from experienced arts organisation's, Community Interest Company, artist collective or creative practice to design, manufacture and install a series of high-quality playful public realm structures within St John's Square, Peterborough. This forms part of the Council's Pride in Place Impact Fund programme and supports the wider Cathedral and St John's Square Vision Plan. The programme seeks to improve the quality, appearance and usability of key civic spaces, create a greener and more inclusive city centre, increase activity and dwell time, and support the wider regeneration of Peterborough's civic heart. The aim of this project is to design and deliver between four and six permanent playful public realm structures within St John's Square. The structures should encourage exploration, social interaction, informal play and moments of pause, while also functioning as high-quality pieces of public art, civic furniture and distinctive place-making features. The installations should invite people to sit, recline, climb, balance, gather, play informally, pause and spend longer within the square. They should appeal to a broad range of ages and abilities without creating a segregated or traditional children's play area. ### Planning Information This opportunity will be available on the ProContract portal from 12:00pm Monday 24th August 2026. This advert link https://procontract.due-north.com/Procurer/Advert/View?advertId=d6dedb3a-709c-f111-813c-005056b64545&fromAdvertEvent=True will take you to the portal where you can register/login, express and interest and access the EoI/PME document To express an interest please respond to this request via the e-tendering portal ProContract https://procontract.due-north.com (the portal) responses should be in word or PDF and should be attached as your response. 1. Please provide written details of how you would meet the requirements of this requirement. Please include if you would complete the following in-house or if you would subcontract or your preference would be for separate contracts for each stage • full design • development • manufacture • installation • handover of the playful public realm structures No more than 1000 words, approximately 2 sides of A4 2. Please share photos of previous structures that meet the requirements, photos can be attached or you can provide a link to social media where your work is on display, for example, YouTube or Instagram. 3. Please provide an example of a previous project to include • Successes • Issues • Solutions • Lessons learnt No more than 1000 words, approximately 2 sides of A4 4. Please provide what you would expect to see as the contract value? This can be stated as a range and will only be used as guidance for the authority when setting the project budget. Reponses are required to be submitted via the portal by Monday 14th September 2026 at 12:00 (noon). Any clarifications can be sent via the messaging function on the portal; responses will be public unless it is deemed of no benefit to other interested parties. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/079289-2026 | | 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, VCSE | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 20 Aug 2026 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 14 Sep 2026 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | 2 Nov 2026 - 31 Dec 2027 | | 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 | Peterborough City Council | | Locality | PETERBOROUGH | | Postcode area | Peterborough | | Postcode | PE2 8TY | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLH East (England) | | ITL 2 | TLH4 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough | | ITL 3 | TLH41 Peterborough | | Local authority | Peterborough | | Electoral ward | Fletton and Stanground | | Westminster constituency | North West Cambridgeshire | | Delivery location | TLH11 Peterborough | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 37 - Musical instruments, sport goods, games, toys, handicraft, art materials and accessories - 39 - Furniture (incl. office furniture), furnishings, domestic appliances (excl. lighting) and cleaning products - 92 - Recreational, cultural and sporting services ### Codes - 37000000 - Musical instruments, sport goods, games, toys, handicraft, art materials and accessories - 39000000 - Furniture (incl. office furniture), furnishings, domestic appliances (excl. lighting) and cleaning products - 92000000 - Recreational, cultural and sporting services ## Release History - 20 Aug 2026 at 09:40 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/079289-2026 ## Documents - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/079289-2026 20th August 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ## Notice URLs - https://procontract.due-north.com - https://procontract.due-north.com/Procurer/Advert/View?advertId=d6dedb3a-709c-f111-813c-005056b64545&fromAdvertEvent=True - 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-06e82f. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06e82f.json.