---
title: "IWM Immersive Experience"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-0786d2"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0786d2"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0786d2.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0786d2.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "Imperial War Museums"
published: "2026-10-13"
---

# IWM Immersive Experience

Buyer: Imperial War Museums  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-0786d2

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## Summary

The Imperial War Museum is commissioning an immersive virtual reality experience using headsets, to be developed and hosted at its Lambeth site in London. The work combines an artistic commission with the creation of an experience for museum and public audiences. It involves immersive content and entertainment software development, alongside delivery of the experience at the museum. The brief centres on producing new cultural content rather than supplying general-purpose VR equipment or software. The commission is intended to draw on the museum’s collections and archives and to reach audiences through cultural venues. The named delivery location is IWM Lambeth, London.

The procurement has been awarded to East City Films Ltd, a London-based supplier; the award is recorded as pending. The Imperial War Museum used a direct award, citing specialist technical and creative reasons following market research. The award is dated 13 October 2026 and is valued at £1 million excluding VAT (£1.2 million including VAT). The contract period runs from 1 November 2026 to 31 October 2031, with an option for the museum to extend it by two years, to a maximum end date of 31 October 2033. The procurement is a single lot and is suitable for small and medium-sized businesses. The award rationale says the buyer selected the supplier for its experience creating VR headset experiences for museums; no scored evaluation criteria are stated.

For suppliers considering similar work for the Imperial War Museum, the selected provider demonstrates the breadth of capability the buyer valued: archive-led research and storytelling, curatorial content, filmmaking, immersive VR production and technical expertise. Credibility also rested on a distinctive, established production method and experience creating large-scale, multisensory documentary experiences for cultural venues and public audiences. The buyer looked beyond production to operational and commercial planning, touring models, licensing and long-term development and exploitation of intellectual property. An established network of arts and heritage venues, together with relationships with potential funders, was also important. The rationale indicates that a future competitor would need to combine creative and technical delivery with the ability to co-develop new work and take it to audiences through touring and licensing, rather than offer VR production alone.

## Notice

At our IWM Lambeth site we are looking at developing and hosting an artistic commission using immersive VR headset technology. Estimated value of PS1M (subject to fundraising)

### Planning Information

The discovery phase comprised extensive market research to identify existing provision and key operators in the sector, which was supplemented with attendance at a sector trade show. Information on operating and business models was gathered via desk research, conversations with a sample of providers who had expressed interest in working with us at the trade show and via email/ LinkedIn and visits to immersive experiences.

### Procurement Information

At our IWM Lambeth site we are looking at developing and hosting an artistic commission using immersive VR headset technology. A discovery phase comprised extensive market research to identify existing provision and key operators in the sector, which was supplemented with attendance at a sector trade show. Information on operating and business models was gathered via desk research, conversations with a sample of providers who had expressed interest in working with us at the trade show and via email/ LinkedIn and visits to immersive experiences. This process highlighted East City Films who bring a combination of experience that spans content development and storytelling, underpinned by archival/ collections research and curatorial content, filmmaking, technical knowledge/ expertise, operational and business modelling, knowledge of touring models and an established network of arts/ heritage venues that positions them to meet the requirements of the IWM brief. Over the last decade, they have developed a distinctive production methodology for creating large-scale, multi-sensory VR documentary experiences designed for cultural venues and public audiences. Critically, East City Film's capability extends beyond production into touring, licensing and long-term IP development and exploitation and brings the creative and technical knowledge to co-develop new work with IWM as well as the infrastructure and commercial experience to ensure that work reaches the widest possible audience over time. It is this combination of archive-led storytelling expertise, proprietary production methodology and proven exploitation capability that we seek to enable a genuine co-creation partnership underpinned by existing know-how and IP that directly accelerates and de-risks the development of new work. We will be awarding the contract to East City Films, as we have not found a creative agency with experience of developing critically acclaimed, award-winning (in film/ art-form category) VR headset experiences for the museum sector who also bring this the requisite combination of proprietary IP, proven methodology, specialist know-how and established networks of venues and relationships with potential funders.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/096696-2026 |
| Notice type | UK6 - Contract Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Direct |
| Procurement method details | Direct award |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Planning, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 13 Oct 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 13 Oct 2026 |
| Contract period | 1 Nov 2026 - 31 Oct 2031 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £1,000,000 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Pending |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | Imperial War Museums |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Postcode area | South East London |
| Postcode | SE1 6HZ |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI4 Inner London - East |
| ITL 3 | TLI44 Lewisham and Southwark |
| Local authority | Southwark |
| Electoral ward | St George's |
| Westminster constituency | Bermondsey and Old Southwark |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | EAST CITY FILMS LTD |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

### Codes

- 72212932 - Entertainment software development services

## Release History

- 13 Oct 2026 at 16:05 - Award - UK6 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/096696-2026
- 13 Oct 2026 at 15:55 - Award - UK5 - Transparency Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/096682-2026
- 13 Oct 2026 at 15:42 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/096673-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/096696-2026
  13th October 2026 - Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/096682-2026
  13th October 2026 - Transparency notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/096673-2026
  13th October 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- 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-0786d2. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0786d2.json.