WHAT DOES A STRUCTURAL ENGINEER DO ON A FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME?
When a contractor wins a lot on a housing, education or decarbonisation framework, the programme often includes solar PV on hundreds of roofs. Each roof needs a structural check before installation, and the contractor needs an engineer who can onboard quickly, work to the programme's references and reporting, and keep pace with the installation teams. That is the role we fill: the structural element of the programme, delivered inside your supply chain.
ONBOARDING AND PRE-QUALIFICATION
Supplier Onboarding, PQQs and Portals Completed Quickly
Framework programmes run on paperwork before they run on roofs. We keep the supplier pack ready so onboarding does not hold up the first call-off.
- Professional indemnity £5M, employers' and public liability, drone insurance
- Health and safety, quality, environmental, data protection and modern slavery policies
- Example RAMS and competence evidence for surveyors and engineers
- Client references and bank details on company letterhead
- No subcontracting of the engineering
Fast Turnaround on Fee Proposals
Mini-competition and call-off pricing returned promptly, per property or per programme, once we have seen the stock.
Named Engineers
A qualified structural engineer signs every report, and the same team stays with the programme from set-up to close-out.
HOW FRAMEWORK WORK REACHES US
Framework Agreements, Lots, Call-Offs and Mini-Competitions
The language of public sector procurement, and where the structural engineer fits in each route.
Framework Agreement
A multi-year agreement appointing contractors to deliver a type of work for public sector clients. The contractor, not the engineer, is appointed. We join the contractor's supply chain.
Lots
Frameworks are split into lots by work type or region, such as retrofit, renewables or solar PV. Structural roof assessment sits inside the solar PV or whole-house retrofit lot.
Call-Off and Direct Award
Work ordered under the framework by a client, either directly or after a short competition. We price and deliver the structural element of each call-off.
Mini-Competition
Appointed contractors bid against each other for a specific project. We return structural pricing and method quickly so it can go into your submission.
Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)
An open-entry route under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 that contractors can join at any time. Existing systems continue for their term.
Dynamic Market
The Procurement Act 2023 route that replaces the DPS for new procurements. The supply-chain role for a structural engineer is unchanged.
PROGRAMMES WE DELIVER INTO
Housing, Education, Health and Public Estate Programmes
Solar PV rolls out across public sector estates in programmes. The structural element is the same discipline across all of them.
Social Housing Retrofit
Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund, local authority retrofit and housing association capital programmes, delivered as volume desktop appraisals.
Schools and Education Estates
Multi-school decarbonisation programmes where every roof is a different age and construction, often with asbestos cement to manage.
Charity and Community Estates
Multi-site estates of halls, centres and churches, with attended surveys organised around each building's opening hours.
NHS and Public Buildings
Health and public estate roofs, where access, occupancy and evidence standards are strict.
Council Estates
Depots, leisure centres, offices and housing, often procured through regional frameworks.
Volume Installer Programmes
Installers delivering hundreds of homes a month who need structural sign-off that keeps pace.
PROGRAMME REPORTING
Tracked, Referenced and Valued to Your Schedule
References in your format
Every report carries the programme's property reference, so it matches your tracker and the client's.
Trackers kept current
A live tracker per programme shows instructed, issued, conditional and referred properties.
Batch issue
Reports issue as they are completed, to the 48-hour benchmark from complete information.
Valuations and invoicing
Monthly valuation schedules follow your template, line by line against instructions.
Close-out
A programme summary of outcomes by property, ready for the client's records.
FRAMEWORKS OUR CONTRACTORS DELIVER THROUGH
We Work With Contractors Delivering Through These Frameworks
Solar PV and retrofit reach us through the contractors and installers appointed to public sector frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems and dynamic markets. We work with contractors delivering through frameworks run by the bodies below, and through programmes run directly by housing associations and councils.
Fusion21
Decarbonisation and retrofit frameworks for housing and the public sector.
LHC Procurement Group
Including the Scottish Procurement Alliance and Welsh Procurement Alliance: renewables, energy efficiency and retrofit frameworks.
Procure Plus
Retrofit assessment, design and delivery for social housing.
Efficiency North
Housing retrofit and planned investment frameworks in the North.
Efficiency East Midlands (EEM)
Housing and public sector frameworks across the Midlands.
Pretium Frameworks
Housing and public sector works frameworks.
Procurement for Housing
Procurement services for housing providers.
Northern Housing Consortium
Housing sector procurement and retrofit programmes.
Advantage South West
Housing association procurement consortium in the South West.
Consortium Procurement Construction (CPC)
Construction and maintenance frameworks for the public sector.
Crown Commercial Service (CCS)
Central government frameworks, including energy and estates.
ESPO
Public sector frameworks including renewable energy solutions.
YPO
Public sector buying organisation frameworks.
NEPO
North East public sector procurement frameworks.
Scape
Public sector construction and decarbonisation frameworks.
Southern Construction Framework
Construction framework for the South of England.
Scotland Excel
Scottish local authority frameworks, including energy efficiency.
NHS Shared Business Services
NHS estates and energy frameworks.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Structural Engineering on Framework and DPS Programmes
Which frameworks do the contractors you work with deliver through?
We work with contractors delivering through frameworks including Fusion21, LHC Procurement Group, Procure Plus, Efficiency North, Efficiency East Midlands (EEM), Pretium Frameworks, Procurement for Housing, Northern Housing Consortium, Advantage South West, Consortium Procurement Construction (CPC), Crown Commercial Service (CCS), ESPO, YPO, NEPO, Scape, Southern Construction Framework, Scotland Excel, NHS Shared Business Services, as well as programmes run directly by housing associations and councils.
Do you need to be on a framework to work on a framework programme?
Usually not. Frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems appoint the main contractor or installer, who then builds a supply chain. We work in that supply chain as the structural engineer. Where a lot or a client requires supplier onboarding, a pre-qualification questionnaire or a supplier portal registration, we complete it quickly.
Do you have framework or volume rates?
Programme pricing is agreed once we understand the programme: the number of properties, the roof types, how the information will arrive and the delivery window. We will consider volume pricing on that basis rather than publish a rate card that ignores what the programme actually involves.
What documents can you provide for supplier onboarding and PQQs?
Professional indemnity, employers' and public liability and drone insurance certificates, health and safety, quality, environmental, data protection and modern slavery policies, example RAMS, competence evidence for the team, client references and bank details on company letterhead.
Can you work to our valuation schedule and tracker?
Yes. Every report carries a property-level reference in your format, and monthly valuation schedules follow your template, so each line can be matched to an instruction and an issued report.
Do you subcontract the engineering?
No. Assessments are carried out and checked by our own engineers. The engineer who signs the report is accountable for it.
What is the difference between a DPS and a dynamic market?
A dynamic purchasing system is an open-entry procurement route used under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Under the Procurement Act 2023, new procurements use dynamic markets instead, while existing systems continue for their term. For a supply-chain structural engineer the practical effect is the same: the appointed contractor calls work off, and we deliver the structural element.
RELATED
Where This Fits
Social Housing Retrofit Solar PV
Structural sign-off for Warm Homes, local authority and housing association programmes.
Social HousingDesktop Structural Roof Loading Reports
The volume report behind most programme work. Engineer-signed, 48-hour benchmark.
Desktop ReportsPublic Sector Estates
Schools, healthcare and council buildings: the roofs and what fails.
Public SectorFRAMEWORK AND DPS PROGRAMMES
Add a Structural Engineer
to Your Supply Chain.
Tell us about the framework lot, the programme size and the start date. We will send the onboarding pack and agree how the programme will run.