Tilbury Douglas has been appointed to deliver the £31m rebuild of The Cavendish School under a two-stage procurement process for the Department for Education (DfE).
The contractor was appointed through the DfE’s Construction Framework 2025, using Lot 2, which covers high-value projects in the South of England. Tilbury Douglas was selected without further competition from the framework lot.
The initial appointment is being made through a preconstruction services agreement (PCSA), allowing Tilbury Douglas to become involved during the early stages of the project and work with the design team on developing the scheme.
Subject to completion of the detailed design and agreement of the final scope and price, the project is expected to proceed to a JCT Design and Build contract covering the main construction works.
The procurement notice puts the value of the contract at £31m excluding VAT, equivalent to £37.2m including VAT. The award decision was made on 4 August 2026, with the contract scheduled to start on 25 August and run until November 2029.
Tilbury Douglas will be responsible for the design and construction or refurbishment of The Cavendish School, a mainstream all-through school.
The school was selected for the government’s School Rebuilding Programme in December 2022 following an assessment of the condition of its existing estate. It was subsequently classified as an “exceptional case” because of severe problems affecting the school estate.
The School Rebuilding Programme was established to deliver major rebuilding and refurbishment projects at schools across England where existing buildings require significant investment. Projects can involve complete replacement of existing facilities or substantial refurbishment and improvement works, depending on the condition and requirements of each school.
The two-stage procurement approach allows the contractor to work through the preconstruction phase before the main building contract is finalised. This is intended to provide an opportunity for the design, programme, construction methodology and costs to be developed in greater detail before the project moves into the main works phase.
Tilbury Douglas’s appointment adds another major education project to its workload as the contractor continues to deliver projects across the public sector. The Cavendish School scheme is expected to remain under contract until November 2029, covering the preconstruction and subsequent delivery stages.
