A framework built for growth

Manchester Airports Group has appointed 20 contractors to a new £600m construction framework, Construction News and New Civil Engineer reported this week. The Small to Medium Construction Works Framework splits the work into nine lots, covering building, civils and M&E packages separately at each of MAG's three airports: Manchester, East Midlands and Stansted. Award decisions were made on 30 October, and the framework is due to start on 1 December, running for an initial five years with an option to extend to 2034.

The lot values give a sense of where the money sits. Manchester's building lot is worth £124.2m and its civils lot £118.7m, the two biggest packages on the framework. Stansted follows close behind with £110.7m for building and £105.8m for civils. East Midlands is the smallest of the three, with lots ranging from £9.4m to £35.1m. Each individual project is capped at £5m, which tells you this is a framework built for steady, recurring airport works rather than one-off megaprojects.

Named winners so far include VolkerFitzpatrick, Galliford Try and BAM's facilities management arm, with Dalkia Engineering picking up M&E lots at East Midlands and Stansted. Twenty firms in total have won places across the nine lots, several of them on more than one.

Why it matters

Airport operators rarely stop building. Passenger growth, net zero retrofit obligations and ageing terminal infrastructure mean MAG's three airports have a rolling pipeline of refurbishment, extension and compliance work that this framework is designed to keep moving without a fresh tender every time. For the contractors on it, that is years of guaranteed access to live, operational sites, a different discipline from greenfield build and one that tends to reward firms who can work around live passenger operations and tight security clearance.

It also signals that aviation infrastructure, a sector that went quiet through the worst of the pandemic years, is back to spending steadily rather than in one-off bursts. A five-year framework with options to 2034 is MAG betting on sustained capital spend well into the next decade.

What it means for your career

If you are a quantity surveyor or project manager with airside or secure-site experience, this is worth watching closely. Framework appointments like this tend to trigger recruitment on the winning contractors' side within weeks, particularly for commercial and project management roles at Manchester and Stansted, where the biggest lots sit. M&E project managers should note Dalkia's position on two of the three M&E packages, a firm that has been building out its UK construction delivery team.

For anyone based in the North West or East of England looking to move into aviation or critical infrastructure work, airside accreditation and experience managing contractors on live, operational sites are the skills that will separate you from general building candidates when these roles start appearing. Expect the first hires to land on the civils and M&E lots, where the technical demands of working within an operating airport are highest.