Contractors are being invited to bid for £1bn of work on a four-year construction super-framework covering north-west England

An Official Journal notice went out last week for the North-West Construction Hub (NWCH), a network of frameworks that will carry out local authority work in Cumbria, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside.

The NWCH, which is being run by Manchester council, is made up of 13 frameworks. Each district will have two of them, one covering jobs worth between £500,000 and £4.5m and the other covering schemes worth between £3.5m and £10m.

In addition there will be three frameworks covering the entire north-west region; two of these will each hand out £185m of work, and the third will be worth £230m. Each of the 13 smaller frameworks will need at least three contractors, and the NWCH expects to invite between 100 and 300 companies to tender.

The contractors chosen will build schools, social housing, leisure, commercial and transport buildings for up to 46 councils in the North-west.

Contractors have until 1 May to submit requests to participate.