Manchester council is in talks about extending its £140m building framework to other local authorities around the region.

This week it picked Willmott Dixon, GB Building Solutions, Bramall Construction, Cruden Group and F Parkinson for the four-year new build and refurbishment framework, called Framework One 2009. This will centre on schools work and public buildings, such as libraries.

The council is now meeting other local authorities about the possibility of them using Manchester’s framework contractors on their own deals, to avoid the cost and time of setting up their own frameworks. John Lorimer, the council’s capital programme director, said the first deals could be wrapped up by early summer.

If agreements are signed, the five firms on Manchester’s framework could see the value of their work soar. One said: “If it pulls in councils like Wigan and Bury we could be talking about £500m of work.”