North Somerset Council has opened a £500,000 scaffolding package for tender on Epic Systems' new European headquarters in Long Ashton, one of several construction packages designed to give local contractors a route into a project that will run through 2027.

Gilbert-Ash, headquartered in Belfast and founded in 1947, is the main contractor delivering the Epic Systems campus, operating from offices across Belfast, London and Dublin on commercial construction and fit-out projects.

Epic Systems, a privately held US healthcare software company based in Verona, Wisconsin, is building a 90-acre European headquarters at Long Ashton expected to create more than 2,150 jobs and contribute an estimated £140m (€164m) a year to the regional economy.

Other packages currently or shortly coming to market include brickwork worth £700,000 to £800,000 (€819,000 to €936,000), drylining worth £2m (€2.34m), electrical works worth £1m to £3m (€1.17m to €3.51m), and pipework and ventilation worth £2m to £5m (€2.34m to €5.85m), coordinated through the council-backed Somerset Supply Chain programme.

The scaffolding package is valued at £500,000 (€585,000); detailed scope, programme and procurement timetable have not yet been published.

Breaking a single large private development into a published sequence of trade packages functions as an industrial policy tool as much as a straightforward procurement mechanism, giving smaller firms a visible entry point they otherwise would not have.

North Somerset Council appointed Somerset Chamber of Commerce under a Section 106 agreement with Epic Systems specifically to map and engage the local construction supply chain, with the programme's first phase focused on identifying barriers such as skills shortages, capacity constraints and accreditation requirements rather than simply publicising the scheme.

Publishing packages such as scaffolding, brickwork, drylining, electrical and pipework individually and ahead of the formal tender gives regional SMEs and specialist contractors visibility on a project of this scale that they would rarely see under a single main-contractor procurement route.

For the sector, this structured supply-chain model is likely to become a template other councils negotiating Section 106 obligations on large inward investment schemes look to replicate, particularly where a single overseas developer's spend risks otherwise bypassing the local contractor base entirely.

Source: Scaffmag / North Somerset Council