Procurement: Architecture Design and Urbanism Panel

The Architecture Design and Urbanism Panel is a pre-approved panel of built environment consultants. The Panel makes it quicker and easier for organisations like councils and housing associations to commission high quality consultants for certain types of project.

We set up the Architecture Design and Urbanism Panel with Transport for London (TfL) to advise London's public sector on how to deliver the best quality building and design work. The Panel’s job is to support the Mayor's regeneration programmes and priorities, as well as other public sector-funded projects in London.

The Architecture Design and Urbanism Panel is managed jointly by TfL’s Urban Design team and our Regeneration team. Both teams are responsible for providing advice about and are the point of contact for anyone interested in using the panel.

The Architecture Design and Urbanism Panel forms part of the Mayor’s Good Growth by Design programme.

We will begin the procurement of the new Architecture + Urbanism (A+U) Framework in early 2021. Read more.

We have procured a new panel of experts on the built environment to support the Mayor's Housing, Transport, Planning and Regeneration priorities.

The previous panel saw over 100 projects procured through the panel, with over £30m paid in fees, and 27 public sector organisations access the panel. The new Architecture Design and Urbanism Panel includes more expertise with expanded categories in architecture including housing, transport-led development and masterplanning.

Launched in 2018, this round of the Architecture Design and Urbanism Panel requires all authorities using the panel to embed a diversity and inclusion requirement into the project briefs and individual call-off contracts. Design teams will need to consider ‘equality and diversity’ principles within their practice and within the project that they are being invited to tender for. This will account for at least 5% of evaluation scores at the ‘Invitation to Tender’ stage. This represents an important opportunity to influence the diversity of the profession through procurement.

The Architecture Design and Urbanism Panel makes a positive difference to the procurement of building and design projects in London and:

• saves time and money by qualifying potential suppliers
• promotes consistent contractual arrangements
• ensures objective, rigorous and fair assessments of suppliers, with an emphasis on technical competence (there is a 70:30 split between technical and financial criteria)
• provides legal compliance assurance, professional insurance provisions and financial standing
• provides confirmation of supplier policies and practices in line with GLA and TfL principles and responsible procurement objectives
• gives access to suppliers without challenges under the Freedom of Information Act
• is compliant with EU Procurement Regulations

Over 1,100 submissions were received at the first qualifying stage, of which 92 practices have been appointed across 14 categories.