The UK Facilities Management Market in 2026: Size, Growth and What It Means for Tendering

This means the opportunities for contractors to win public sector contracts are substantial, but a word of caution, a large market does not automatically mean that every contract is worth bidding for.

For businesses bidding for FM contracts, the important question is whether a company has the experience, knowledge and resources to deliver the contract, but also can they evidence it. Those are the questions you should ask before you start applying and writing your responses.

How large is the UK facilities management market?

In September 2025, the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM) said that the UK facilities management industry generates around £108 billion annually. An earlier 2025 IWFM Market Outlook put the sector at approximately £102 billion and around 1.2 million jobs.

The figures are different because they depend on which services are included, how its measured and the time period the assessment was made. However, regardless of the difference, there is no doubt about the scale of the industry and the range of tender opportunities available to both hard and soft FM contractors.

This does not mean however, that £108 billion new contracts will be out to tender in 2027, because a lot of the market involves existing service provision and long-term contracts. So, if you are planning to grow through public sector tendering, understanding when contracts are due to be issued and which frameworks are accessible is far more useful than the headline market value on its own.

Who is buying facilities management services?

Buyers include local authorities, NHS trusts, universities, housing associations, transport organisations, manufacturers and commercial property owners. Some procure a single service, perhaps cleaning or mechanical and electrical tenders or repair and maintenance, while others combine several services under one integrated FM contract.

The public sector is a particularly important market because of the geographic coverage, scale and complexity of its buildings and estates. In January 2025, the National Audit Office said there was a minimum £49 billion property maintenance backlog across public sector estates, including around £13.8 billion relating to schools and NHS properties. NHS estates alone comprise of more than 13,500 buildings covering approximately 27 million square metres, according to NHS England.

The figures demonstrate the scale of the maintenance challenges but they do not represent an equivalent value of contracts that you can immediately bid for. Public bodies need to agree priorities, allocate funding and decide whether work will be undertaken internally, through existing arrangements or through a new procurement and retendering exercise.

For suppliers, the practical point is to monitor the relevant buyers and frameworks, rather than assume that a large maintenance backlog will translate quickly into new tender opportunities. At Executive Compass, our bid writers can help your organisation with making a bid/no-bid decision before providing expert bid and tender writing services to produce a winning tender response.

What is changing in FM procurement?

Buyers are looking beyond the just the cost of delivering cleaning, maintenance or security services. They now increasingly want to understand how you will manage buildings efficiently, reduce service failures, increase first time fixes, support environmental objectives and maintain standards throughout the life of a contract.

Common areas of scrutiny include:

• energy use, carbon reduction and waste management
• planned and reactive maintenance, with clear performance reporting
• workforce recruitment, training, retention and continuity
• effective statutory compliance and health and safety systems
• mobilisation, business continuity and risk management
• measurable social value

You may have good operational systems in place, but that alone will not secure marks in the tender. Evaluators want you to explain how those arrangements will work for them and provide sufficient evidence to make the commitments credible and reduce their risk.

For example, a contractor promising improved maintenance performance should be able to explain its inspection regime, how it prioritises defects, the response times it can realistically achieve and how performance will be reported in an efficient and timely manner. Saying that you have an experienced team and robust systems is unlikely to distinguish you from competitors making the same claims.

What does this mean for FM bidders?

The first decision you need to make is whether to bid at all. Our bid writers cannot explicitly make that decision for you, but we can help you in understanding if the bid is right for your organisation.

For example, an integrated facilities management framework may look attractive because of its value, but the sheer geographical coverage, number of disciplines, financial requirements or mobilisation timetable may make it wholly unsuitable for a regional contractor. On the other hand, a specialist lot within the same framework could offer a good opportunity.

Before committing expensive and scarce resources to a tender, (time, money, people, intellectual effort) assess the contract scope, your existing experience, accreditations, delivery capacity, price expectations and any mandatory qualification requirements. Where TUPE applies or specialist compliance is required, establish the implications early, TUPE is one of the most common reasons we see for bidders deciding not to bid.

Opportunities for smaller and specialist FM contractors

The national FM market is competitive, but it is not just for the largest integrated service providers. Public sector procurements are often divided by location, service type or contract value, allowing SMEs to compete for cleaning, security, grounds maintenance, gas servicing, mechanical and electrical work or other specialist services. Sometimes the tender stipulates that one contractor cannot be awarded all lots and this offers other bidders good opportunities for winning work.

Smaller firms should be selective though, because a regional contract that fits your existing workforce, systems and experience may be more valuable than spending weeks bidding for a national framework you would struggle to service. Equally, if you are a specialist contractor you should monitor the wider property, construction and housing frameworks because their services often appear as individual lots or subcontract packages rather than under a straightforward facilities management heading.

Also, remember, winning a place on a framework is not always the same as winning guaranteed work. You need to check whether contracts will be allocated directly, through further competition (sometimes called mini competitions in tendering) or through another process before deciding how much time you are prepared to invest.

A large market still demands a strong tender and competition can be fierce

The UK facilities management market does offer substantial opportunities, but public sector maintenance requirements, environmental expectations and the need to manage complex services should continue to create a demand for capable contractors.

Identifying a contract is only the first step in the tendering process. Winning the work requires a realistic decision to bid, a clear understanding of what the buyer wants and a tender submission that clearly demonstrates, with evidence, why your organisation should be selected ahead of the competition.

Executive Compass has supported facilities management businesses with hard and soft FM tenders since 2009, including cleaning, security, mechanical and electrical services, grounds maintenance and specialist maintenance contracts. If you have identified an opportunity, visit our Facilities Management Tender Writers page or upload your tender documents to discuss how we can help with the submission.