Harlow has handed McBains up to £1.17m without a new tender, its own report saying the last contract lapsed with no replacement. Call-in closes 28 September.
Harlow Council has signed a contract worth up to £1,170,000 with the consultants running its town centre rebuild. It did not go back out to tender.
The decision was taken personally by the Leader, Councillor Dan Swords, and published on Monday 21 September. It appoints McBains Ltd to see three schemes through to completion:
- the Sustainable Transport Interchange and Hub on Terminus Street
- the Market Square regeneration
- the Harlow Arts and Cultural Quarter
Councillors have until Monday 28 September to call the decision in. As at Wednesday, the register recorded no call-in requests.
The sentence in paragraph 18
The signed report is public, and one line in it has not appeared in any council press release. It is in the commercial section, explaining why the council is awarding the work directly rather than running a competition:
“The previous contract was allowed to lapse without provision for either continuity of service provision or replacement.”
McBains has worked on these projects since 2023, appointed then “through a compliant procurement route”. The report does not say when the earlier contract expired, who let it lapse, or whether the firm has been working without one.
The new award is made as a direct award from the Asset Management and Property Support Services framework, which is managed by Pretium. The report says this is a compliant route under section 45 of the Procurement Act 2023. Officers considered running a fresh procurement and record that option as not preferred, because the projects are live and a new team would mean mobilisation delays.
The fee schedule is not published. It sits in an exempt appendix, withheld under paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, which covers a person’s financial or business affairs. So the £1.17m ceiling is public and the rate for the work is not. (Decision 1262, Town Centre Strategy, McBains Contract Extension)
“Ahead of programme”, and a risk table that says the opposite
Four days before he signed it, the Leader answered two questions at Full Council about the same project.
Councillor Tony Edwards asked for the anticipated completion date of the new hub, and when the temporary Post Office Road site would stop being used. The reply, as published in the council’s own question paper:
“The new bus station and transformation of Terminus Street remains ahead of programme and within budget is due to complete in Spring 2027.”
The report the Leader signed on 21 September carries a risk matrix. Its first entry is financial risk, rated medium, and the description reads:
“A new appointment increases consultancy costs due to longer project timelines. There remains a risk that any further programme extensions could create additional financial pressures.”
Both documents are the council’s. One says the scheme is ahead of programme. The other explains a seven figure appointment by reference to longer timelines and possible further extensions. Neither acknowledges the other.
The temporary bus station has a year more than it was given
A resident, Stephen Thompson, put the point to the Leader in the public questions at the same meeting. He noted a council statement of 28 April 2026, days before the local elections, which dismissed reports of a timeline slip and said the project was on schedule and within budget. He then noted that the temporary bus station’s planning permission now runs to June 2027.
The Leader’s reply: “The Transport Hub project is still ahead of programme and within budget. The planning matter referred to was owing to an administrative issue.”
The planning register shows what was actually applied for and granted. Application HW/FUL/26/00150 is described on the council’s own portal as:
“Extension of the operational date from June 2026 to June 2027 for the temporary Bus Station at Post Office Road granted permission under planning reference HW/FUL/24/00283”
It was submitted on 10 April 2026, eighteen days before the statement Mr Thompson quoted, and granted on 18 June 2026. The temporary site was permitted to run a further twelve months.
That matters to anyone who catches a bus in Harlow. The Post Office Road site has eight bus bays with shelters, eight layover bays, cycle stands and a kiosk at John Robson House. It is now due to be in use for a second winter. Mr Thompson asked for better weather protection, lighting and a pelican crossing there. The Leader said he would review provisions in the meantime, and that the council “continues to receive extremely positive feedback about the temporary bus station provision”.
What the capital dashboard says
The council’s own finance report, taken by Cabinet on 14 September, ranks the five largest adverse variances in its non-housing capital programme. Top of the list is the transport hub.
| Rank | Project | Variance |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Towns Fund, Bus Station Interchange | £3.764m |
| 2 | Towns Fund, Broad Walk Improvements | £3.063m |
| 3 | Civica Migration | £0.421m |
| 4 | Harlow Museum | £0.089m |
| 5 | Potter Street Paddling Pool | £0.089m |
Read that carefully, because the headline number is not a hole in the budget. The commentary against the bus station entry is just “Forecast outturn”. Across the whole Towns Fund programme the council now expects to spend £17.459m against an approved budget of £10.632m, and it expects Towns Fund grant income to rise by the same £6.827m. In other words the spending is being brought forward and the grant follows it, rather than the council finding the money itself.
Harlow was awarded £23.7 million from the Towns Fund. The Arts and Cultural Quarter is funded separately, from the Levelling Up Fund, secured in 2023.
The other contract signed the same day
The Leader signed a second award on 21 September that has had no publicity at all. HTS (Property & Environment) Limited gets £117,237 to refurbish rather than replace the windows at the Civic Centre. Full replacement was considered and dropped on cost grounds after a refurbishment trial.
Paying for it needed a £104,627 virement, moving money out of the “Asset Management Resourcing” capital code into “Civic Centre Windows”. (Decision 1259)
What it means for you
- If you catch a bus in Harlow, plan on the Post Office Road site through another winter. Its permission runs to June 2027, and the council’s stated completion date for the new hub is Spring 2027.
- If you trade on Terminus Street, the Leader told Full Council the council does not intend to seek a business rates revaluation because of the regeneration, and does not intend to recharge traders for the extra security, maintenance and town centre management around the works.
- If you want this decision looked at again, the call-in window closes on Monday 28 September. Call-in is a councillor’s power, not a resident’s, so the route is to ask your ward councillor. The decision takes effect on 29 September if nobody uses it.
- If you want the fee rates, they are not published. The exempt appendix can only be released by the council.
Roadworks around the town centre works, including the A414 and the Terminus Street area, are listed on our Harlow roadworks and travel page. Council car parks and charges are in our parking guide, and planning decisions are tracked on our Harlow planning news page.
We have also reported the council’s £24m borrowing to buy Terminus House and the loss of the five-objection rule at planning committee.
Sources
- Harlow Council decision 1262, Town Centre Strategy, McBains Contract Extension, decided and published 21 September 2026, and its signed Portfolio Holder report, for the £1,170,000 maximum contract value, the three schemes, the AMPSS direct award managed by Pretium, the section 45 Procurement Act 2023 route, the alternative options considered, the risk matrix wording, the exempt fee schedule and the lapsed previous contract.
- Questions from Councillors, Full Council, 17 September 2026 for Councillor Tony Edwards’s question and the Leader’s Spring 2027 completion answer.
- Questions from the Public, Full Council, 17 September 2026 for Stephen Thompson’s questions on the temporary bus station and Terminus Street traders, and the Leader’s replies.
- Harlow planning register, application HW/FUL/26/00150 for the extension of the temporary bus station’s operational date from June 2026 to June 2027, received 10 April 2026 and granted 18 June 2026.
- Harlow Council, bus station for the temporary site’s eight bus bays, eight layover bays, cycle stands and kiosk at John Robson House.
- Corporate Performance, Finance and Risk Report, Appendix B, Cabinet 14 September 2026 for the top five overspent non-housing capital projects, the £3.764m bus station interchange variance, the “Forecast outturn” commentary, and the Towns Fund budget, forecast and grant figures.
- Harlow Council, Towns Fund for the £23.7 million award.
- Harlow Council decision 1259, Contract Award, Civic Centre Window Refurbishment for the £117,237 award to HTS (Property & Environment) Limited and the £104,627 virement.
Checked on 23 September 2026. We approached nobody for comment before publication; every quotation above is taken from a document the council has published itself.
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