Muse re-appointed to Pagabo developer-led framework as four council schemes progress

Muse has been re-appointed, through the Morgan Sindall Consortium, to the National Framework for Developer-Led Schemes 2026, the four-year public sector route managed by Pagabo on behalf of YPO, the developer said on 20 October.

Muse said the second-generation framework complies with the Procurement Act 2023 and, for the first time, includes consultants and legal providers alongside developers. Councils and public bodies can appoint a partner in weeks rather than months using standard agreements, which Muse said cut the time and cost of the legal and procurement stages.

Lisa Gledhill, Managing Director, National Partnerships at Muse, said: "It gives councils a clear, compliant way to bring the right partner in early, which is so important on complex regeneration projects."

The framework

When Pagabo opened bidding for the next-generation framework on 12 May 2026, it put the total anticipated value at up to £26bn. Pagabo's current framework listing page, however, shows the value as unrestricted.

The 2026 framework has seven lots. Lot 1 covers development consultants and Lot 2 development legal providers, while Lot 4 covers special purpose vehicle schemes of £100m and above. Pagabo said the framework complies with both the Procurement Act 2023 and the Procurement Regulations 2024, and that public bodies can access it for free with Pagabo support and free procurement software.

Jonathan Parker, development director at Pagabo, said: "The Framework for Developer-Led Schemes has seen extensive use UK wide due to its substantial impact on client ambitions".

Schemes already in train

Muse said it was appointed through the framework as partner for four places: Wolverhampton, Bradford, Stevenage and Gateshead. Each is being brought forward with ECF, which Muse described as its partnership with Homes England's National Housing Bank and L&G.

Scheme	Homes planned, as each source describes them
Smithgate, Wolverhampton	1,000 (Muse, October 2026); up to 1,000 (Muse, February 2026)
City Village, Bradford	up to 1,000
Station Gateway, Stevenage	at least 1,000
Baltic Quarter, Gateshead	around 1,600

Smithgate in Wolverhampton is on site. Muse's announcement said the first phase, Bicycle Works, will deliver 331 homes for rent within a 1,000-home city centre neighbourhood, although Muse's February 2026 update described the phase simply as 331 new homes without giving a tenure. That update, published on 5 February, said the phase had secured £18m from the West Midlands Combined Authority and £65m in private funding, and that ECF had appointed Caddick Construction as main contractor. The wider scheme will regenerate 12 acres of the city centre.

In Bradford, planning permission for City Village was approved in February. Muse's approval story said Incommunities had been selected as ECF's preferred funding partner for the first phase of townhouses. Simon Dew, Director of Development Management at Muse, said at the time that the City Village vision would start to become a reality now that consent was in place.

Stevenage Borough Council announced on 12 January 2026 that it had signed a development agreement with Muse, supported by ECF, for Station Gateway. The council said the scheme will deliver at least 1,000 homes and about 50,000 square metres of other development, and confirmed the project was procured via Pagabo's Developer Led Framework. Subject to government grant funding, the council said the ambition is to start construction in 2028 and complete the first homes in 2030.

In Gateshead, Muse announced on 26 January 2026 the signing of a Pre-Development Agreement with Gateshead Council for Baltic Quarter, where around 1,600 homes are planned. ECF will now work with the council on the future of the site, including funding and phasing.

Gledhill said Bradford and Stevenage were good examples of what early collaboration between councils and partners could achieve, and that Muse looked forward to supporting more councils through the framework.

The new framework runs for four years.