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PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

IMPACT: Investigating Mine Potential for Cooling and Thermal storage

Mining Remediation Authority · Transparency notice on Find a Tender

Tender information last checkedLast checked 4 Oct 2026, 22:38.

Opportunity overview

We will explore the technical possibilities and challenges of cooling and thermal energy storage in mine workings by discharging warm water into mine workings at the BGS UKGOES site in Glasgow. Thermal storage in mine workings is part of our Business Plan 2032 vision and Mine Water Heat Framework and is vital to understand if we want to unlock mine water heat advisory services and deliver value to coalfield communities. Thermal energy storage will be a vital technology in decarbonising heat and making net zero a reality. Underground coal mine workings could be an important thermal store for a number of sources including excess heat from data centres and for balancing heating networks. To overcome these challenges, we want to undertake the mine heat storage experiment at the British Geological Survey (BGS) owned mine workings 'observatory' in Glasgow. This is a unique research facility designed for investigating this shallow, low-temperature, mine-water heat energy and potential heat storage resources. It is fully constructed and ready to use and it has all the permits, licences and equipment in place to test heat storage. It is the only place in the UK that has suitable infrastructure to enable us to undertake this research. Scope of work This project requires BGS to manage, co-design, undertake and report on a mine heat thermal storage experiment at their Geoenergy Observatory in Glasgow. The exact parameters of the experiment will be defined in collaboration with the MRA. BGS will collect, process and analyse samples, details of which will be confirmed prior to start date. The outputs will include summary reports, produced by BGS with MRA contribution on the works undertaken and data packages including all the data collected at the Observatory during the experiment, which the Mining Remediation Authority will publish as an open access dataset. The IPR of new data will remain the property of the MRA.

Awarded to

Amounts belong to published awards or contracts. Where several suppliers share one value, it is labelled as shared and is not a supplier-specific allocation.

Classification

No classification was supplied.

Lots

  • Lot 1Value not stated

Documents and notices

Published notice details

Additional information from the published procurement release. Fields appear only when supplied by the source; check the original notice and tender documents before acting.

Scope, procedure and submissions

Id
ocds-h6vhtk-064d6f
Status
complete
Procurement Method
direct
Procurement Method Details
Direct award
Why this procedure was chosen
In accordance with the Procurement Act 2023, the need for a specialist provider is justified where the goods or services required can only be supplied by a single supplier due to their unique capabilities-in this case, access to the BGS mine workings observatory. The requester has confirmed that the market has been reviewed. The UKGEOS observatory in Glasgow is a unique research facility and there is nowhere else in the UK that allows experiments to be undertaken in fully monitored mine workings. The technical expertise of BGS staff is also instrumental to obtaining and collecting the data during the experiment, and no one else would be able to provide the same service. The Procurement Act 2023 consolidates the grounds for making a direct award, which may be necessary where unique opportunities exist. Specifically, a direct award can be justified for reasons such as technical specifications, exclusive rights, or other unique circumstances. In this instance, the exclusive and special nature of the working environment, forefront of innovation and data, combined with the lack of market competition, supports proceeding without a competitive tender process.

Legal basis

Id
2023/54
Scheme
UKPGA

Procedure reasons

Entry 1
Id
prototypesDevelopment
Entry 2
Id
singleSuppliersTechnicalReasons

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Status
complete

Published documents

Entry 1
Id
conflictOfInterest
Document Type
conflictOfInterest
Description
Not published

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Name
Mining Remediation Authority
Id
GB-PPON-PRPD-5825-QDVY

Identifier

Scheme
GB-PPON
Id
PRPD-5825-QDVY

Address

Street Address
200 Lichfield Lane
Locality
Nottinghamshire
Postal Code
NG18 4RG
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Region
UKF15

Contact

Roles

buyer

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
UK_CA_TYPE
Id
publicAuthorityCentralGovernment
Description
Public authority - central government
Organisation 2
Name
British Geological Survey (BGS) a component of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
Id
GB-PPON-PWHV-7273-PGJY

Identifier

Scheme
GB-PPON
Id
PWHV-7273-PGJY

Address

Street Address
Nicker Hill
Locality
Keyworth, Nottingham
Postal Code
NG12 5GG
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Region
UKF16

Contact

Roles

supplier

Details

Scale
large
Vcse
No

Award information

Award 1
Id
1
Status
pending
Main Procurement Category
services
Above Threshold
Yes
Has Renewal
Yes

Items

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Additional Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
CPV
Id
73100000
Description
Research and experimental development services

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UKM
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom

Value

Including VAT
283,420.86
Amount
236,184.05
Currency
GBP

Suppliers

Supplier 1
Id
GB-PPON-PWHV-7273-PGJY
Name
British Geological Survey (BGS) a component of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Contract period

Starts
20 Feb 2026, 00:00
Ends
31 Mar 2026, 23:59
Max Extent Date
30 Apr 2026, 23:59

Renewal

Description
Innovation project. Potential to extend due to operational circumstances and results of research

Related lots

1

Documents

Entry 1
Id
012227-2026
Document Type
awardNotice
Notice Type
UK5
Description
Transparency notice on Find a Tender
Published
11 Feb 2026, 10:02
Format
text/html

Milestones

Entry 1
Id
1
Type
futureSignatureDate
Due
11 Feb 2026, 23:59
Status
scheduled

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · Nottinghamshire · UKF15 · NG18 4RG · United Kingdom

Notice and amendment history

1 published notice version reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

1 VERSION
  1. 012227-2026Transparency notice on Find a Tender ·