Free Guide: Preston Spending & Supplier Profile
A free spending & supplier guide for Preston City Council · Non-metropolitan district · North West
Data covering 2015 to 2026
Recorded Spend
£146.2m
Transactions
33,421
Suppliers
1,186
Key Takeaways
- £146 million in recorded spend across 33,421 transactions since 2019
- 40% of matched spend goes to construction, with three builders in the top five
- 8 tenders worth £14.9 million show active pipeline despite limited contract publications
How big a buyer is Preston?
Preston City Council is a non-metropolitan district covering 54.8 square miles in Lancashire with a population of around 144,000. Our dataset holds £146.2 million in recorded spend across 33,421 transactions, drawn from 65 source files and spanning data from 2015 to 2026. That works out to roughly £4,370 per transaction on average, though the spread is wide. For a district council of this size, Preston generates a decent volume of purchasing activity. The spending data itself runs from April 2019 onwards, with the latest collection from December 2025. Across the records we hold, we have matched 1,191 suppliers to Companies House records, giving you a solid base to work from when researching who is active in this market. Preston is also a member of Procure Plus Holdings, a consortium open to all public sector bodies, which may shape how some contracts are routed.
Construction dominates, but who else is at the table?
Construction takes 40% of all matched spend at £43.3 million, and three of the top five identified suppliers are builders. Maple Grove Developments leads with £24.5 million, followed by Conlon Construction at £9 million and Eric Wright Civil Engineering at £3.6 million. That is a lot of construction money flowing through a district council. Health and social work sits second at 16.8%, almost entirely driven by Lancashire County Care Ltd on £18.1 million. After that the spend fragments quickly: admin services, IT, and wholesale trade each sit between 6% and 7%. Softcat, the IT reseller, appears at number four with £3.6 million. The HHI score is 912, which is unconcentrated, and the top five suppliers account for 54.2% of matched spend. So while a few big names pull in large sums, the remaining 1,181 identified suppliers share the other half. If you are looking outside construction, the field is more open.
Where are the formal tenders?
Preston's contract register holds one published contract with no recorded value, so the tender data is more useful here: we hold 8 tenders worth a combined £14.9 million. That average tender size of roughly £1.9 million suggests these are mid-to-large procurements when they do go through formal routes. Without method distribution data in our records, it is hard to say how much goes through open competition versus direct awards. The spending patterns tell part of the story though. Large, recurring payments to the same suppliers, particularly in construction and care, point to framework agreements or longer-term contracts rather than one-off competitive exercises. Preston publishes its spending data consistently through its own domain, and source coverage is good with 65 files collected. For bid managers, the tender pipeline is where you will find the clearest signals on upcoming opportunities.
| # | Supplier | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MAPLE GROVE DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED | £24,516,738 |
| 2 | LANCASHIRE COUNTY CARE LTD | £18,076,555 |
| 3 | CONLON CONSTRUCTION LIMITED | £8,986,083 |
| 4 | SOFTCAT PLC | £3,599,409 |
| 5 | ERIC WRIGHT CIVIL ENGINEERING LIMITED | £3,587,965 |
| 6 | MATRIX SCM LIMITED | £3,201,111 |
| 7 | STANDARD FUEL OILS LIMITED | £2,339,497 |
| 8 | COMMUNITY GATEWAY ASSOCIATION LIMITED | £2,205,529 |
| 9 | EDF ENERGY CUSTOMERS LIMITED | £1,914,715 |
| 10 | FAUN ZOELLER (UK) LIMITED | £1,388,949 |
About Us
CouncilLedger brings together spending records, contract awards, and tender notices from over 400 UK local authorities into one procurement intelligence platform. Our data covers 16 years of transactions, collected directly from council transparency publications and government procurement platforms. Search suppliers, track spending trends, discover tender opportunities, and monitor the contracts that matter to your business.
