To get prison construction work in England and Wales, sell to the main contractor the Ministry of Justice has already appointed. Inside that contractor, sell to the person who buys your trade. The Ministry sets the program, picks the sites, holds the budget and appoints the contractor. The contractor's supply chain then decides who fits out the houseblock, who makes the modular units and who wins the mechanical and electrical package.
That keeps the buyer list short. It is a few appointed contractors, the consultants around them, and a handful of people at each firm who choose subcontractors. A supplier who knows those people and puts secure-estate or public-sector proof in the first message gets further than one who answers every public notice.
Below is who buys, which projects are live, and the order I would use to sell into them.
Who actually picks the supplier on a prison build?
Three layers sit between the government's plan and your invoice. The client sets the plan. The other two buy from you.
| Layer | Who sits there | What they decide | Should a supplier contact them first? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Client | Ministry of Justice and HMPPS (the prison and probation service) program and commercial leads | Sites, number of places, budget, which main contractor delivers | No. Treat them as context and watch their announcements |
| Appointed main contractor | Supply chain manager, package manager, design manager | Who supplies each package, against which spec, and when | Yes, this is the buyer for most trade packages |
| Specialists already on the job | Modular, M&E, security and fit-out firms working under the main contractor | Sub-packages and materials | Yes, as partners and as a way into the next scheme |
You can see this split in the government's own announcements. For the expansion at HMP Highpoint, the Ministry of Justice named Wates Group as the delivery contractor. It also named Mace, Pick Everard, Gleeds, Baker Hicks and the offsite maker Prism as other firms on the project. A press release like that is a buyer list.
Inside the contractor, each title has a different job. The package manager picks you for a specific package. The design manager matters when your product changes the drawings, such as a cell module, a door set, or a ventilation unit. The supply chain manager owns the approved supplier list you have to be on before either of them can use you.
Pick the title that matches your package. A broad "construction manager" or "procurement" filter pulls in half the company and misses the one person who decides.
Whenever I build a target list for a supplier, I start from their own past jobs and find out who really chose them on each one. Then I look for companies that resemble the ones already paying, which here means contractors and specialists already working on public and secure builds. If you have never sold to prisons, your nearest proof is a hospital, a school, a court or a defense site, and the people who bought from you there are your starting map. I explained the method in how I choose a market from the buyers who already paid.
A buyer set this small also changes your tools. Intent data helps when you have thousands of target accounts. With so few, the signals show up on almost nobody, so I skip intent tools and write one offer that works for every account on the list.
Which prison projects are live, and what work do they need?
The 10-year prison capacity strategy was published in December 2024 and applies to England and Wales. It commits the government to building 14,000 prison places and to reforming planning to cut delays to prison builds.
The March 2025 announcement for HMP Millsike, a Yorkshire jail with nearly 1,500 places, called it the first of four new jails in that plan. The same release listed the parts of the plan: 6,400 places through new houseblocks, 6,500 through new prisons and 1,000 rapid deployment cells, plus the refurbishment of more than 1,000 existing cells, with £2.3 billion invested in the builds.
In September 2026 the government put £110 million into speeding up prison building, with the 14,000 extra places due by 2031. The money covers converting spare areas inside prisons into cells and buying land for future prison sites. The same announcement said a contract had been signed for the first phase of works on a new Lancashire prison with 1,700 places.
The March 2025 Highpoint release adds a detail suppliers outside the big contractors should notice: three new houseblocks there are due to be fully operational by summer 2027, and the project aims to source 30% of its materials and subcontractors no more than 50 miles away.
| Project type | Example from official announcements | Who usually picks your package | Where a supplier gets in | Proof that helps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New prisons | HMP Millsike in Yorkshire; first phase of a 1,700-place prison in Lancashire | The appointed main contractor's supply chain | Trade packages: structure, M&E, security, fit-out | Public or secure builds of a similar size |
| Houseblocks on existing sites | Three houseblocks at HMP Highpoint by summer 2027 | The main contractor on that site | Off-site units, M&E, fit-out, local materials | Work delivered on a live, occupied site |
| Rapid deployment cells | 1,000 cells announced in the program | The contractor and its modular partners | Manufacture, installation, services connections | Factory output and installation record |
| Conversions and refurbishment | Existing spaces turned into cells; 1,000+ cells refurbished | Contractors working on the existing estate | Fit-out, security hardware, M&E upgrades | Refurbishment inside secure or occupied buildings |
Every row moves in stages: land, planning, a first-phase contract, then packages. A project in the news today may not buy your package for a year. Use the table to choose which type of project fits your company, then follow the contractors attached to it.
How do contractors and suppliers get into the right package?
I have no prison construction campaign to show, so I will state the lesson plainly.
A technical construction product can reach large contractors and engineering firms through outreach, but the results build over a long period, not a few weeks.
The order for a prison supplier looks like this.
Rule 1: start with the appointed contractors. They are buying now, and they will bid for the next scheme.
Rule 2: then map the specialists already selling secure-estate, modular, M&E, security or fit-out work. They let their own sub-packages, and a good relationship with one of them can carry you onto a job you would never win alone.
Rule 3: put the proof inside the message. Put your past jobs, results and case studies into the outreach itself, because a package manager checks you before replying. A secure or public-sector job in the second line answers the question they would otherwise ask by ignoring you.
Rule 4: ask for a conversation, not the package. I tell clients to sell the meeting in the first message, never the whole service. The package may not open for months. A conversation now puts you on the list when it does.
Before you send anything, check you have these:
- Proof assets: a one-page case study per relevant job, with dates, scope and the client type
- The accreditations your trade is usually asked for, ready to attach or name, plus any security clearances your site staff already hold
- A short list of secure, public-sector or live-site projects, most relevant first
- The named package you want to supply, not a list of everything you do
- The named contractor and project you are writing about
- One clear next step, such as a 15-minute call with the package manager
Where do prison construction opportunities actually show up?
Public notices are the second source here, not the first, but you should still watch them.
Contracts Finder lists government and agency contracts above £12,000, VAT included. You can search opportunities by sector, see what is coming up in future, and look up previous tenders and contracts. Higher-value contracts go on the Find a Tender service instead.
An account lets you save searches and get email updates. Set up separate alerts on both services for terms such as prison, HMPPS, custodial, houseblock, secure estate, modular accommodation and rapid deployment, plus your own trade words.
The "previous contracts" search is the part most suppliers skip. Past awards tell you which contractors hold prison work, and those names go straight back into your buyer list from the first section.
Expect a gap. Many subcontract packages are let directly by the main contractor and may never show up on a public portal. If notices are your only source, you will only see the part of the market that everyone else sees too.
What should your first outreach message say to prison buyers?
Short, plain and about one package. A capability brochure written for every contractor in the country lands with none of them.
What changes by supplier type is the proof you lead with:
Modular suppliers open with factory output and an installed project of a similar size. Off-site share and build schedule are what a houseblock team will ask about.
M&E contractors open with a job inside an occupied or secure building, because working around a live site is the hard part of refurbishment and conversion work.
Security suppliers open with the secure sites they already supply and the standard their product meets.
Fit-out firms open with a public-sector fit-out on a fixed schedule, and name the type of space: cells, staff areas, healthcare rooms.
A made-up example for an M&E subcontractor writing to a package manager:
"Your team is delivering the new houseblocks at HMP Highpoint. We've delivered M&E packages inside occupied public buildings, so working around a live site is normal for us. If the M&E packages on your next phase are not let yet, would a 15-minute call be useful? Happy to send the project sheet first."
It names the project, gives one relevant job and asks for a call. With a list this short, every call should be with someone who can actually put you on a package, so qualify each prospect before they reach your calendar.
How should you follow up when prison work moves slowly?
Expect a chain: a conversation, then a call, then a contract. In prison building it stretches across months, because the package you want sits behind planning, land and a first-phase contract.
A single message and one reminder will not do it. Plan several touches across LinkedIn and email, with real time between them, and build the follow-up as one sequence, not as two separate campaigns.
Judge results on the right clock. In our campaigns, booked calls can arrive within the first month while the deals behind them close four or more months later. Getting outbound fully working takes about 6 months on average.
Keep following up when a contact says "talk to me when the next phase starts". That is a dated lead, so put the date in your CRM. Stop when the person has moved company, says no clearly, or the package has been let. If they moved, follow them to the new contractor, because they now know you.
What should a contractor or supplier avoid if they want prison work?
- Treating it like a big open tender market. The buyers are few and known, so a list of named contractors beats a pile of notices.
- Writing only to the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry sets the program. The contractor buys your package.
- Pitching the full service in message one. A first message that sells hard gets ignored. One that proves relevance gets a reply.
What is the fastest practical route into prison work?
Start from the contractors you already supply. Then find the firms that look like them on public and secure builds, and the exact person at each who buys your package. Write to that person with one job that proves you fit, and ask for a call before the package opens.
Measure the first 30 days by conversations started with the right package managers, not by contracts. A good month means a few real calls, a couple of "come back at phase two" dates in the CRM, and a clearer idea of which contractors buy your trade. The package itself comes months later, so treat each booked call as the start of a long chain.
Want prison construction work but not sure which contractor or package to approach first? Book a call and I will help you think it through.
Questions suppliers ask about prison construction work
Who should a supplier contact first for prison construction work?
The appointed main contractor, and inside it the person who buys your trade, such as a supply chain manager, package manager or design manager. The Ministry of Justice and HMPPS set the program, pick the sites and hold the budget, but the contractor's supply chain decides who supplies each package.
Should I write to the Ministry of Justice?
Treat the Ministry as context and watch its announcements rather than writing to it first. The Ministry sets the program, and the contractor buys your package, so a list of named contractors beats a pile of notices.
How long does it take to get a prison package?
Months. The package you want often sits behind planning, land and a first-phase contract, so judge the first 30 days by conversations started with the right package managers, not by contracts. Keep following up when a contact says to come back when the next phase starts, and put that date in your CRM.