The European architecture tender market in 2026: where the work is

TenderDesk · 12 Oct 2026 · 19 min read

market trends eu procurement thresholds design competitions sustainability

Public design work in Europe is shifting to renovation, schools and housing, bought through frameworks. Country data, 2026 thresholds and the rule changes that matter.

In 2026, public architecture work in Europe is shifting away from one-off competitions and recovery-fund projects towards renovation, schools, universities and affordable housing, increasingly bought through large frameworks and paid for from national budgets. Germany is still the biggest market but shrank in 2025, Italy's recovery-plan boom has peaked, and France and Germany have loosened the rules for small contracts. A single EU procurement regulation was proposed in September 2026, but bids in 2026–2027 still run under the 2014 directives and the thresholds in force since 1 January 2026.

Key points

EU thresholds for 2026–2027 are €140,000 (central government services), €216,000 (other public buyers' services) and €5,404,000 (works), net of VAT, from 1 January 2026. Most architecture fees above €216,000 must be advertised EU-wide.
Germany's design market shrank in 2025. There were about 18,100 public planning tenders, roughly 5% fewer than in 2024, and only 232 design competitions (competitionline, March 2026).
Italy's recovery-plan boom has peaked. Engineering and architecture tenders reached about €2.8 billion in 2025 (+47.1%), with a record December as buyers cleared their pipelines (OICE/Informatel, January 2026).
The NextGenerationEU tail ends in 2026. Milestones had to be met by 31 August 2026, and the Commission must make all payments by 31 December 2026. National funds take over, led by Germany's €500 billion infrastructure fund.
Competitions are getting rarer for small projects. Since 22 February 2026, French local authorities can skip the design competition for design contracts under €300,000 net.
A single EU procurement regulation was proposed on 9 September 2026 (COM(2026) 590). It would make best price-quality the general rule and limit turnover requirements. It is a proposal only, and it would apply two years after adoption.
Climate rules are now design rules. Under the revised energy performance directive, new buildings owned by public bodies must be zero-emission from 2028, and whole-life carbon must be disclosed for new buildings over 1,000 m² from 2028.

Where the work is: volume by country

There is no single official table of "architecture tenders per country". TED, the EU's tender journal, publishes all notices above the thresholds in eForms. Its own statistics page offers yearly downloads, not a ready count of design notices. The best figures come from national observatories and professional bodies. They measure different things, so compare trends, not raw totals.

Germany: the biggest market, and shrinking

competitionline's annual monitor, published in March 2026, counted almost 18,100 public planning tenders in 2025. That is about 5% fewer than in 2024 and, by its account, the first full-year fall in at least 14 years. The detail matters more than the total:

Architecture is losing share to engineering. Architecture-relevant tenders fell below a third of the total for the first time. Transport was the largest building type, with nearly 4,200 tenders.
Schools held up. School building stayed the second-largest category, with only a slight fall.
Higher education and research grew by about 120 tenders (around 12%), passing 1,000 for the first time. It was the only one of the top 15 building types to grow.
Childcare, administration and urban design fell hard: −361 for nurseries and pre-schools, −248 for administrative buildings, −410 for urban design.
Regions: North Rhine-Westphalia led and grew slightly. Bavaria came second with about 2,600 tenders, down almost 14%.

At the time of writing, the TenderDesk feed lists about 1,300 open architecture and engineering notices across its ten countries, around 90 of them design competitions, with Germany and France the largest sources. That makes Germany the deepest single market for a practice that can work in German. See the Germany tender page for the current list.

Italy: after the peak

The OICE/Informatel observatory (January 2026) put Italian engineering and architecture tenders at about €2.8 billion in 2025, up 47.1% on 2024. December 2025 alone was worth €721.7 million, the highest month since 2018, as buyers cleared their pipelines. Two points stand out:

Design-only tenders: 1,073 notices worth €889.9 million, with value up 83.2%.
Framework agreements: 412 tenders carried €1.58 billion, or 59.6% of the year's value. A few large frameworks now hold most of the money.

OICE linked part of 2025's demand to the operational tail of the recovery plan. That pipeline closes in 2026 (see the funding section below). Expect fewer, larger and more framework-based notices in Italy.

France: more work below the radar

France still publishes a large volume of maîtrise d'œuvre notices on BOAMP and buyer profiles. Two decrees changed what you can see:

Décret 2025-1386 raised the threshold for awarding services without advertising or competition from €40,000 to €60,000 net from 1 April 2026. The €100,000 threshold for works became permanent. Small feasibility studies and minor missions will be direct awards more often. You win those through relationships, not portals.
Décret 2026-117 (20 February 2026) lets local authorities skip the design competition for design contracts under €300,000 net, from 22 February 2026. The State and national public bodies are not covered.

Portugal: many small procedures, low fees

The Ordem dos Arquitectos' second report on public-sector fees (January 2026) analysed 2,272 procedures between July 2023 and June 2025. There were 932 public tenders and 1,340 prior consultations (consultas prévias). Only 44 were design competitions. Public tenders were stable, at 469 and 463 in the two years.

The fee data is sobering. In open tenders, base prices averaged 3.45% of the works cost. Contracts were signed at 2.23%, about 65% of the base price. Around 30% of contracts were awarded below half the base price. Portugal has volume, but price wins too often. Price your bids accordingly (Portugal).

Belgium (Flanders): the competition gauge

The Flemish Government Architect's Open Call is a good measure of how hard quality-led selection is. For Open Call 51 (results 30 April 2026), 259 applications came in for six projects: 137 teams and 122 single firms, 284 practices in all. 89 of them were foreign: 26 from the Netherlands, 17 from the UK and 13 from France. Four teams will be shortlisted per project. That is about 11 applications for every shortlist place. See Belgium.

The rest at a glance

Country	Main portal	2025–2026 signal	What it means for you
Spain	PLACSP + regional platforms	State Housing Plan 2026–2030 approved 21 April 2026: €7 billion, at least 40% for building or buying homes, 30% for renovation	Public housing commissions from regions and municipalities through 2030
Netherlands	TenderNed	Selection criteria are meant to follow the Gids Proportionaliteit (proportionality guide)	If reference or turnover demands look excessive, raise it in clarification questions
Switzerland	simap.ch	Own thresholds in CHF, separate for federal and cantonal buyers; competitions under SIA 142 rules	Competitions remain a real way in for smaller practices
United Kingdom	Find a Tender + Contracts Finder	Procurement Act 2023 in force since 24 February 2025; own thresholds in pounds, including VAT	New notice types and procedures; don't read UK notices with EU habits
Luxembourg	Portail des marchés publics	Small market at the meeting point of Belgian, French and German practice	Often bid with a local partner

Country pages: Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Luxembourg.

Building types in demand

Renovation and retrofit

This is the structural shift, and it is driven by law. The revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU) 2024/1275 requires the worst-performing 16% of non-residential buildings to be renovated by 2030, and 26% by 2033, and residential primary energy use to fall by 16% by 2030. Member States had to transpose it by 29 May 2026. The Energy Efficiency Directive adds a yearly renovation duty for public bodies' own buildings.

For you, this means many mid-sized commissions: energy retrofits of town halls, schools, sports halls and offices. They are often bundled into frameworks or "design and build" lots. Engineering partners matter, because energy modelling and building services often carry the scoring. See how to choose an engineering partner.

Schools, childcare and universities

Germany's €500 billion infrastructure fund lists schools and childcare among its eligible investments. Yet childcare tenders fell in 2025, because money takes time to turn into notices. Higher education was the growth segment. In Italy, school projects ran on recovery-plan deadlines in 2026, so new school design work now depends on national budgets.

Affordable housing

Housing is the policy priority at EU and national level. Spain's €7 billion State Housing Plan 2026–2030, approved on 21 April 2026, puts at least 40% into building or buying homes and 30% into renovation. Homes funded by it must stay protected permanently. Together with Portugal's housing programmes, it is the clearest national pipeline. Expect repeat buyers, such as public housing companies, regions and large municipalities, who use standard briefs and frameworks.

Health and public space

Italy's recovery plan funded community health centres and hospitals, which had to be operational, not just built. Health is now more selective and engineering-led. Urban design was the steepest fall in Germany in 2025 (−410 tenders). Public space work still exists, but it is more often a lot inside a larger infrastructure contract.

The rules that changed, or are changing

EU thresholds 2026–2027

The thresholds were updated by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2152. They apply to procedures launched from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027. All values are net of VAT.

Contract	Threshold
Services, central government	€140,000
Services, other public buyers (regions, municipalities, public bodies)	€216,000
Works	€5,404,000
Social and other specific services	€750,000
Utilities: services	€432,000

Design contests use the services thresholds. The value counted includes prizes, payments to participants and, usually, the expected follow-on design contract (Article 78 of Directive 2014/24/EU).

Worked example (France). A commune plans a primary-school extension costing €2.2 million in works. Say a full design mission at 12% of works, which is about €264,000 net. That is above the €216,000 threshold, so the contract must follow a formalised EU procedure and be published on TED. But it is below €300,000, so since February 2026 the commune can skip the design competition and use another formalised procedure, often one with negotiation. Before the decree, a competition was required for a new-build mission of that size, subject to exceptions. The practical effect is that you are scored on references, methodology and fee, not on a scheme.

Switzerland and the UK have their own thresholds. Swiss thresholds are in CHF and differ between federal and cantonal buyers. UK thresholds are set in pounds and include VAT. Always check the country page before assuming a notice will be on TED.

The EU Public Procurement Act proposal (September 2026)

On 9 September 2026 the Commission proposed a single regulation to replace Directives 2014/23, 2014/24 and 2014/25 (COM(2026) 590). What it proposes, from the explanatory memorandum and recitals:

Fewer procedures: an open procedure (with optional selection and negotiation), a "dynamic" procedure built on a pre-qualified supplier base, and an innovation procedure.
Quality first: best price-quality ratio becomes the general rule. Quality must carry at least 30% of the weighting, and 50% for labour-intensive contracts. Buyers can still opt out on a "comply or explain" basis.
SME access: excessive turnover requirements are curtailed, and buyers must actively consider lots.
Once only: an electronic eligibility service becomes the main way to prove exclusion and selection criteria. Over time this would replace re-sending the same certificates.
European preference: buyers may restrict participation or give extra credit for EU origin in some cases.
Application: two years after adoption.

The text cites construction as about 30% of the value of public contracts. The published memorandum and recitals do not single out architecture or design contests.

The proposal still has to pass the European Parliament and the Council. Parliament set out its position in a resolution on 9 September 2025. That resolution noted that in 2023, 20 Member States awarded more than half of their tenders on price alone, and 10 did so for more than 80%. It called for more contracts, especially for intellectual services such as engineering, to be awarded on best price-quality ratio rather than price alone. It also said the ESPD "has not fully achieved its objective" of simplifying participation.

What this means in practice: nothing changes for bids in 2026–2027. Even if the regulation is adopted quickly, the two-year delay means it is unlikely to apply before about 2029. That is our estimate, not an official date. Keep your ESPD process in good order for now; see the ESPD and admin pack guide.

Germany: the procurement acceleration act (1 July 2026)

Germany's Vergabebeschleunigungsgesetz was published on 18 May 2026 and took effect on 1 July 2026. For design practices, the main changes are:

Direct awards for federal supplies and services up to €50,000 net.
Lighter paperwork: self-declarations count for more, and buyers may only ask for full proof from bidders with a real chance of winning.
Lots: the duty to split into lots stays. But urgent infrastructure projects financed by the special fund can be awarded as one contract from twice the EU threshold. For SMEs that means more subcontracting to general contractors on those projects.
Climate minimums: the government plans to set minimum climate standards, for example for low-emission steel and cement, by 30 June 2027.

France: easier entry, lower turnover bars

Décret 2025-1383 cut the maximum turnover a buyer may demand from twice to 1.5 times the estimated contract value. It applies to consultations launched from 1 January 2026. On a €400,000 design contract, the buyer can now ask for no more than €600,000 of annual turnover, not €800,000. That opens more lead roles to practices of 10–20 people.

eForms: better data, if you use it

All notices on TED have used eForms since 25 October 2023. The data is now structured. CPV codes, lots, estimated values, award criteria and design-contest notices each sit in their own field. Two practical consequences:

Search by notice type as well as CPV. Design contests are a separate notice type. A search on service codes alone can miss contests and mixed notices.
Read lot values, not just the headline value. A €6 million framework may be split into six regional lots you could actually win.

Funding: the NextGenerationEU tail and what replaces it

The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) closes in 2026. Under the Commission's closure guidelines of 4 May 2026:

31 August 2026: all milestones and targets had to be completed.
30 September 2026: final payment requests were due.
31 December 2026: the Commission must make all payments. Unused allocations are then cancelled.

Design for RRF projects was bought in 2021–2024. The 2026 tail is mostly site supervision, completion and handover. New design work in Italy, Spain and Portugal now depends on national budgets, cohesion funds and housing programmes.

The big new source is Germany. The €500 billion Special Fund for Infrastructure and Climate Neutrality was enacted in October 2025, applies retroactively from 1 January 2025, and spends over 12 years. €100 billion goes to the Länder and municipalities, €100 billion to the Climate and Transformation Fund, and €300 billion to the federal government. Eligible areas include schools, childcare, research and climate protection. There is a caveat: the Difu institute, cited by competitionline, expects ordinary municipal investment to fall by about €15 billion before settling at around €30 billion. Special-fund money may partly replace budgets rather than add to them.

Design competitions and competition intensity

Competitions are becoming rarer, especially for small projects:

Germany: 232 competitions in 2025 (RPW procedures), about a quarter fewer than in 2024. They made up 1.3% of planning tenders (1.7% in 2024). In 2013 roughly one tender in ten was a competition (competitionline).
France: local authorities may skip competitions under €300,000 from February 2026.
Portugal: 44 design competitions among 2,272 procedures in two years (Ordem dos Arquitectos).

Where competitions do run, the field is crowded. Flanders' Open Call drew about 43 applications per project in 2026. The ACE Sector Study (April 2025) counts about 580,000 architects in Europe, and nearly 70% of practices are one-person firms. Foreign entrants usually improve their odds by teaming up with a local practice.

Worked example: the cost of a competition entry

Take a two-stage process with about 11 applications per shortlist place, as in Flanders. Suppose stage one (portfolio and team application) costs 40 hours and the shortlisted stage costs 300 hours. At €80 an hour, roughly 11 applications (about €35,000) buy one shortlist place. With four teams per shortlist, you need about four shortlist places per win. That is around €140,000 of applications plus €96,000 of stage-two time: roughly €236,000 per expected win, before the fixed fees paid to shortlisted teams. These are illustrative assumptions, not Flemish data. Bid where your references are strongest. The go/no-go guide has a scoring model.

SMEs and the shape of demand

The market is moving in two directions at once:

The rules are getting friendlier to small firms. France capped turnover requirements, Germany cut proof requirements, and the EU proposal would curb turnover demands and push lots. Parliament's 2025 resolution called rigid reference requirements a barrier for newer firms.
Buying is consolidating. In Italy, frameworks held 59.6% of tender value in 2025. Germany now allows single contracts for urgent special-fund infrastructure. Large buyers use multi-year frameworks for housing and renovation.

For a 5–30 person practice, the answer is usually to join teams. That can mean a consortium for a framework lot, or a design role inside a general contractor's bid. See lead firm, consortium or subcontracting. If you need a partner in another country, the practices directory lists verified firms by discipline and location.

Practical implications for 2026–2027

Rebalance towards renovation. Build three to five references in energy retrofit, heritage reuse and occupied-building works. The EPBD's 2030 and 2033 targets will keep this demand growing.
Get life-cycle carbon ready. From 2028, new buildings over 1,000 m² must disclose whole-life carbon, and new public buildings must be zero-emission. Expect buyers to start scoring it before then. Have a carbon method, a named tool and one worked case study.
Follow the money, not last year's portals. In Germany, track Länder and municipal programmes funded by the special fund. In Spain, track regional housing agencies under the 2026–2030 plan. In Italy, expect fewer but larger frameworks.
Watch below-threshold work through relationships. With France's €60,000 services threshold and Germany's €50,000 direct awards, small missions often never reach a portal.
Bid for frameworks in teams. One framework place can mean four years of call-offs. Missing it can lock you out for the same period.
Price for the market you are in. Portugal's fee data shows contracts signed at about two-thirds of the base price. Know the local fee norms; see how to price a fee proposal.
Ignore the new regulation for now. Monitor it, but bid under today's rules.

Use the open tender feed to see which of these trends shows up in your own countries and building types.

Common mistakes

Reading national totals as opportunity. Germany's 18,100 tenders are mostly engineering and transport. Filter by building type and fee size first.
Assuming a competition will be run. Below €300,000 in French local authorities, and increasingly elsewhere, the default is a tender scored on references and fee.
Chasing the recovery-plan pipeline. RRF design work is over. Projects still finishing in 2026 are site and closure work.
Missing lots inside frameworks. The headline value hides winnable regional or building-type lots.
Treating sustainability as a paragraph. By 2026, many buyers score carbon, energy and circularity with evidence, not intent.
Building strategy around the EU proposal. Two years after adoption is a long way off.

Checklist

Note the 2026–2027 thresholds: €140,000 / €216,000 / €5,404,000 (net of VAT)
Check national rules for each target country (France €300,000 competition exemption for local buyers; France €60,000 services dispense; Germany €50,000 federal direct award)
Set up searches by CPV 71200000 family and by design-contest notice type
Read lot values, not only headline values, on framework notices
List 3–5 renovation or retrofit references with energy results
Prepare a whole-life carbon method and one worked example
Map who spends Germany's special fund (Länder, municipalities) in your region
Map regional housing agencies under Spain's 2026–2030 plan, or the local equivalent
Identify two or three partner firms for framework and consortium bids
Check turnover and insurance against the new caps (France: 1.5× contract value)
Review local fee norms before pricing (e.g. Portugal contracts at about 65% of base price)
Track the EU Public Procurement Act through Parliament and Council; change nothing yet

Frequently asked questions

What are the EU procurement thresholds for architecture services in 2026?

From 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027, design services must be advertised EU-wide above €140,000 for central government buyers and €216,000 for other public buyers, net of VAT. The works threshold is €5,404,000. Design contests use the services thresholds, counting prizes, payments and the expected follow-on contract.

Is the European architecture tender market growing or shrinking in 2026?

It is mixed. Germany recorded about 18,100 public planning tenders in 2025, around 5% fewer than in 2024. Italy rose 47.1% by value in 2025, helped by the last wave of recovery-plan work, which closes in 2026. Renovation, higher education and affordable housing are growing, while urban design and childcare fell in Germany.

What is the EU Public Procurement Act and when will it apply?

It is a Commission proposal of 9 September 2026 (COM(2026) 590) to replace the 2014 directives with one regulation. It would make best price-quality the general rule, curb turnover requirements and introduce once-only digital proof. It must still be adopted by Parliament and Council and would apply two years after adoption, so not before about 2029 on a realistic timetable.

Are design competitions disappearing?

They are becoming rarer for small projects. Germany ran 232 competitions in 2025, about 1.3% of planning tenders. Since February 2026, French local authorities can skip them for design contracts under €300,000 net. They remain standard for larger and symbolic public buildings, and in Switzerland and Flanders.

What happens to architecture work when NextGenerationEU ends?

All recovery-plan milestones had to be met by 31 August 2026, and payments end on 31 December 2026. Design for those projects was mostly bought between 2021 and 2024, so the effect is fewer new design notices in Italy, Spain and Portugal. National programmes take over, such as Germany's €500 billion special fund and Spain's €7 billion housing plan.

What sustainability requirements should I prepare for in public tenders?

Under the revised EPBD, prepare for zero-emission requirements for new public buildings from 2028 and whole-life carbon disclosure for new buildings over 1,000 m² from 2028. Renovation targets for the worst-performing non-residential buildings (16% by 2030, 26% by 2033) will drive retrofit tenders. Expect buyers to score energy modelling, embodied carbon and circularity with evidence.

Can a small practice still win public work in this market?

Yes, but usually through teams and focused bidding. Rules are easing for small firms: France caps turnover requirements at 1.5 times contract value and Germany limits proof to likely winners. But buying is consolidating into frameworks. Pick building types where your references are strong and join consortia for framework lots.