Universal Bedford: 23 Firms Named, None From Bedfordshire

Universal has named the first 23 companies appointed to build its theme park and resort at Kempston Hardwick. The list includes several of the biggest names in British construction, among them Sir Robert McAlpine, Wates, Galliford Try, Morgan Sindall, Mace and Winvic.

The names are in a two-page vendor and supplier update that Universal Destinations and Experiences posted on its project website this week. The file was created on Monday 14 September. Universal calls it “a first update” and says more names will follow “periodically”.

Who has been appointed

The update lists these firms as “appointed to support the construction” of Universal United Kingdom Resort:

Firm names are from Universal’s update. Registered offices are from each company’s record on Companies House, checked on 16 September 2026.

The update does not say which firm is doing which job. It gives no contract values and no start dates. The list mixes main contractors with engineers, architects, cost consultants, a law firm and an archaeology unit.

Bovis Construction (Europe) Ltd may be unfamiliar. Companies House shows the same company was once named Lendlease Construction (Europe) Ltd.

Where the firms are based

Not one of the 23 has its registered office in Bedfordshire. Eleven are registered in Greater London, including Galliford Try in Uxbridge. Three are in Oxfordshire and two in Surrey.

The nearest is Winvic Construction, registered at Moulton Park in Northampton.

A registered office is a legal address, not a measure of where a firm hires or buys. Large contractors run regional offices and sub-contract heavily, so the table does not tell you where the work or the wages will go. It does show that the headline appointments so far have gone to national firms.

Universal also thanked 12 firms that worked on the feasibility and planning stages, including planning consultant DWD, law firms CMS and Town Legal, and engineering consultancy WSP. It says many of them are still working on the project.

What Universal says about local jobs and suppliers

The update repeats the project’s headline figures: £50 billion of economic benefit, 20,000 jobs during construction and 8,000 direct jobs once the resort is open.

Universal’s June 2026 media factsheet goes further on the local share. It says:

• more than 5,000 people are expected on site at the peak of construction
• over 100 people in the UK have already been employed to work on the project
• over 33,000 people have registered an interest in working there
• approximately 80% of employees are expected to come from Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas
• construction is expected to take five years, with opening in 2031

Universal’s FAQs put that 80% figure “at opening”, so it is an expectation for resort staff, not a target for the construction phase. It does not define how far “surrounding areas” reaches.

On suppliers, the project website’s FAQs say Universal “expects to establish programmes to help local businesses understand future opportunities”. Those include “how to do business with Universal” seminars. No dates for them have been published.

What it means for you

If you run a Bedford business. The big contracts named this week have gone to national firms. On large builds, much of the smaller work is usually let by the main contractors rather than by the client. Two things are worth doing now:

• register on Universal’s supplier form, which the project site says is the route to future opportunities and events
• approach the supply chain teams of the main contractors named above

If you want a job on the build or at the resort. Universal’s register-your-interest page is the only route the project site publishes. It lists no resort vacancies yet. Our earlier report on the government’s Universal taskforce explains who to contact about the site itself.

If you drive past the site. Universal’s community updates page lists the current works:

• Manor Road is closed to through traffic 24 hours a day until 5 October 2026, and Universal says more traffic management there will follow
• Broadmead Road has stop/go boards on weekdays until Friday 18 September, between 9.30am and 3.30pm
• three-way lights have been on at the Woburn Road and Broadmead Road junction since 17 July
• Stewartby Footpaths 1 and 2, Stewartby Footpath A1 and Elstow Footpath 8 are closed

For other closures across the borough, see our Bedford roadworks and travel page.

We will add to this page when Universal names the next group of firms, or says which contractor is building what.