The panel consisted of Julia Kennedy, Associate Director from Scottish Futures Trust, Director BAM PPP Netherlands and Belgium Henri Witteveen and David Ward, Chief Executive Ely Bridge Development Corporation.

The SE Wales Best Practice Club hosted an event at the Wales Millennium Centre to explore potential funding models to support the development of infrastructure projects across Wales. The event that took place on the 6th December was well attended by people across public and private sectors. Altogether 52 delegates from financial, legal and construction backgrounds followed the presentations with detailed information about the funding models that we need to support and grow the economy in Wales.

Three presenters from Wales, Scotland and the Netherlands gave their experiences of different funding models to support infrastructure projects. The presentations were followed by a “Question Time” session which allowed the audience to quiz the presenters, propose alternative solutions or just listen to the debate. The whole session was hosted by Frances Donovan, BBC Wales’ news and sports presenter.

The debate was extensive and ranged from detailed questions about the funding models to what are the acceptable levels of risk and return and from the suitability of pension funds for infrastructure projects to the cultural issues in the Welsh public sector. A number of themes emerged from the debate including a likely increase in future use of public funds to “leverage” private sector funding, a need for greater understanding and acceptance of risk sharing by the public sector and the powers and appetite of the Welsh Government to embrace different funding models. 

The Club intends to host another event in the near future to extend the debate to Welsh Government so that the industry can better gauge the public sector’s approach to alternative funding models.

The presentations are available on the CEW website.


SE Club chair Tony Norris and BBC Wales’ presenter Frances Donovan hosted the event.