Would it help your business to know how much construction work your local authority is planning to deliver over the next 3 years?
If so read on.
The construction industry in Wales is heavily dependent on local authority highway and construction programmes. However, for many, the visibility of these programmes is shrouded in mystery and as a result the ability of Welsh construction businesses to prepare for these opportunities is severely hampered by this lack of visibility. The ability of Welsh local authorities to strategically plan collaborative operations is similarly hampered through a lack of knowledge about their neighbours’ plans and, in some cases, other departments in the same local authority. Thankfully this is all about to change!
When the Minister for Finance and Leader of the House formally launched the Constructing Excellence in Wales “No Turning Back” report in October 2010 she created a cross sector construction industry steering group to respond to the recommendations. One of the key issues was the industry’s need for greater visibility of future construction programmes and clarity over public sector capital programme spend. In response to this Constructing Excellence in Wales has been working with all Welsh local authorities to pull together their capital programmes and present these in one single document spanning 3 financial years.
So why do this?
If the industry knows what work is in the “pipeline”, if it knows the value of this work and if it knows the type of work available it can better plan its own operations. It can better plan its resources, it can target training programmes and it can better prepare itself to bid for these opportunities. By being better prepared the industry can better meet the needs of its clients.
It’s not all about the industry either. Better information about individual programmes means that local authorities can make better strategic decisions about collaborating with their neighbours to get greater value from their procurement processes and to support local communities through training, local employment and local business opportunities.
So what’s been done to date?
The work undertaken up to March 2013 to improve the visibility of local authority capital programmes has been summarised in a recently published CEW research report available via this link. The key elements were:-
- A feasibility exercise using 2011/12 forward programme data already available in the public domain
- Definition of work sectors to introduce consistency to otherwise disparate programmes
- Production of an all-Wales capital programme using 2012/13 forward programme data
- Identification of ‘next steps’ in the process including:-
- Annual updates
- Data improvements
- Alignment with the Wales Infrastructure Investment Plan (WIIP)
- Improved accessibility to the forward programme
- Mapping existing frameworks
- Reviews of other programmes
This has culminated in a report containing the capital programmes of all Welsh local authorities for 2013-2017 which is now available via this link to the Constructing Excellence in Wales website. The data is presented in a booklet format and can be viewed either on a regional or sectoral basis.
So what are the next steps?
Whilst the data represents a huge step forward in terms of visibility to the construction industry and other local authority clients we are very aware that there are further opportunities to improve this data. This is why we will be embarking on an awareness raising exercise and also engaging with the industry to identify what improvements should be targeted.
Over the next few months we will be consulting with a wide range of clients and industry stakeholders to improve the value of the data. We will use a range of media including CEWales’ Best Practice Clubs and our e-bulletins. Please look out for these and use these opportunities to let us know your views and how you would like this data improved.
“Help us to help you improve your business opportunities.”
Ed Evans Director Exemplar and Demonstration Programmes
