YORhub Client Engagement Lead | NACF National Sustainability Lead 

1. How would you describe YORhub? 

YORhub is a collaboration of four local authorities – East Riding, Sheffield, Leeds, and North Yorkshire – working together to provide procurement expertise for the region. We’re tried, trusted, and we use our own frameworks, so we know how to make procurement best practice work with the pressures of project delivery. 

2. What do clients love about YORhub? 

We undertook a large survey of clients last year, and unprompted we got so many positive comments about the team. They really like the individuals in YORhub that they work with. 

3. What are your most innovative public sector build projects and what makes them special? 

This is a hard question! We’ve had so many projects delivered through YORhub.  The temptation is to go for one of the larger projects – like the fantastic Connexin Live venue in Hull (which I’ve been to many times for comedy shows!), or York Station Gateway which is on site at the moment with John SISK & Son. But innovative schemes, such as the Changing Streets programme which went through right at the start of YORhub really stand out.  

This was delivery of improvements to private sector housing over multiple phases in deprived areas of East Riding in order to prevent further decline and lift people out of fuel poverty. This was an alternative to demolishing whole areas and redeveloping.  That programme took place around fifteen years ago, and you can drive down those streets today and notice how the housing is still in a decent condition compared to other areas.  

On the civil engineering side, I’d have to say Weel Bridge, this is a small bridge on the outskirts of Beverley. It faced complex repairs due to an unusual bridge in the middle of a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). Our framework contractor (Esh Construction) came up with the approach to remove the bridge, repair off site, and then reinstall, which avoided the bridge having to be protected from the environment during the repair.   

This for me is an example of the advantages of early contractor involvement via direct selection. 

 

4. What makes you proud to be a part of YORhub? 

There are a great bunch of people working at YORhub. We’re all public sector council officers and our mindset is very much about achieving the best value and supporting clients to get the most out of procurement for the communities they serve. 

5. What do you do to support your local communities? 

At YORhub, we do a lot through our YOR4Good programme. This provides a mixture of funding and site-based support to charities and community groups linked to our users.  We’ve supported 250 projects to date with a value in excess of £2.1m. 

For me personally, I’m co-chair of the Constructing Excellence Yorkshire & Humber Club with my colleague Caroline Key. Alongside our committee, we host various best practice events for the construction industry in our region.  We were tired of all the big conferences taking place in London, so in response we’re collaborating with the North East and North West regions of Constructing Excellence to launch the first ever Constructing Excellence North conference on the 17th of September in Leeds, we’re already got somewhere around 150 bookings for the event with more coming in every day. More info at https://ceyhclub.co.uk/ce-north-conference 

6. How did you first become involved with YORhub? 

I was working at the time in East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s major projects team, but while I was lucky to be involved in some really interesting projects, parts of my role didn’t really align with my job.  An opportunity came up to move to our construction procurement team and I took a chance and applied.   Construction procurement isn’t an area that many people naturally think of when considering careers, but I have to say that it’s really interesting and I’m really pleased that I made the jump. 

7. Why is NACF important in the construction industry? 

The procurement landscape has shifted massively. Where in the past there was a handful of frameworks, now it feels like half the population have procured a framework! NACF sets a standard for quality, gives a voice to those meeting that quality standard, and for me gives a safe space to collaborate with colleagues facing the same challenges across the country.  I’ve learned a great deal from people from other NACF frameworks, and I’m more than likely to pick up the phone and ask someone from one of the other NACF frameworks if we’re facing an issue we haven’t encountered before. 

8. What would be your best piece of advice for a public sector organisation considering using a framework? 

Think about what you need, and what you want to get out of the procurement.  

Questions you should ask yourself: 

• What would a successful procurement look like? 

• Every project has three aspects – time, cost, and quality. Which of these would you put first, second, and third? 

• What consideration are you giving to social value within your tenders? Often, especially in the larger organisations, you’ll have a team working on economic development and skills, which is not connected to the construction delivery team. 

• Do you want to focus on supporting local SMEs or look for a larger supplier? Both have their advantages and challenges. 

• Realistically, what is your level of capacity and capability? How much support do you need to successfully deliver the project? 

• How do you justify your decision-making process? 

• If you look at a procurement decision under the focus of “how does this spend support the quality of life of the public in my area”, does it stack up?