By Pagabo
With 2023 now well underway, the industry continues to face a number of key challenges in supply shortages, price challenges and a widening skills gap. Against the backdrop of ever-mounting pressure to achieve various climate goals and net zero, the way we procure work – and the processes we procure through – has never been more important.
At Tomorrow’s Procurement in early March, we will be leading the discussion on making procurement more effective and fit for modern outcomes, embedding the gold standard through digitisation and tackling the biggest industry challenges.
We will have a significant presence across both days of the conference, hosting the keynote speech and panel events, and taking part in a number of roundtable discussions. All of the sessions will seek to examine the various stages of the procurement function – promoting data-driven decision-making and innovation to Evaluate Procure Manage and Learn.
A closer alignment of services and products like our own, combined with the best and most effective processes will truly deliver the gold standard in procurement. And, taking an end-to-end approach will in turn promote better health and wellbeing, increased innovation and develop the solutions to tomorrow’s problems with the next generation – all of which are core pillars of our business culture across The 55 Group.
What is Tomorrow’s Procurement?
Tomorrow’s Procurement is the first of Built Environment Networking’s brand-new series of conferences, which will take place across two days in Birmingham and seeks to enhance knowledge sharing and stimulate discussion and collaboration to improve the industry’s procurement processes.
It also replaces the National Frameworks and Procurement Conference, with which we have been involved in for a number of years. Last year’s National Frameworks and Procurement Conference fell just after the publication of ‘Constructing the Gold Standard’, Professor David Mosey’s review of public sector frameworks. Having been born out of the publication of the Construction Playbook, Professor Mosey’s report was a key talking point at the 2022 event, along with levelling up after the government published its Levelling Up Whitepaper.
All of the discussion led to the question, will 2022 be the ‘year of the framework’?
For Pagabo, it certainly was. We have continued to push at the forefront of the industry while developing and launching a number of frameworks, including:
- Soft Facilities Management DPS go live
- Demolition and Land Preparation framework awards and go live
- Civils and Infrastructure framework awards and go live
- Staffing Solutions framework announcement
- Refit & Refurbishment framework bidding
And we kicked off 2023 with the second iteration of our Medium Works framework, which was developed through 2022 and went live in January.
Along with this, we have worked to bring the wider industry together to create better for tomorrow through initiatives including forming The Future Innovation Group and committing to introducing mental health criteria within our procurement documentation. Last but not least, we surpassed £5 billion in social value generated via our frameworks, showing the significance we place on leaving a positive and lasting legacy through every avenue.
Tomorrow’s Procurement – Day One
Our very own Gerard Toplass will be providing the keynote speech to open the conference, focusing on how and why procurement and social value practices should be vertically stacked. Previously, these have been seen as two different stages of the journey, when they should be brought closer together and work alongside each other.
Following the opening keynote speech, Gerard will also chair the first panel session of the event. Together with Jason Longhurst of Prologis, Emma Briggs of Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing and Pavanjit Devsi of North East London NHS Foundation Trust, he will discuss what the procurement processes of the future look like, the impact on Britain’s built environment industry and how organisations must adapt to keep ahead.
Later in the day, regional relationship manager Ben Jones will join representatives from local authorities and developers for a roundtable discussion on procurement for housing. The session will explore how to navigate the challenges and explore the opportunities that lie within the housing sector while adhering to the highest quality of procurement, all against a background of increasing regulatory and financial constraints.
Tomorrow’s Procurement – Day Two
Our head of delivery Karen Carter will be leading the field on the second day of the conference, leading a panel of investors and developers in a discussion around driving early engagements in projects and how this is transforming both delivery and impact. The delegates will focus on the rising trend of procurement processes at the conception of schemes in the built environment – along with the potential long-term consequences for the supply chain.
Karen will also join experts from the NHS, blue light, university, government property and local authority organisations to share the lessons that can be shared across public sector estates for the benefit of all. This conversation will include how estates can become more sustainable and resilient through the right procurement routes, as well as how the supply chain can effectively deliver on public sector ambitions.
Finally, head of construction Jonathan Parker will take to the frameworks stage on day two of the conference, hosting a presentation on how to drive real value, bringing together effective, fit-for-purpose procurement routes and social value to deliver best practice and truly transformative schemes.
Our ecosystem – providing the true end-to-end procurement solution
Looking forward to the event, Gerard Toplass said: “Our wider ecosystem across The 55 Group, which also incorporates Sypro, Loop and Tequ, allows us to focus on providing the full end-to-end solution that champions quality and best practice at every step of the journey from evaluation, through procurement, and into management.
“It also positions us perfectly to push the industry in the areas that need improvement, providing the momentum, expertise and opportunity to foster real collaboration to make an actionable difference. From digital innovation plans to ways to improve mental wellbeing within the construction industry, we have plenty of things in the works this year that work towards these ends, champion the use of digital and do things better, so we can do better things.”
Pagabo will be joined at the conference by representatives from The 55 Group, Sypro and Loop, allowing attendees to engage with the specialists along every step of their potential procurement plans.
To keep up with all our latest announcements as they happen, go to our news page.
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