KEY ROLE FOR PCSG AT BUILDING A WORLD CLASS HIGHWAYS SUPPLY CHAIN SUMMIT

Transcription

1 infinitely smarter futures KEY ROLE FOR PCSG AT BUILDING A WORLD CLASS HIGHWAYS SUPPLY CHAIN SUMMIT The industry-led Building a World Class Highways Supply Chain initiative brings together a consortium of professional and trade bodies across the entire highways supply chain, including the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE), which is represented by Mike Llywelyn- Jones, PCS s highways specialist and the current Chairman of the ACE Roads Sector Interest Group. The consortium is working with government to help gear up for the step change in investment across the Strategic Road Network identified in the Investing in Britain s Future (June 2013) and Action for Roads (July 2013) policy documents. A milestone in the work of the consortium occurred on 10 February 2014, with the holding of a Summit Meeting, which was attended by approximately 80 representatives of industry. The speakers included the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, Robert Goodwill MP, John Dowie, Director of Strategic Roads at the Department of Transport, Graham Dalton, Chief Executive of the Highways Agency and Mike Llywelyn-Jones of PCS. The Summit Meeting also included 5 breakout discussion groups, covering: Improving pipeline visibility and creating long term certainty Employment and training opportunities Pinch points in the materials supply chain Policy and regulation issues Looking further ahead: future demands The discussion group leaders, including Mike for Employment and training opportunities, then fed back the headline conclusions to Robert Goodwill. Following the Summit Meeting, Mike said It was great to hear the substantial support for the legislation to set up the Highways Agency as a Government owned Company backed by long term funding, as well as to hear the determination of those responsible to ensure the legislation is in place before the 2015 General Election. The ideas put forward by the 5 discussion groups were well received and will now be developed further, to ensure that industry is well placed to respond to the forthcoming substantial increase in investment. >> A summary of the proceedings follows on the remaining pages. // excellence //flexibility // integrity // partnership 01

2 Supply chain summit (10 February 2014): summary of proceedings Introduction The Department for Transport (DfT), Infrastructure UK, the Infrastructure Alliance 1 and partners, staged a Highway Supply Chain Summit at the home of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) on Monday 10 February The event was an important milestone in industry s preparations for the planned reforms of the Highways Agency (HA) and management of England s Strategic Road Network (SRN). Through informing investment decisions and actions to enhance capacity and capability, the highways supply chain can respond effectively to the greatly increased demand envisaged in the near future. The Summit gave industry an opportunity to highlight the importance of the reforms (a reconstituted HA, a roads investment strategy and a legislatively-backed multi-annual pipeline of work) to Government. Event proceedings Delegates were welcomed to by Geoff French, ICE President. Geoff introduced David Quarmby CBE, the event s chair and a distinguished transport expert, who outlined the programme. In the opening presentation, John Dowie, DfT s Director of Strategic Roads & Smart Ticketing outlined the huge opportunity presented by Action for Roads. He outlined how expenditure on the network was due to expand considerably emphasising that Ministers, DfT, and the Treasury were fully supportive of the reforms. Controlling costs, however, would be critical, particularly in light of difficulties in the 1990s. John also suggested that, with the recently-published Armitt Review, the Opposition s position showed a similar direction of thought, i.e. reducing short-term political influence over infrastructure planning. Graham Dalton, Chief Executive of the Highways Agency outlined the significant change programme already underway in the Agency, in preparation for becoming a Government Owned Company (GoCo). He said that this was not more business as usual and that the new GoCo would have to operate much more as a business, focusing on the needs of its customers. Collaboration was also going to have higher priority, particularly with the supply chain. He stated that a tripling of the budget does not mean a tripling of the workforce - this is about reducing cost and being more efficient. And - as another challenge to the sector - Graham said that the future workforce should look different from today s audience - implying the need for more women and ethnic minorities. Mike Llywelyn-Jones, Professional Construction Strategies and the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE), explained the format and purpose of the Summit s five interactive sessions: 1. Improving visibility and creating long-term certainty 2. Employment and training opportunities 3. Pinch points in the materials supply chain 4. Policy and regulation issues 5. Looking further ahead - future demands. 1 the Association for Consultancy and Engineering; Civil Engineering Contractors Association; Construction Products Association; and Institution of Civil Engineers 1

3 The main discussion points and recommendations identified in the sessions are presented below. 1. Improving visibility and creating long-term certainty (led by Infrastructure UK) Infrastructure UK (IUK) is the unit within the Treasury that works on the long-term infrastructure priorities and secures private sector investment. It is: co-ordinating and simplifying the planning and prioritisation of investment in UK infrastructure improving infrastructure by achieving greater value for money. IUK is responsible for the National Infrastructure Plan (NIP) and facilitating delivery of its top 40 projects. It also maintains and develops an infrastructure project pipeline, providing greater visibility and certainty to investors. For more about this session and these issues, please contact 2. Employment and training opportunities (ACE) The group was convinced of the desire to deliver the legislation before 2015 s General Election - but also conscious of the tight timescales. It was therefore keen to see cross-party support. Whilst most had begun increasing recruitment and training, many moved cautiously pending: Greater certainty that the legislation will be delivered The outcome of the Highways Agency s Collaborative Delivery Framework competition. There was general agreement that a well-researched, evidence-based approach was needed to provide a detailed breakdown of the skills and volumes needed across industry in the medium and long terms. This would provide a robust basis from which to target growth in key areas. Notwithstanding, there was also agreement of a medium-term shortfall in critical areas such as: Project managers with a well-rounded experience, including delivery of major highway projects Highways-specific delivery experts (e.g. those intimately familiar with the DMRB (Design Manual for Roads and Bridges) standards and how they should be applied in a range of circumstances). 2

4 It was felt important to recognise an ageing profile through transfer of incumbents knowledge and experience in the medium-term via a balanced approach combining an academy with on-the-job mentoring. Long-term skills shortages could be greatly eased by Government linking the long-term roads investment strategy with attractive, long-term careers with equivalent status to those in other professions such as medicine and law. For more about the session and these issues, contact Mike.Llywelyn-Jones@pcstrategies.co.uk. 3. Pinch points in the materials supply chain (Mineral Products Association (MPA)) The group welcomed Government s engagement with the supply chain, which showed commitment to delivering the promised (and much needed) investment in road infrastructure. For those at the start of the supply chain, it is critical to be involved in the reform process and to have a clear shared view of the issues that might affect the workflow beyond delivery of the raw materials. These include how regulation and technical detail may need to respond to deliver the best practical and sustainable solutions even as far as knowing regional priorities and programmes in order to prevent potential pinch points. Following years of downsizing, industry needs clear, detailed and firm commitment to the investment programme to give it the confidence to make significant and appropriate investments in specialist staff, and production and delivery mechanisms in the right locations and at the right time. For more about this session and these issues, please contact Malcolm.Simms@mineralproducts.org. 4. Policy and regulation issues (Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT)) Like others, this group was confident that enhanced funding would be delivered while again noting the importance of cross-party political support. A number of priorities important to making the most of anticipated opportunities were suggested: 3

5 Barriers to entry with the new GoCo should be lowered, including less restrictive framework contracts and greater recognition of non-ha work Network customers needs must be better understood so as to manage expectations of the GoCo The SRN performance specification needs to be very clear on outcomes these are likely to be fairly broad, and should incentivise innovation (more specific details around standards should be contained in revisions of the DMRB). For more details about this session and these issues, please contact 5. Looking further ahead: future demands (Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA)) This group considered how best to foster cross-industry collaboration to ensure that the supply chain remained competitive well beyond the next five years. At the heart of this discussion was a debate about how the industry could work together on innovation, and where the focus of any research should be. Reflecting Graham Dalton s comments, the group felt that perhaps the biggest challenge facing the sector would be the shift in focus towards the needs of the customer. While historically the supply chain had seen the HA as its customer, the successful delivery of planned change for the SRN will require a much better understanding of what exemplary customer service would mean to road users and other stakeholders. Delivering this was seen as a pre-requisite to secure continuing investment. The group felt that future work in this area would require: Recognition that customers don t differentiate between the SRN and local roads Learning from overseas, particularly those countries performing better in terms of customer experience Learning from more customer-focused Managing Agent Contracts (MAC)/Asset Support Contracts (ASC) A move towards incentive models that support strategic rather than short-term thinking Identification of a model that will allow cross-industry collaboration to address these issues (Government may want to support this through R&D funding, or via EU support for research). For more details about this session, please contact AlasdairReisner@ ceca.co.uk. 4

6 Robert Goodwill MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport Speaking after his tour of the five sessions, the Minister recounted his reading of a 1949 parliamentary debate on roads, noting its striking similarity to our own times. He also noted, however, that post-war dissatisfaction spurred development of the motorway network. Since then, he said that investment had again failed to keep pace with traffic growth, while short-termism in funding and planning had led to inefficient delivery. The Minister promised 24 billion investment in the strategic road network in this Parliament and the next. By 2021, spending on the SRN is projected to be around 3 billion per annum. Answering some industry concerns, Mr Goodwill restated that the Government was absolutely committed to putting legislation in place before the end of this Parliament, and to publishing the Roads Investment Strategy in the same timescale. Next steps The Summit s organising partners re-convened shortly after the event to reflect on its outputs. They have committed to developing a detailed action plan of work to maximise the prospects of success in realising the opportunities presented by highways reform. Progress will be reported in the near future. We are keen to hear more of participants views on the Summit event and on the highways reform process more generally. If you would like to share your thoughts, please contact the relevant session leader or debate@ice.org.uk. 5