Case Study: Procurement of Employers Agent and Main Contractor

Overview

With unprecedented and increasing pressure to deliver social housing for residents, OCG successfully supported LBTH to procure Housing Schemes totaling £50m and enabling 130 homes and 5 commercial units to be built.

The Challenge

LBTH had a number of housing schemes that had recently received planning permission and the purpose of the project was to provide Procurement Support to move seven key schemes to Contract Award by the end of 31st March 2022 to meet the Council’s commitment to deliver 1,000 new council homes by March 2022.

The Council needed to procure professional service providers and construction companies to deliver these schemes and the aim was to utilise the newly formed DPS Construction framework.

Project Objectives

Amidst the pressure to build more houses and the onset of a global pandemic, LBTH required support to expedite the procurement of the identified schemes whilst maintaining quality and integrity.

The Process

An initial meeting was held with each of the Housing Schemes’ PMs to establish the progress for each Scheme. OCG then pulled together a target timeline for each project. OCG were able to assist the PMs with navigating the governance process as well as providing the technical support of drawing up all the procurement documents and liaising with the Procurement and Legal teams for sign off.

The Solution

The OCG team were quickly able to build a rapport with the various Project Teams through positive communication, setting clear expectations for all parties, and ensuring on time delivery of documentation. Where issues arose, these were addressed promptly and with the required escalation within LBTH.

The pandemic created an environment of economic volatility including increasing raw materials prices and global supply shortages. Tender periods needed to be carefully considered weighing up the risk of extensions of time and therefore delayed starts on site against ensuring bidders had sufficient time to source costs accurately and were engaged sufficiently with the tender to submit a bid.

The results

Against the backdrop of a global pandemic and the onset of a recession, OCG have assisted the Council with procuring contractors for these key Housing Schemes which account for over 10% of the pledged affordable housing for LBTH.

Five schemes were awarded within 2022 with two Schemes due to start on site by the end of 2022 and the remainder early 2023.

“Waltham Forest instructed OCG to carry out a review of our Facilities Management service. The team were professional, and engaged with our staff and stakeholders in a manner that meant everyone felt comfortable and at ease in discussing what works well and not so well. OCG provided regular project updates, had a flexible approach and a delivered a detailed report with improvement opportunities that everyone could understand and follow. We were very happy with the outcome and look forward to working with the team again in the future”.

Craig Egglestone – Waltham Forest Council

The Facilities team at Tower Hamlets have worked with Consultants from OCG on many different projects over the past 10 years or so. This has included Procurement support, service review, the implementation of the Corporate Landlord operating model and Asset Management software advice and services. The Consultants are professional, knowledgeable, thorough and easy to work with.

Sam Brown – London Borough of Tower Hamlets

OCG have been appointed by Croydon to support the delivery of a range of projects over the past few years. Projects have included drafting the Asset Strategy, delivering our property review programme and the delivery of capital projects. The team are diligent, professional and work with all stakeholders to deliver excellent outcomes for the Council.

Steve Wingrave – Head of Asset Management and Estates