News

The theme for this year’s Black History Month is Proud to Be; at SWPA we can’t think of a better message to get behind. On a personal level we hope that our colleagues, partners, customers, and suppliers all feel proud of who they are and their heritage – and that they can express it in the inclusive environment we strive for as part of LHC.

As we are all aware social value is a wide-ranging topic which has become more prevalent in the public sector since the inception of the Social Value Act (2012). The squeeze on public sector budgets has exacerbated the need for social value to help generate the desired value for money outcomes.

The Public Buildings Construction and Infrastructure (PB3) framework from LHC, the contracting authority for SWPA, allows local authorities, social landlords and other public sector bodies to source contractors for works relating to the construction and refurbishment of educational, healthcare, emergency service and community buildings.

Welcome to the latest edition of our newsletter, we have put together some upcoming events and a round up of some of our news stories from the last few months!

Eight suppliers have been awarded a place on a new engineering inspection framework, worth £5million, for public sector organisations in the South West, as part of a national procurement from LHC.

Hear from participants of the Challenge, ranging from start-ups to housing associations, within the sector and outside. Find out more about the problems they were solving, and the vision their teams have for industry. Get involved in the shift away from cheapness, towards digital manufacturing, data and digital driven processes and whole-life value.

The climate emergency has highlighted to us all the need to not just improve our ways but to retrofit our existing buildings.

Public sector procurement specialist LHC, the contracting authority for SWPA, has been recognised for its commitment to its employees after being awarded the Workplace Wellbeing Charter.

Public sector housing teams will be able to hear about and discuss the challenges of and opportunities available in MMC, retrofit and the net zero agenda, as experts from procurement specialist LHC appear at Housing 2021.

Mary Bennell, director of the South West Procurement Alliance (SWPA) - one of the regional hubs of LHC, will be joining a panel to discuss the role of MMC and digital in UK housing delivery on the Future of Living stage at 2pm on Tuesday, September 7.

SWPA believe that actions speak louder than words and that these actions should reflect our core values. We have recently had the opportunity to put this to the test!