SWPA's News Bulletin: Q3 2024

"The SWPA team have had a fantastic summer, supporting our valued clients with a myriad of interesting projects, spanning the areas of asset safety and compliance, planned maintenance, construction, retrofit and consultancy. Our Associate Partnership continues to grow, meaning more clients can benefit from our added value services, including dedicated account management, technical support and a free call-off service. We are working with several LA’s and RP’s to ensure SHDF Wave 2.2 works are delivered by the March 25 deadline and as we enter Q3, with the recent announcement of the “Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3," we are working with clients to put plans in motion for further work.

This will be supported by our imminent Retrofit and Decarbonisation framework (N9), offering clients a range of national and regional PAS2030/35 accredited contractors and consultants across multiple workstreams. Outside of retrofit, our valued partners are already thinking ahead to 25/26, planning their programmes and working with us to engage the market in readiness for April go-live dates on new contracts. It’s positive to see this notable increase in early procurement discussions about how SWPA can support your plans for the remainder of 24/25 and beyond."

- Penny Searson, SWPA's Regional Manager

 

SWPA's Events

The team at the South West Procurement Alliance (SWPA) have been busy travelling the span of the South West recently, visiting valued Clients and Appointed Companies. The team have also attended local construction and industry-specific events, and were keen not to miss out on prominent industry partnerships, along with discussions focussing on SMEs, supply chain needs, regional skills gap and the importance of decarbonisation and net zero, within the use of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC).

From the Constructing Excellence South West (CESW) Devon Event, where our Procurement Manager Heather Rowland took to the stage to explain the procurement and tender processes, to site visits and planned future attendance at the CESW Cornwall Summit and Generation 4 Change Summit in Bridgwater, along with the Green Council Advisory Panel (GCAP) South West, it promises to be another busy and successive end to the year.

 

Giving back to the community...

SWPA's pledge to "improve lives and places through quality procurement solutions" is at the heart of all that we do, and is the reason that we focus on regional social value, volunteering and supporting the communities in the South West, through the use of our Community Benefit Fund grants.

In this instance, the team enjoyed taking a day out of their busy schedules to head down to the Kingsway Meadow Centre in Teignmouth to give the community centre a fresh lick of paint, so it could continue to be enjoyed by all of the local residents, and their children.

Regional Manager, Penny Searson and Client Support Manager, Rosie Bates have been visiting Clients throughout the South West to award them with rebate cheques. Most recently, Penny and Rosie visited South Devon College to award them with a rebate.

This rebate is going to be spent on provisions for the Student Food and Welfare Bank, an impressive initiative which provides food, basic underwear and Christmas presents, amongst other items, for those who need them. As a not for profit organisation, we reinvest our surplus back in to local initiatives to support the communities and valued Clients that we work with. This also includes rebates for our Associate Partners, based on their spend through our frameworks.

 

Launching the new Retrofit and Decarbonisation (N9) Framework soon!

SWPA are looking forward to launching their new Retrofit and Decarbonisation (N9) Framework soon, which will supersede the Energy Efficiency Measures and Associated Works (N8) Framework, and make way for Suppliers and Clients to come together to provide more energy efficient, sustainable and carbon-friendly housing solutions.

The framework has been designed to support Clients with delivering a range of energy efficiency and decarbonisation works, helping them with their journey to achieving net carbon zero and improving the EPC ratings of their stock. With over 30 years experience delivering energy efficiency and retrofit solutions to the public sector, join SWPA in shaping tomorrow's net zero future.

Additionally, Wave 3 of the Warm Homes Social Housing Fund, formally known as the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), has been announced and has been open for applications since 30th September 2024.

 

Procurement Act 2023

In light in the Procurement 2023 launch being postponed until 2025, LHC PG have created a ‘Focus On’ series which aims to break down the facts and provide you with everything you need to navigate the changes and understand what it means for your organisations.

As ever, it’s not a one size fits all approach and careful consideration needs to be made to ensure that organisations are as robust as possible for some of the inevitable changes. Giving a comprehensive and pragmatic insight, this offers a unique opportunity to benefit from our extensive engagements and consultations with Clients and Committee Members throughout the UK.

 

Watch this space!

Having only recently launched our new compliance, fire safety, aluminium windows & doors and refurbishment & modernisation frameworks, SWPA are preparing to launch even more frameworks.

As well as the new Retrofit and Decarbonisation (N9) Framework launch to be announced soon, SWPA are focussing on preparing for more upcoming webinars and roadshows, to discuss and promote the new Modular Buildings (MB3), Public Buildings (PB4) and Roofing Systems Frameworks (RS5).

Smes SWPA
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