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.