Episode show notes
“With our size and scale, we can deliver value for money through social value, but also leave a lasting legacy in communities.”
The scrutiny that comes with multi-billion pound projects in the public sector gives National Highways a strong impetus to put social value first in its operations. So how do we achieve the same in the rest of the industry?
In a Talent Talks first, we feature a panel of 3 guests from the same procurement department – Malcolm Dare, Sanyalax Morrison, and Andrew Stephenson – to share the reasons behind National Highways’ increasing focus on social value.
Join us as we discuss the methods of spreading the issue across the sector, the sometimes-overlooked aspects of engaging with SMEs, the proactivity necessary to hit carbon neutrality targets, and much more.
This episode of Talent Talks covers:
- How to define social value and the 4 huge reasons to prioritise it
- The process of elevating social value to be achieved on a sector-wide level
- Why we need to act now in order to hit 2030 goals for carbon neutrality
- Increasing engagement with SMEs
The Talent Talks Podcast is proudly sponsored by Barkers Commercial Consultancy. Barkers are a multi-award-winning ethical, procurement consultancy offering specialist services including cost and procurement transformation, contract lifecycle management, procurement managed services, bid writing services and digital procurement https://barkersprocurement.com/
Episode highlights
“We recognise that, with our size and scale, we can deliver a huge amount of value for money through social value, but also leave a lasting legacy in the communities where we’ve done a project.” – 3:45 – Andrew Stephenson
“We’re trying to leave a legacy from our projects – not just statistics, but when we complete a project we leave real tangible stuff, with community schemes or lasting legacy economic benefits.” – 8:20 – Andrew Stephenson
“We’ve had discussions at sector level with the companies that work for us, that buy the bulk of the signs that we physically use on the roads. If we can take a sector level approach where we come together as a group to support a very, very worthy, charitable cause like the Royal British Legion, then the money we spend adds value to people’s lives.” – 15:00 – Malcolm Dare
“Procurement is key in understanding what’s in the future, and how to develop that roadmap and how to achieve that.” – 23:45 – Sanyalax Morrison
“When people look at our plan for 2030, 2040, 2050 and so on, people may read it and think we’re going to deliver that in 2030. No, we’re starting that now. The change needs to happen now to get to that target, because it’s not gonna happen overnight and it won’t be an easy task.” – 30:00 – Sanyalax Morrison
“We’ve more than doubled the historic level of SME input. We’ve done that through lotting the framework appropriately to make sure that the size of the geographical lots and technical sub-lots are appropriate for the right types of SMEs that can provide the right assurances around safety, quality, so on and so forth.” – 35:00 – Andrew Stephenson
“We’re probably investing more time into making sure that we ask the right questions at that tender stage to allow the supply chain to use their strengths and show their ability to deliver those outcomes and flexibility, to innovate, challenge, push and align to those strategic levers of where we want to go.” – 42:45 – Andrew Stephenson
Links & References
- Malcolm Dare, Executive Director Commercial and Procurement at National Highways
https://www.linkedin.com/in/malcolmdare/
- Andrew Stephenson, Director Of Procurement at National Highways
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-stephenson-98497912/
- Sanyalax Morrison, Strategic Procurement Director at National Highways
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanyalax-morrison-56602030/
- National Highways
https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-highways/
- Martin Smith, Founder & Director of Talent Drive
https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinsmith2009/
