LHC's quarterly committee meeting brought together public sector clients from across our network for a productive half-day of knowledge sharing, strategic discussion and partnership building.
Committee members receive recognition for their membership through funding to support local charitable projects in their respective boroughs.
This collaborative exchange actively informs and enhances our framework solutions, delivers value to communities and ensures both parties address the evolving demands of the public sector.
Rory Evans, LHC's Regional Director, and Dean Fazackerley, Committee Chair for Northamptonshire Partnership Homes, chaired the event and guided conversations throughout the day.
From compliance to confidence: healthy homes, retrofit and evidence-based assurance in the era of Awaab's Law
Mark Loftus and Carl Wright from Synergize Ltd, who are on LHC’s Retrofit and Decarbonisation (N9) framework, delivered an insightful presentation on the critical importance of compliance and assurance in social housing.
Mark Loftus and Carl Wright began by outlining Synergize's background, noting their extensive work with the Ministry of Defence and significant growth since 2018. They explained the three divisions they operate across: Synzero, SynFurb and Synserve.
The presentation also addressed industry failures, including issues highlighted by Awaab's Law, and emphasised why preventing them from recurring is so important. Carl, who has worked extensively with housing associations, shared common problems he has encountered and stressed the importance of collaboration, bringing everyone involved in a project together to gather maximum information and data for a unified solution. He also highlighted the need to inspect each property individually to address its unique requirements, recognising that every home has its own needs and history of works undertaken.
Synergize also shared details of an exciting initiative they will be rolling out soon to improve collaboration between on-site project managers and residents, enabling smoother and more cost-effective delivery of work. They noted that Nadiha Khan, who gave a deeply moving presentation on Awaab's Law at one of LHC's recent annual events, has been sharing her knowledge to help them improve their resident experience strategy.
Pre-market engagement on our proposed Consultancy Services (CS2) framework
An interactive session allowed our committee members to provide feedback on the development of our Consultancy Services (CS2) framework.
Sam Whiting, LHC’s Senior Technical Support Manager; Shaun Morris, Group Technical Manager at LHCPG; and Meghan Wharton, Procurement Manager at LHCPG, presented information on our existing Consultancy Services (CS1) framework and sought committee members' thoughts on its performance. They then shared their proposals for CS2 and invited feedback on what would work best.
The session covered key considerations including the regional delivery model, procurement route, supplier appointment approach and regional coverage, along with the proposed framework scope.
The aim was to gather as much feedback as possible to ensure the new framework meets our clients' and our contractors’ needs.
If you would like to share your thoughts on our upcoming CS2 framework, please get in touch with our Senior Technical Support Manager, Sam Whiting, at Sam.whiting@lhcprocure.org.uk.
Social value and the communities we serve
George Stevens, LHCPG's Director of Communities, led a discussion on what social value means to our organisation and introduced our Lifting Lives charity.
The session explored how we support clients in delivering greater social value and community benefits, covering:
• Regional committee allocations
• Public Buildings (PB4) social value objectives and expectations
• IMPACT Reporting
If you would like to learn more about LHCPG's social value objectives, contact George Stevens at info@lhcprocure.org.uk.
We look forward to sharing more about our future committee meetings and our upcoming Consultancy Services (CS2) framework.