17th May 2007

Nottinghamshire County Council and Robert Woodhead Ltd

A partnership between Robert Woodhead Ltd and Nottinghamshire County Council demonstrates that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can adapt to change and deliver real value to public sector partners.

In 2003, Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) chose Robert Woodhead Ltd to deliver a four-year programme of school extensions, refurbishment, repair/maintenance and DDA work across the whole of the county.

Woodhead sought to achieve a long term relationship founded on excellent customer service, project delivery and mutual respect.

The partnership addressed the key drivers for change identified in The Egan Report and also the development of a culture of performance measurement.

Both organisations dealt with significant challenges both in-house and in relation to each other. Management buy-in and enthusiasm led to the development of an effective joint training programme.

The Benefits to Woodhead and NCC

Woodhead’s involvement in the partnership has led to the company seeing some very positive changes in how it does business. Woodhead now offer project management and construction expertise at the start of each project and the need to address KPI’s has led to the adoption of lean construction methods, which have delivered improved turnaround times and reduced waste. Contractors have embraced standards such as ISO and Investors in People and invested in modern methods of construction.

NCC now recognise that obtaining the lowest price through aggressive tendering rarely leads to client satisfaction and the supply chain now focuses on best value and client satisfaction as opposed to lowest cost.

The Results

Woodhead helped NCC to deliver its Children’s Centres ahead of deadline and in return secured extended agreements for the last 3 years based on their excellent performance.

Di Kingaby, NCC’s Children’s Centres Development Manager says:

“We are delighted with the way Woodhead delivered these projects on time and on budget”.

Martin Print, Consultant to Constructing Excellence specialising in KPIs and benchmarking, commented:

“The benchmark scores for the Oaktree Lane Children’s Centre project were among the best I have seen. It’s rare for companies to achieve such exceptionally good all-round performance”.

Woodhead Managing Director, David Woodhead says:

“We have been given the chance to see that having an open-minded, can-do attitude can dramatically improve partner buy-in and project delivery. We will also be taking our experiences with lean construction and applying what we have learned to all future projects and other partners”.

To read the full case study visit http://www.emce.gov.uk