Durham County Council reports on "exciting" 2024 projects

Following successful partner meetings with the Durham County Council earlier this year, we appreciated the opportunity to meet with the council’s new Construction Category Manager Antonia Smith and Chief Procurement Officer Richard Carroll again this Autumn.

Antonia and Richard advised that the council has a number of exciting projects as part of their capital, funded and Business-as-Usual programmes which would be of interested to CAN Members throughout the supply chain.

The council identified two key house builder framework opportunities which are currently in process, and that they will also be seeking a partner for a multi-million pound development at Aykley Heads, which is in the early stages of procurement.

We also addressed the Procurement Bill, which was given Royal Assent on the 26 October 2023.

The Legislation is expected to become live in October 2024, and we are hoping informational & educational sessions will be available online for the Private and Third Sector,  provided by the Cabinet Office, hopefully early next year.

We encourage CAN Members to familiarise themselves with the new rules and we will continue to engage with local Council’s to understand the key changes affecting engagement in Public Sector procurement exercises and share with colleagues.

We are also in discussions to look at a social value event in partnership with Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) NE Ltd, with Durham County Council through their County Durham Pound Project exploring a potential Trades event in 2024.

It’s great we have the ability to engage with key procurement personnel from our Local Council’s and key Public Sectors Partners to share information, discuss market challenges and issues raised by our members, thanks both to Antonia and Richard for their time and we’ll see you again in the New Year!