SME’s are the lifeblood of the construction industry

Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are the lifeblood of the construction industry. A dynamic supply chain can play such an important part in driving social value, innovation, and product development.

Early engagement

Last year the Government published the ‘Construction Playbook’: Government Guidance on sourcing and contracting public works projects and programmes. It outlines key policies on improving building and safety, net-zero commitments and promoting social value. It also suggests that early engagement with both SME’s and the supply chain can be cost effective, improve innovation and minimise carbon footprint. The playbook states that: “SMEs are experts in their fields and can provide insight into MMC, innovative technologies and ways to minimise the GHG footprint of the proposed solutions across their whole lifecycle”.

Collaboration

By working collaboratively, we can learn from one another. In taking this approach, we are future-proofing the construction industry as we look to close that skills gap and develop young and talented people throughout their careers. It will see the standard of delivery across the industry – across the private and public sectors – improve and the marketplace will change for the better.

Our Commitment

At Pick Everard, we are really focused on leaving a positive, long-term legacy and we’re able to do just that in collaboration with our supply chain via frameworks. We put the concept of better placemaking, better lives for communities and improved health and wellbeing at the core of what we are delivering for our clients – aligning with the objectives laid out particularly by the public sector and delivering against them.

Pick Everard and property, construction and infrastructure consultancy Perfect Circle – a company jointly owned by Pick Everard, Gleeds and AECOM – target the engagement of at least 60% of our supply chain and spend to be Micro or SME suppliers which not only helps support those suppliers, but also creates greater opportunity across the supply chain and boosts current and future innovation by engaging a wider diversity of suppliers who can bring their approach to help deliver solutions for projects.

By engaging the local supply chain we can provide a number of benefits like deliver local supplier engagement on projects for which we are based outside of the region, aid local employment, support the local economy of our clients and help leverage local knowledge to provide the best outcomes for our projects and clients. Through the local multiplier effect of these types of engagement with our supply chain, we can further deliver greater positive impact and increased social value impact.