Nottinghamshire County Council's partnership with SCAPE formed Arc Partnerships to deliver investment worth millions of pounds
A partnership has helped deliver 3,511 community-boosting projects worth millions of pounds.
In 2016, Arc Partnership was formed as a join venture between the county council and public sector procurement specialist SCAPE.
The partnership has delivered £394 worth of investment since its ground-breaking launch.
On behalf of the council and the communities and people it represents, Arc Partnership delivers multi-disciplinary property design, consultancy, master planning, regeneration, project and programme management, emergency, reactive, compliance asset management and planned services.
The partnership was launched to drive greater efficiencies and lead on innovation in the design, management, and maintenance of property services in the public sector.
Eight years after the joint venture’s launch, the county council has approved a five-year extension to its an initial 10-year contract with Arc Partnership for it to continue delivering a wide range of services for the benefit of Nottinghamshire and its communities.
Councillor Keith Girling, cabinet member for Economic Development and Asset Management, said Arc Partnership has been a huge success and hailed it for delivering ‘integrated customer focused services’, value for money and supporting ‘regeneration and economic growth’.
He said: “Our relationship with Arc Partnership has grown significantly in service provision since the joint venture was launched in 2016 and the ongoing demonstration of best value and delivery means we are happy to extend the contract early and by a further five years.
“I am delighted with the progress Arc Partnership has made in the last eight years, especially when you look at the incredible number of projects which have delivered across Nottinghamshire.
“To date, Arc Partnership has delivered 3,511 projects – which equates to more than £394 million worth of investment, of which an impressive £344m has been spent locally.
“This is fantastic news for the local economy; they’re dealing with businesses here in Nottinghamshire and employing local people – with 95% of its team living locally, which is incredible.
“You also must remember a lot of this has been delivered during a time when local authorities have faced extremely difficult financial challenges in addition to the pressures brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Arc Partnership constantly delivers value for money and does a fantastic job supporting us to create an efficient, safe and sustainable land and property portfolio, helping to deliver more integrated customer-focused services, value for money as well as supporting regeneration and economic growth.”
The multi-million-pound projects it has delivered on behalf of the county council include new state-of-the-art schools, refurbishment of existing maintain schools, modernising its libraries and managing the development of the county council’s new low carbon, all-electric office Oak House headquarters, near Hucknall.
The new office is being designed, project and cost-managed by Arc Partnership and delivered through its construction partner, Morgan Sindall Construction.
A target of 86% spend has been set for the project and associated infrastructure works, with sub-contractors and tradespeople located within 20 miles of the site.
In addition to delivering value for money, quality of output and customer excellence, a key part of Arc Partnership’s ethos is social value and demonstrating real value in terms of local spend.
Daniel Maher, Arc Partnership’s managing director since 2016, said the organisation’s commitment to social value and local spend ‘is at the core of everything’ we do.
He said: “The early contract extension highlights the ‘trust’ the county council has placed in Arc Partnership, and it is a true partnership based on collaboration and delivering real value together. To me that’s important and we’ve had cross-member support, from all different political persuasions. They’ve always supported us on that journey.
“We are a humble organisation but the one thing we are proud of, outside of the services we provide for the county council and the communities of Nottinghamshire, is that we are delivering using a locally employed workforce and supply chain. That says a lot. People talk about doing it, but we’ve done it.
“It’s nice to see local people and the local economy have benefited because of this journey, too.”