Blogs

On 1 April 2023, LHC had its biggest organisational shake up in decades as we transitioned from a Joint Committee structure made up of 10 local authorities to a Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG). 

In becoming our own legal entity, we welcomed seven non-executive directors from client organisations and four independent non-executive directors to our Board. We changed from LHC to LHC Procurement Group (LHC).  

Such changes marked the start of an important new phase in the well-established history of LHC and we are thrilled that, since then, we have continued to grow as an organisation. 

In fact, for the first time ever, we have delivered more than £500 million worth of projects within a single financial year.  

What’s more, we are celebrating the fact that projects registered via our frameworks since 2010 reached just over £5 billion. That growth has increased markedly; approximately £1.5 billion of that total has been generated in the last three years alone. 

This is an achievement that we are immensely proud of. It is proof of the faith and confidence the public sector has in our products and services, and we’d like to thank our dedicated teams – both centrally and across each of our five regional business units – for their hard work over the last 12 months.  

A growing team across the UK 

This year our ranks have been bolstered with the appointment of 25 new team members across the group, bringing our current total to 71 employees. This represents an increase of almost 20% in staff numbers over the past year, and our investment is set to continue over the course of the coming year. 

All were formally welcomed at our Uxbridge office with the largest induction event in our history, where they heard from members of our senior executive team about our history and ambitious plans to continue growing and delivering benefits to communities throughout the country. 

In line with our growth, we continue to prioritise equal opportunities and a diverse workforce, as reflected by our gender profile of 43% male and 57% female across all levels, including the Board, senior management and regional teams and 29% representing multiple nationalities and rich cultures. 

Our people at LHC all share something in common: incredible talent and drive to improve lives and places. We are proud of our dedication to supporting our people to grow and develop in their careers.  

This year we are delighted to announce our enhanced talent development program dedicated to nurturing leadership and management skills, empowering our people to achieve their full potential.  

We are excited to see how they develop their careers at LHC and contribute to our ongoing goal of improving lives and places through quality procurement solutions.  

Framework developments 

It’s been a significant year for our frameworks as we’ve been developing solutions to address the most relevant and crucial issues in the public sector. 

While prime minister Rishi Sunak backpedalled on the government’s key green policies, we were already hard at work developing our latest energy efficiency framework given the urgency our clients are facing to improve their housing stock.  

Perhaps our most important energy efficiency framework to date – Decarbonisation and Retrofit (N9) – is set to launch later in 2024. To conclude the pre-tender engagement (PTE) process, we held our Retrofit for a Net Zero Future event. 

Representatives from suppliers, contractors, and public sector clients gathered to discuss the challenge of decarbonising the UK’s public sector building stock. They shared broad perspectives from across the sector on retrofitting at scale to decarbonise the UK's existing built environment and deliver a net zero future. 

Another major framework launching in 2024 is our next Fire Safety offering, known as FS2. 

Given the implementation of the Building Safety Act 2022 following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, fire safety has become a paramount concern for local authorities and social housing providers, which are prioritising preparedness of buildings in case of a fire. 

FS2 represents a significant advancement from FS1 by expanding the range of fire safety measures available. We have developed the framework with expert consultancy input to ensure comprehensive coverage of current legislation, providing our clients with peace of mind through compliance with regulations and industry best practices.  

Framework success 

We are also thrilled to see so much success surrounding our dedicated Asset Safety and Compliance (ASC1) framework; we have over £10 million worth of projects already in the pipeline for this.      

Developed in direct response to discussions with housing associations, local authorities, schools and healthcare organisations, ASC1 offers a diverse range of specialist expertise to help organisations ensure the safety of their properties including property protection and associated services, asbestos management, water testing, treatment and management, heating and air conditioning-related servicing and electrical testing. 

Social value  

Regulations like the new Procurement Act 2023 have made social value central to local government procurement.  

Supporting communities and delivering social value has always been at the heart of what LHC does. This year has seen an increased focus on this with the development of our dedicated social value strategy and partnership with housing charity HACT.  

We’re in the early stages of implementing this but we are confident our new strategy will only help to drive even more activity in this area and build on the successes we have seen supporting local communities and initiatives.  

The previous 12 months have flown by but have been overwhelmingly positive, which only reassures us that we made the right decision in changing our organisational structure. We remain extremely positive about the future of LHC.