Construction, Infrastructure and Rail news
This week’s Construction, Infrastructure and Rail news:
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) have opened up prequalification to find a contractor to build a new bus station in Wigan. The £15.7m project is expected to take around 18 months with work starting in June 2017. The project is supported by central government through the Greater Manchester Local Growth Deal Programme and aims to improve facilities for local residents and visitors.
Southern Housing Group (SHG) are investing £631m in the next 4 years to build 3,500 new flats. They are putting together a framework of approved contractors to deliver the various projects and have published a prior information notice (PIN) in the OJEU. SHG are exploring options for best delivering the contractor framework and the survey can be found here.
Abellio East Anglia have been awarded a new 9 year contract to continue running train services between London Liverpool Street and Cambridge, Peterborough and Norwich and includes services to Stansted Airport. The contract runs from October until 2025 and has promised a 10% reduction in average journey times as well as approximately £1.4bn investment in the franchise. Bombardier in Derby will be supplying over 1,000 new carriages to Abellio over the course of the contract.
Perfect Circle have been selected by Scape Group to deliver Professional Services to a variety of public clients. Comprising of Pick Everard, Gleeds and AECOM, Perfect Circle are the first joint venture Scape Group have appointed and are set to deliver £350m worth of services over a 4 year period.
10 Writing tools to improve your persuasion
With written communication such a key factor in winning business, how do you ensure you excel at clear and persuasive writing?
Forbes Contributor, Tomas Laurinavicius has shared some helpful tools that aim to improve your powers of persuasion:
Tools That Aid Persuasive Writing
A fantastic writing tool to make your work clearer and easier to read. The app highlights long, complex sentences and common errors and suggests alternatives.
I’m still surprised how many people never heard of Google Docs. It’s a powerful tool that brings your documents to life with smart editing and styling tools to help you quickly format text and paragraphs.
This tool will make you look like a professional writer. It’s a free grammar, spelling and punctuation checker trusted by millions of users.
One of the best ways to let the words out is to ensure a clean and distraction free environment. iA Writer is a plain text editor for Markdown aficionados.
Writing is not easy. To become a writer, you need to write more. Writing Streak is a tool that has been built to help you develop a daily writing habit.
Freewrite helps you to get unstuck, clear your mind and exercise your creativity. Write every day, without stopping to judge or edit. It’s free to use for ten days, after that $4/month.
A compelling headline is a vital aspect of anything you write. This free blog post headline analyzer will score your overall headline quality and rate its ability to result in social shares, increased traffic, and SEO value.
This tool will save you a lot of energy generating engaging titles for your articles. It’s created by SumoMe team and promises to skyrocket conversions.
Do you use any tools to help you check / improve your writing? We’d love to hear your recommendations. Contact us on 020 8158 3952 / enquiry@bidsolutions.co.uk
Bid Hub Launched! An exciting new resource for all Bid & Proposal Professionals
The Bid Hub is bursting with the latest industry news, expert advice, events, training courses, salary data, and useful resources.
Whether you are seeking the advice of an expert from our panel of industry leaders or simply looking for a calendar of upcoming events, the Bid Hub is the place to visit. It offers a range of free resources to help you improve your bid and proposal process and knowledge whilst demystifying our often difficult-to-understand profession.
If you would like to submit news, broadcast your training course, market an event or want to offer your services as an expert, please get in touch. Our network of 10,000+ bid and proposal professionals are keen to hear from you.
Visit the Bid Hub now:
https://bidsolutions.co.uk/bid-hub/
Call +44 (0)20 8158 3952
enquiry@bidsolutions.co.uk
2016 APMP Awards – Voting closes next week
You now have just 1 week left to submit your nominations for the 2016 APMP awards. It is your chance to nominate an organisation / individual who you believe deserves industry wide recognition for the great work they do – you can even nominate yourself!
The award categories are:
- Bid Excellence
- Innovation
- Writing
- People Development (Sponsored by Bid Solutions)
- Best Newcomer
- Fiona Flower Knowledge Management Award
Voting closes on Monday 15th August. You can find further details and submit your nomination here.
We look forward to hearing the shortlist of nominees which are due to be announced on 5th September.
To view our latest vacancies for bid and proposal professionals, follow this link. To help us connect you with a winner to add to your team, follow this link.
Construction, Infrastructure and Rail news
This week’s Construction, Infrastructure and Rail news:
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has signed off on plans for a £175m major housing development in Old Oak, West London. Of the 605 new homes set to be built, 242 will be affordable homes with half being for shared ownership and the other half being split between social and affordable rent. It is expected to take 3 years to complete and work demolishing the existing site will start later this year.
Lakehouse have won a £37m contract with Scottish Power for the installation of domestic smart meters. The 5 year contract will see Lakehouse install more than 450k meters in Northwest England, Wales and Northern Scotland. Lakehouse plan to mobilise and train more than 100 dual fuel engineers this year which will cost around £1.5m.
Suffolk County Council have launched a design competition for 2 new bridges over the river Orwell in Ipswich. The £77m project aims to improve the connection between the waterfront and town centre and ease congestion. The winners will be joining an existing project team led by WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff, who are responsible for providing structural and civil engineering input. The deadline for submission of completed PQQ returns is 1st September 2016 and work is due to start by 2020.
Graham Construction have started work on a new £11m station in Kenilworth, Warwickshire. Design elements from the original station will be incorporated along with more modern facilities for public access Wi-Fi, external ticket machines and cycle facilities. The original station has been closed since 1965 but the new station is part of a wider £88.6m growth project in Coventry and Warwickshire.
To view our latest vacancies for bid and proposal professionals, follow this link. To help us connect you with a winner to add to your team, follow this link.
Construction, Infrastructure and Rail News
This week’s Construction, Infrastructure and Rail news:
Bombardier have revealed the trains that will be servicing the new Elizabeth Line in London. They are set to carry an estimated 1,500 people at the peak of the commuter rush, with 450 of those passengers being seated. The trains are air conditioned and said to be 30% more efficient due to being lighter. The initial stock of trains will have 7 cars before extension works are completed to allow for 9 cars.
Family Mosaic have awarded Keepmoat a £15m contract to deliver 79 new homes in Leytonstone. The new development is scheduled to be completed by summer 2018. Family Mosaic acquired the site from the NHS in 2014 and have committed 30% of the 79 homes to the affordable housing scheme.
Network Rail have awarded Jacobs Engineering Group a contract to continue supporting improvements from Great Western main line to Heathrow Airport. Over the next 27 months Jacobs Engineering Group will be providing design and consultancy services. Proposed plans would see passengers able to travel directly to Heathrow Airport from Reading and Slough rather than having to travel into London Paddington to change.
Wates have won a £33m contract for Construction of a new campus and sports facilities in Whitehaven Cumbria. Planning permission is scheduled to be submitted later this year with a view to starting work in 2017.
Mace cost consultancy have revised earlier forecasts and are now expecting tender prices to fall next year. In April they predicted a 3.5% growth in 2017 however they have now estimated that tender prices will fall 1% next year due to the demand slowing for construction in the wake of referendum result.
Have you noticed a change since the referendum result was announced? We’d like to hear from you, contact us on enquiry@bidsolutions.co.uk or join the discussion on our LinkedIn group.
To view our latest vacancies for bid and proposal professionals, follow this link. To help us connect you with a winner to add to your team, follow this link.
Are you certified to APMP Foundation?
With the UK job market becoming ever-more competitive, candidates need to bring their ‘A game’ to interviews and ensure their CVs are as strong as possible. Qualifications and experience help candidates to stand out, but there’s a growing requirement – especially for younger candidates – to demonstrate a commitment to their continuing professional development. “You’ve graduated, got a year or two under your belt, but now what?”
APMP Foundation Certification
One way to demonstrate a commitment to your career, and prove that you keep your knowledge up to date, is through membership of the APMP – the Association of Proposal Management Professionals. More employers are asking for candidates to be APMP certified, and APMP Foundation is a mandatory requirement for some companies.
Recent figures from the APMP show that there are now over 7,000 people worldwide that are certified to Foundation level. This is great news for our industry, but what percentage of bid and proposal professionals does this represent? If you have Foundation, it’s possible that you are part of the elite club – the ones with the advantage at interview. But if you don’t have it, then you’d better think about adding it to your CV.
Nigel Hudson is a Senior Professional Development Consultant for Strategic Proposals – one of only three APMP Approved Training Organisations (ATOs) in the UK. An APMP Professional, he’s worked his way through each level of certification and will be co-delivering the APMP Foundation training at this year’s APMP UK Conference. We asked him what he thinks about the growing need for certification. Here’s what he said:
“The trend is inevitable. Employers seek the best talent, especially people who can bring best practice into their company. Research conducted on behalf of APMP demonstrates that organisations that employ ‘appropriately competent professionals’ in proposal management roles win significantly more business than those that do not. But demand has to start with individuals realising that they own their development, that they should proactively be seeking new skills and knowledge.”
He continued:
“With APMP Foundation, we’ve run six public courses in the UK this year, and many more in-house sessions. The thing I’ve noticed most is the attendees’ proactivity, maturity, energy and desire to perform. They’re markedly more ‘switched on’ than people who shy away from proving or bettering themselves. They know that certification gives them the edge. They’ve honed their skills, topped up their knowledge, and understand how to recognise and demonstrate best practice. Which has to be appealing to their current or would-be employers. And it’s motivating for them, too. Gaining tangible proof of competency as a proposal professional attracts respect and credibility from colleagues. Which is a good thing on a great many levels.”
Nigel concluded by saying that the new APMP syllabus is encouraging the uptake of latest best practice. Places for Strategic Proposals’ September public course sold out in record time, but places are thankfully still available for their pre-conference Foundation course at Wokefield Park on 18th October. Tickets are priced at £495.00 plus VAT, and can be purchased here.
To learn more about bid training, click here.
Bid Solutions is proud to be sponsoring the 2016 APMP UK People Development Award. Nominate your organisation before 15th August.
The People Development Award recognises an organisation that has furthered the capability and/or impact of their staff in a bid/proposal function, as well as others involved in proposal development (e.g. sales, content contributors, senior execs) to the success of the business. The winners will be announced at the Annual Conference dinner in October.
How to Nominate for the People Development Award
Applications close on the 15th August. You can nominate here: http://conference2016.apmpuk.co.uk/apmp-uk-awards
Full details of the conference can be found here: http://conference2016.apmpuk.co.uk/
To view our latest vacancies for bid and proposal professionals, follow this link. To help us connect you with a winner to add to your team, follow this link.
Construction, Infrastructure and Rail News
This weeks Construction, Infrastructure and Rail news:
UK parliament are inviting contractors’ views on a programme of refurbishment works to the UK parliamentary estate. Restoration of the listed buildings and renewed electrical services is expected to take 3 – 4 years to complete and cost somewhere between £150m to £650m. Parliament’s Strategic Estates department is looking for advice on procurement strategy and risks via a questionnaire to be returned by 3rd August.
The University of East London are looking for a developer to replace a temporary building with new facilities of at least 4,500 m2. The estimated contract value is between £25m – £35m. As part of the contract the University is looking for a land swap deal with a developer that can deliver the building at minimal cost in exchange for commercial use of release land.
HS2 Ltd has proposed a revised route of HS2 in a report released this week. The revision would see the route travel through Sheffield City Centre rather than Meadowhall station. It will run east towards the M18 before rejoining the original route south of the M62. HS2 Ltd has said the new plans would save them £1bn. However, a newly built housing estate in Mexborough will now have to be demolished to enable the new line to be built.
The Bam Nuttall and Mott Macdonald (BMM) joint venture will be starting work on the 2nd phase of the Exeter flood defence scheme next week. The scheme will reduce flood risk to 3,200 homes and businesses and work will continue over the next two years.
To view our latest vacancies for bid and proposal professionals, follow this link. To help us connect you with a winner to add to your team, follow this link.
HS2 Supply Chain Roadshow
Following on from last year’s success, HS2 Ltd has hosted a number of HS2 Supply Chain roadshow events across the UK over the last few months. Events took place in London and Birmingham this week and draw to a close at the final event in Aberdeen in September. One of our Senior Consultants, Lavanya Ram, attended the London show on Wednesday and shares her thoughts here:
Report from the HS2 Supply Chain Roadshow
The roadshow was a great event for companies interested in exploring the thousands of supply chain opportunities created by HS2. The event was buzzing with individuals wanting to find out more about the giant long-term project that offers a huge opportunity for British businesses to bid for billions of pounds worth of contracts.
The day was extremely well organised through presentations, face time with HS2 experts and provided a great platform for networking.
The HS2 experts were able to offer valuable advice on the scale and timing of available opportunities and also understand what they want from their supply chain. There was also information provided on what can be done now to ensure your business is ready to respond to opportunities in the future.
HS2 Representatives were available throughout the day and were happy to answer individual questions about their requirements relating to their strategic goals.
If you have attended the Roadshow we would love to hear your thoughts. Contact us on enquiry@bidsolutions.co.uk or join the discussion on our LinkedIn group.
To view our latest vacancies for bid and proposal professionals, follow this link. To help us connect you with a winner to add to your team, follow this link.
