YORhub Performance & Improvement Manager, Mike Raven, has a brief which also extends to business development. Here he discusses his role, some of the challenges, and what he strives to offer clients.

How would you describe your role & core responsibilities as YORhub’s Performance & Improvement Manager?

It’s a broad remit including sustainability and digital construction, and providing advice to contracting authorities on procurement and project delivery – which works well for me. I’m neurodiverse and I operate best when I have several different things to handle at the same time!

What prior experience do you bring to the job?

I’ve spent my career working in the public sector at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, almost all of which was in various construction teams. Prior to my current job I headed up East Riding’s construction project management team so I have a lot of experience of both construction procurement and of construction project management.  I’m also involved in various groups and organisations such as Constructing Excellence and the Chartered Institute of Building, so where I’m not able to directly advise clients I can do my best to signpost.

What are the main challenges facing public sector procurement in the Yorkshire region?

Number one is finances – the public sector is continually asked to do more with less, and this forces us to innovate and find new ways to achieve what we need, and to make hard decisions on how we are going to manage our estate.

Number two is political – everyone wants to invest and keep money local. It’s hard to justify why a certain council or agency is spending money with a company miles away, but the need to spend local has also to be balanced with who are the best partners to work with on a project.  Sometimes it’s about spending local, sometimes it’s about bringing expertise in and using them to deliver a difficult project – and using their expertise to upskill the local supply chain along the way.

Number three is legislation – the Procurement Act is still a relatively new change for the public sector, and new regulations continue to be released. On the one hand the new legislation is improving the way we do procurement, but it does put new requirements and pressures onto an already strained public sector.

What can YORhub do to help?

I think it’s really important to remember that the purpose of setting up YORhub was to help support construction procurement and to be a central hub of knowledge and expertise. I’ve really tried to push that since I started this role, highlighting the free training we offer, free project support, providing responses to pre-market engagements advising on project risks and delivery routes, signposting to free events and CPD that may be of interest – whatever I can do to help projects get delivered.

We’ve improved the flexibility within YORhub so that users have as much choice as possible to get the right route and the right team for their project, and while we’ve always been fantastic at delivering real benefits to the local area, we’ve not always had the time to communicate those benefits – so we’re working hard to try to make that more visible for people.

How would you describe your role in strengthening client relationships?

I think my role is very much about outreach and about visibility – we can’t help people if they don’t know about YORhub!  It’s a big challenge; if you take my local authority, we have 612 teams working for East Riding of Yorkshire Council, including over half a dozen procurement teams, over thirty teams delivering or involved in the delivery of construction, teams working on economic development, planning, building control, highways maintenance…. Multiply that by all the organisations able to access YORhub and it’s a nearly infinite list!

The reality is there is a proliferation of procurement routes available to clients – which is great, but because everyone is so busy, how do you spend time working out which route is best?  I’m always happy to talk to people about delivery routes, and I’ll tell them when I don’t think YORhub is right for them – I’d much prefer clients have a successful project via another route if YORhub doesn’t suit. But they need to understand what they can get out of YORhub in order to make that decision, and that’s what I’m here for.

How will YORhub’s commitment to social value develop over the next few years?

We’re in a great place with our social value offer and we want to build on that. One key thing is working more with education providers: one example is that we‘re working with a leading Yorkshire construction college by providing data to help them know where the demand for trades is going to be in years ahead. In turn they’ll share that information with other education providers across the region. All of this will help shape the provision of education including apprenticeship places and ultimately employment opportunities in our region.

What do you most enjoy about the job?

I’m really lucky to work in a great team, everyone working on YORhub is really friendly, but regarding my job I have to say it’s meeting and talking to people. I really enjoy learning about people and seeing what I can do to help them. It’s funny because I’d definitely consider myself an introvert – and sometimes after I’ve had a few hours of social interaction I feel like curling up under a blanket with my dog, Charlie – but I really like being able to be a person that can give some actual practical help. The other day I drafted a professional services contract for a client that needed the services that the contract would provide but was struggling to put aside the time to write the documentation – it’s not something I’d do all the time but it’ll help them get the contract awarded and benefit from the support the consultant will give them, and in turn that will get schemes delivered and money spent locally.