Speaker Fiona Piercy

Collaborative procurement, more than just cost savings: PfH talks to the Homes and Communities Agency ahead of the Conference.

Fiona Piercy, Head of National Consultancy at the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) will be delivering the Keynote Address at the PfH Annual Conference and Exhibition 2009 entitled "Collaboration: The Mother of Invention." The event will be taking place at the ICC in Birmingham on Tuesday 24th November 2009.

PfH caught up with Fiona ahead of the Conference to find out more about what she will be covering at the event including the importance of gaining a mutual understanding of what each party is hoping to achieve, respecting operating restrictions and developing a longer term view on the collaborative relationship.

Tell us about your career background. How did you get to the role you are in today?

I originally trained as a chartered architect and RICS Project Manager and then completed an MBA. The first 14 years of my career were spent in the private sector in the commercial, residential, leisure, education and healthcare fields. In 2002 I moved into the public sector, working for a county council, where I was responsible for delivering complex capital programmes including schools, libraries and sports centres as well as directing regeneration projects in town centres and ex coalfields areas. During this time I heavily promoted sustainable design for schools. Five years ago I moved to English Partnerships, managing regeneration projects in housing market renewal areas across North Staffordshire and Warwickshire. In 2007 I was promoted to head up the National Consultancy which provides a full range of commercial, planning, design, housing and community related advice to HCAs regional teams and partners.

In 2007 I was invited to become a fellow of the Royal Society for Arts and Manufactures. I have a keen interest in the social and economic development aspects of regeneration and housing and in how investment can be leveraged to benefit local communities.

Tell us about one important collaboration which led to creativity or discovery.

Many years ago now, when I was for a large construction company, a problem arose over the supply of special bricks, which looked set to delay delivery and occupation of the building. Collaboration with the architects, window suppliers and masonary subcontractors led to a small but innovative solution that took brickwork off the critical path. For a small investment in a new junction detail, we ensured that the project stayed on programme and the client's scheme was completed on time.

What is going to be your main message to social housing organisations at the Conference?

That collaboration needs to be embraced across a diverse range of business operations to get maximum benefits and how the HCA has adopted this principle.

What's so good about collaborative procurement? Why does it often lead to innovation? Why is it so important for the future of the social housing sector?

Collaborative procurement can achieve a lot more than just cost savings. It can help sweat investment to achieve additional corporate objectives. In HCA we looking at how our procurement exercises can help us deliver a wide range of government agendas and I will be talking about some of these at the conference.

What can housing officers do to foster a collaborative environment? What is the key to collaborative success?

The key to collaborative success is that all parties really do understand what each other is ultimately trying to achieve by collaborating in the first place and reach a consensus on objectives for the exercise. It's also important to set out what operating restrictions or governance arrangements need to be respected and how performance will be measured. To foster innovation, partners must be prepared to put in time testing new ideas and be prepared to take a longer term view on the relationship. If problems arise, then partners should see it as a learning opportunity. Trust is critical.

Tell us about an example of collaborative excellence that is already delivering innovation and ideas.

In HCA we have adopted a flexible approach to use of investment and land assets that is helping bring forward housing supply in this difficult market.