Decentralised district heating using EfW and CHP

Background: A major Energy from Waste plant, designed and built to deliver Combined Heat and Power, had operated for 20 years without a heat offtake, and therefore inefficiently in financial and environmental terms.

Acting as interim programme manager for a local authority which is a major landlord, I am engaged in working with the EfW operators to develop a heat network to provide low carbon heating and hot water to approximately 3,000 homes on five estates.

Results: The project is now at the stage of agreeing Heads of Terms for a heat supply contract that will deliver significant financial savings and reduce CO2 emissions by around 10,000 tonnes per annum.

Residual waste treatment contract

Background: A partnership of waste disposal authorities in south-east England had been working for several years on a waste disposal project. The project needed to win the approval of all the key stakeholders including local and central government, landowners, and private sector contractors.

They wanted to develop a good, viable business case for a suite of waste disposal facilities to last for the next 25 years. However, despite several iterations of a business case, they were unable to bring together all the elements to achieve a deliverable project.

The business case was further delayed by politically sensitive issues about control of sites.

Results: Acting as programme director I led a multidisciplinary team. We managed and delivered a portfolio of several interconnected, high profile and politically contentious projects.

A key objective was to get approval of a business case in time to secure an allocation of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) credits from central government.

A new business case for the waste treatment facilities, central to successful delivery of the programme, was developed in a short time scale. I helped to achieve this by leading an in-house team, setting direction, and clarifying roles and responsibilities. The team included technical, legal, financial, planning, project management, and communications specialists. I also worked with external legal, financial, and technical advisers.

I helped to navigate the process through a sensitive political landscape building credibility and confidence in the programme with central government stakeholders.

The business case was approved and procurement of contracts worth in excess of £1 billion has begun.

Business plans for a resource management agency in Scotland and Wales

Background: This client was a central government funded agency promoting waste management, recycling and reprocessing across the UK. It needed to respond to the agendas of the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales. I worked with the agency’s programme heads, stakeholders, and senior civil servants in the devolved administrations. I helped them build plans that met the needs of the national funders and integrated with the work of other national delivery bodies.

Results: Business plans were drafted, consulted on and refined. Partnerships, roles and responsibilities were agreed. Substantial funding was agreed and the business plans have been adopted. They are now being successfully implemented.

My client has established offices in Edinburgh and Cardiff. Locally based staff lead service delivery supported by the UK core programme team.

Programme development

Background: A few years on from the development of the first business plan for the agency in Scotland, the government decided to bring a number of different agencies that it funded together under one programme, to improve efficiency and impact.  The new combined organisation would be responsible for the delivery of much of the Scottish Government's Zero Waste Plan.

Results: Based on a response to the Zero Waste Plan, and consultation with the organisations that were delivering the previous contracts, I drafted proposals for a business plan for the new combined programme.  The process involved a number of iterations, and included identifying key service delivery contracts and the most effective means of procuring delivery. The Programme Board approved the new business plans and Scottish Government increased funding for the programme at a time when most other budgets were being reduced.