Reflecting on 2023

There's no denying that times are tough right now, and 2023 had its fair share of challenges - especially for local authorities.

But everything SCAPE Group has done this year has benefitted the wider public sector - providing strategic advice and enabling them to save time, money and resources through efficient procurement and delivery.

Here are a few of my personal highlights from last year:

• SCAPE joined the Constructing Excellence task force for Constructing the Gold Standard, and I am proud that through this we can support the development of future policy, underlining our commitment to procurement best practice, transparency and improvement.
• I joined the Board of Directors for the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) and Build UK, to drive positive change in the industry.
• We expanded our teams in Scotland and Northern Ireland, welcomed Caroline Compton-James as our new Deputy CEO, and came together when our Chief Finance Officer, Alastair Gamage, sadly passed away in the Spring.
• Spearheaded by Andy Bacon , we facilitated collaborative discussions with our delivery partners around our shared commitment to ethical labour.
• We hosted a variety of events, supported the newly-formed East Midlands Combined Authority, and led the Economic Forums for SCAPE and SCAPE Scotland , which created a real buzz of innovation and collaborative energy around the future of the public estate.
• The results of our staff survey showed that we have high levels of engagement, as we achieved "One to Watch" status from Best Companies , for the second time.
• With environmental sustainability continuing to underpin the SCAPE Group's long-term strategy, we launched our Carbon Reduction Plans, and with the support of The Carbon Literacy Project we began our journey towards becoming a carbon-literate organisation.
• Through our frameworks, 564 projects were completed, worth over ￡573m, with excellent customer service and fantastic outcomes across the board.
• Our project pipeline increased ￡400m in 2023 to ￡7.2bn.
• In Scotland, we delivered "SCAPEing out a world of work", a cracking work experience week giving 200+ young people, including those who were hard to reach and from under-represented groups, an insight into careers in the built environment - with positive feedback and engagement throughout.
• Lungfish Architects delivered some brilliant projects, and their modular design expertise added value to a host of events and discussions, including internationally via the Trespa webinar.
• Ravensdale, a new school designed by the Lungfish team and delivered through SCAPE, was named Constructing Excellence Midlands ' Project of the Year.
• The SCAPE Regional Construction framework (current iteration) celebrated its one year anniversary, having created over ￡9.6m social value for communities across the Midlands and the East of England during 2023.
• Arc Partnership had a truly fantastic year, with excellent performance, and consistently high praise from Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) stakeholders on the delivery of critical improvements and ongoing maintenance of their school estate.

"We value the reliability, certainty, and ability to deliver responsibly” Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Councillor Ben Bradley MP on why Arc Partnership is valued.

• Projects and people continued to win awards, with Lungfish Architects being named as a finalist for Architectural Practice of the Year and Arc Partnership 's strategic alliance with 英国诺丁汉特伦特大学 receiving national recognition at the Construction News Workforce awards.
• Construction Waste Portal , a new value-added tool for waste management, is being used by an increasing number of SCAPE partners and resource management companies - helping to create a more sustainable future for construction and supporting a circular economy.

And with the support of our partners, we raised over ￡36,000 for our charity of the year, MS Society - a great cause, close to the hearts of many.

These successes (and plenty more not mentioned) wouldn't be possible without the expertise, hard work and dedication of a fantastic team, so I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone at SCAPE, and to our partners, their supply chain networks and wider communities for making all this happen.

Together, we are helping the public sector and its taxpayers by making sure every single penny of public money gives the most back to the local communities and leaves a positive, sustainable legacy.

I know it's cheesy, but teamwork really does make the dream work, and you are all living proof. So here's to achieving more great things together in 2024.

With warm regards,

Mark.