Conceptual design of Waterlooville Precinct
To help deliver Hampshire County Council’s Transport Capital Programme a Highways and Transportation Professional Services Contract has been set up between Hampshire County Council (HCC) and Mott Gifford – a joint venture comprising Mott MacDonald and Gifford. Operating since April 2006 the contract involves a partnership between HCC’s in-house design team and staff from Mott Gifford working together on some 69 schemes, valued at £15.5 million in 2006/2007, all of which aim to improve the transport network and reduce congestion.

Planning and shared goals
From the outset, the principal objective was to drive integration of staff across the partner organisations – there would be no ‘them and us’. Mobilising the contract through five joint teams – staff, IT, projects and programme, systems and processes and accommodation – demonstrated a real commitment to joint working and problem solving and was critical to early development of good working relationships and contacts.

Spreading the philosophy of integrated working meant demonstrating desired behaviours to stakeholders from day one. Briefings and interactive workshops were held on a range of topics. The first focused on the joint management of the capital programme, others have included ‘working with elected members’ and ‘partnership progress’.

This current Professional Services Contract is the second that HCC has embarked upon and reflects lessons learned. These include:

• joint programme of works
• clear management of work instructions
• clear lines of communication
• undertaking projects jointly

Earlier experiences proved that if the partnership management team could better understand each others’ service and business objectives then closer, more integrated delivery could be achieved.

Example of real time ZIP bus info shelter Implementation (management, operation, communications)
The partners have worked together to develop
joint Gateway, Inception and Implementation processes for the delivery of HCC’s Transport Capital Programme. Key staff meet regularly at technical forums and the Standards Committee
to share best practice and further their under-standing of each others’ approach to design.

Mott Gifford design teams have access to HCC’s systems so that client processes and procedures can be readily accessed and followed. County Council standards are incorporated into designs providing consistency and reducing design time. A coordinated approach to hazard elimination in design is also being progressed.

Joining both organisations together requires more than just senior management team agreement on the way forward. Integration at all levels, from the senior team right through to site teams, is required. Recognising this, we have brought together groups of staff to jointly manage the programme, financial and commercial aspects, joint performance and site delivery. The opportunity to demonstrate and be involved in joint delivery is reinforced with staff briefings.

Projects are issued and delivered through a joint programming team. This allows projects to be given to the team best placed to achieve delivery and also means that output, including on-site delivery, can be effectively co-ordinated. Contractors work to one programme not two.

Joint programming leads to joint resourcing and a joint programme manager has been appointed to help develop a phased programme of work providing greater accuracy and reliability. Specific projects are allocated to one of the partners to manage and deliver using staff from the overall resource pool. The programme’s largest project, the A3 Bus Corridor Scheme, is a prime example of how this method of delivery has brought success to the partnership.

Padnell road bus gate Performance measures/internal and external feedback
Mott Gifford is a member of the National Highways Best Value Benchmarking Club and is working with HCC to ensure that partnership performance is clearly monitored and improvements made where necessary. The partnership board regularly meets, on an equal footing, to discuss performance issues and resolve potential problems at an early stage.

Both partners contribute to HCC’s performance management process and 360 degree reviews help to drive continuous improvement. On the A3 Bus Corridor scheme, these reviews have shown that collaborative working between the current partners has achieved improvements of up to 8% in delivery since Mott Gifford became involved in the programme in April 2006.

Benefits for the partners
By proactively engaging with elected members and other stakeholders Mott Gifford has developed its skills base, enabling it to make a strong contribution to the successful delivery of HCC’s capital programme.

Working together has meant that each has access to the other's people bringing benefits to both parties. The HCC team has drawn on Mott Gifford's specialist project management, design and construction experience, not only on the A3 scheme but also on the North Popley major development scheme in Basingstoke where a Mott Gifford project manager has been seconded into HCC. Conversely Mott Gifford is benefiting from HCC’s skills in implementing traffic regulation orders.

Benefits to the user/wider community
Mott Gifford is based in Southampton so brings a considerable degree of local knowledge to the table. This has proved a huge asset, enabling communication with stakeholders to be informed, genuine and efficient. Meetings with parish councillors and elected members can be arranged at short notice, attendance at local meetings maximised and design briefs interpreted and often adapted to reflect customer needs.

Best value and cost benefit
The financial aspects of the partnership were tested in open competition during a keenly contested tender process. As a local company utilising existing local offices, Mott Gifford has been able to establish an effective team at minimal cost with savings feeding through into competitive rates.

The requirement for year-on-year rate reductions encourages efficiencies. On the A3 scheme the capital cost has been reduced by some £0.75 million as a direct result of Mott Gifford sharing its major scheme value engineering experience.

The partnership also provides a flexible resource so if there is insufficient work HCC does not pay for Mott Gifford's standing team. Equally, there are opportunities for secondments from the County Council to Mott Gifford to further enhance skills development.