National Infrastructure Commission for Wales meeting notes: 17 February 2022

10:00- 12:00

Via TEAMs
 

David Clubb, Chair

Tom Crick, Commissioner

Eluned Parrott, Commissioner

Stephen Gifford, Commissioner

Rob Irvine, Commissioner

Neil Hemington, Head of Planning, Welsh Government

Stuart Ingram, NICW Secretariat

Nicola Britton, NICW Secretariat

Piers Burroughs Managing Director, Burroughs 

Keith Jones, Director Wales ICE

Owen Cox, Bid Manager at Alun Griffiths (Contractors) Ltd
 

1. The Chair welcomed commissioners to the meeting.
2. The Chair set out his engagements since the last meeting.

3. The chair welcomed Stuart Ingram, who has joined as Head of the NICW secretariat. Stuart provided an overview of current secretariat matters, including the importance of the commitment in the Welsh Government’s Co-operation Agreement with Plaid Cymru for NICW to assess how the nationwide likelihood of flooding of homes, businesses and infrastructure can be minimised by 2050; securing a research budget for 2022/2023 and recruitment of Commissioners.

4. Owen Cox provided insight into how procurement is undertaken can influence the quality of the final product, citing examples of placing too much importance on price as opposed to quality can result in poorer outcomes. He stressed the value that Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) can bring to projects, especially in terms of innovation.
5. He highlighted how the Future Generations Act’s 5 ways of working is a strong basis on which to drive procurement practice in wales.
6. Piers Burroughs then spoke about the importance of value in procurement and how this can be supported by the value toolkit which supports an understanding between client and contractor on what value means to a project and underlies the importance of ECI.
7. NICW members discussed how they could support these approaches, seeing the value in signing up to industry charters and using their soft influence where relevant.

8. The chair and members discussed options for beginning work on a renewables projects and setting up a project board. The Chair will be circulating a document for comments and asked for nominations for a renewables project board.
9. The meeting closed at 12:00