1. Phil Crossland Chair MHA Executive Board
Welcome
Phil Crossland
Chair MHA Executive Board
Hello, I’m Phil Crossland, Director of Highways and transportation at Leicestershire CC, and
for the last 4 years chair of the MHA Executive Board I’m delighted to welcome you all here today, to the MHA annual event.
How things have changed over the last 10 years, with austerity here to stay, the creation of combined authorities, the changing role of the Local Enterprise Partnerships, Midlands Engine (and its transport strand Midlands Connect), self- assessment for DfT funding and the Construction 2025 strategy all having implications for the future work of the Alliance.

2. Celebrations Not just 10 years of Midlands Highway Alliance But also
20 years of Midlands Service Improvement Group
It’s a day for celebrations as the MHA reaches the milestone of 10 years of collaboration, and MSIG reach their 20 year mark.
Its really pleasing to note that both organisations are still making contributions to the success of their members and we shall be sharing those successes with you during the day.

3. Celebrations Successes:- Medium Schemes Framework
Professional Services Partnership
Learning management system,
Over £40 million savings
15 MSIG specialist task groups
MSIG individual efficiencies /benefits logged
MSIG Travel planning software developed
Self assessment
Between the two organisation there are many key achievements:-
the delivery of two well-managed frameworks, the £300m Medium Schemes framework and
the £30m Professional Services Partnership. Both frameworks are leading the way on best practice as well as meeting the expectations identified in LGA National Construction Category Strategy for Local Government (Effective Construction Frameworks) January 2016.
Later on John Hooper, the MHA Framework manager will speak on the achievements of the Medium Schemes Framework Community, and
Next Peter Barclay, MHA manager and Jason Clarke AECOM will outline what PSP has done.
In addition, our bespoke Learning Management System is now being used to manage all learning, training and development across the MHA community. This ‘community’ has grown, with a thriving framework community board, a term community board and a Professional Services operations board - all bringing our members and suppliers closer together to share their expertise.
Significant savings have been generated by the frameworks - an estimated overall saving of around £4m per year – with that as an average, in the last ten years we’d have saved at least £40m!
After the morning coffee break Richard Fenwick will talk about the work of the MSIG. With its 15 specialist working groups it provides practitioners the opportunity to share ideas, and has lead to over 200 individual efficiencies.
Specific achievements travel plan software/self assessment. .

4. Aspirations Remain an exemplar Effective Frameworks
Work towards Construction 2025 objectives
MHA/MSIG working relationship
Not only are we looking at what’s been achieved but we are going to look forward to the challenges ahead for both organisations.
And there are many.
It is vital that the Alliance retains its reputation as an exemplar of good practice in the highway sector. To do this the alliance’s objectives have been reviewed against national drivers - benchmarking shows that the alliance is improving year on year. I am pleased to see that the idea of combining the alliance with the Midland Service Improvement Group, and the West Midlands Highway Alliance is being discussed. The organizations' complement each other well and becoming one organisation will significantly increase the level of collaboration across the region.
Our frameworks are well managed, and we are working with the national Association of Construction frameworks to make sure they remain that way. Welcome to Keith Heard from Hampshire who chairs the association and this afternoon will tell us about its work.
Our latest Business Plan aligns our objectives with those of the government Construction 2025 objectives. We are looking to lower costs and faster delivery of schemes, along with lower emissions. Drivers include:-
increasing capacity of the industry – Catherine De Marco from DfT is here to talk on building skills
Innovation - Rob Gerrard on the latest collaborative contract NEC4
client capability – Sharon Andrews and Simon Pinket on Collect and Share.
Finally, the possibility of MSIG and MHA becoming much closer.

5. MSIG/MHA relationship.
Increase the level of collaboration across the region
A powerful lobbying organisation
Aligns with regional agenda such as Midlands Engine/Adept
Reduce the number of meetings
Rationalise membership fees
Rationalise websites and newsletters
A merger of MHA and MSIG (still just an ambition at this time) will deliver a lot for the region. Simon Neilson is here to tell us how ADEPT is adjusting to the regional agenda, and Simon Statham from Midlands Connect is here to here to describe the changing political environment we will have to work in.
Hopefully, todays conference will give you food for thought for the future, and the challenges ahead.
Have a good day!