15 September 2008
Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda Cynon Taf County
Borough Councils have signed a deal with Capita Symonds for a
groundbreaking £75m joint venture that will deliver major highways,
transportation, engineering, construction, environmental and
related projects across the local authorities and the rest of South
Wales.
The 15-year partnership sees the creation of a new company -
Capita Glamorgan Consultancy – which is jointly owned by Capita
Symonds and the three authorities. This supersedes the Glamorgan
Engineering Consultancy (GEC) – a joint venture between the three
authorities which designed and managed local civil engineering
projects. The deal also safeguards the jobs of the 70 GEC staff who
will TUPE transfer directly to Capita Glamorgan Consultancy with
immediate effect.
Pictured (left to
right): Cllr Tony Rogers, Merthyr; Graham Cogswell, Capita
Symonds; Cllr Paul Cannon, RCT; Cllr Colin Teesdale, Bridgend.
Capita Glamorgan Consultancy will deliver significant savings to
the local authorities and is expected to create over 130 new jobs
over the next five years. It will also provide a huge boost to the
local community, creating a substantial platform for long-term
sustainable growth across the area through job creation, major
investment in a wide range of training schemes, and the development
and implementation of regeneration and investment funding.
Capita Symonds is one of the UK's largest and most diverse
multidisciplinary consultancies operating in the building design,
civil engineering, environment, management and transport sectors.
The company – which was named as ‘successful bidder’ for the
contract in May - has had a similar, award-winning joint venture in
place with four authorities in South East Wales for the last five
years - Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire and Torfaen
Councils. This successful partnership – based in Capita Symonds’
Cwmbran office - has delivered similar benefits through high
quality service delivery including the award-winning Ebbw Valley
Railway – the first new railway to be built in the UK for a
generation.
The new Capita Glamorgan Consultancy partnership comes under the
banner of the Welsh Assembly Government’s Making the Connections
strategy and subsequent Beecham Review for improvements in public
services – a wide-ranging policy for transforming the delivery of
public services across Wales. This unique shared services model
represents a major step forward bringing together the best of the
public and private sector, for a range of services – delivered
jointly by local resources in Wales.
Ian Germain, Director of the new Capita Glamorgan
Consultancy, said: “The new company not only protects our
long term future but also presents us with an exciting opportunity
for development and growth. This area of Wales has a long and proud
history of being at the forefront of industries such as engineering
and our unrivalled technical expertise will enable us to expand the
business while also creating significant job opportunities for the
local community.”
Graham Cogswell, Director Wales & the West, Capita
Symonds, said: “This is a major achievement and really
reinforces Capita Symonds’ position as the leading consultancy in
Wales. We have a proven track record of improving services and job
creation through local authority partnerships across the UK and
Wales in particular. The new company will add real value to the
South Wales economy while our investment plans will inspire,
challenge and engage with local communities.”
Richard Fletcher, Head of Street Scene, Bridgend County
Borough Council said: “Bridgend County Borough Council
looks forward to working in partnership with Capita Symonds and the
other local authorities in this exiting new venture. It provides
the new company with an excellent opportunity to consolidate and
grow its range of services, from new offices, to deliver benefits
to the three partner authorities and the wider community.”
Edward Foley, Head of Engineering, Merthyr Tydfil County
Borough Council said: “We are looking forward to the
development of the joint venture as a natural progression of the
existing collaborative arrangements we have enjoyed for the last
twelve years. The creation of a major new private/public venture in
conjunction with Capita Symonds presents a unique opportunity to
expand the resource base and critical mass of the partnership. This
will be accompanied by the advantage of competitive rates and local
community benefits including the retention of highly skilled local
employment opportunities along with training potential for much
needed future engineers and support staff.”
Councillor Paul Cannon, Cabinet Member for Economic
Development and Housing, Rhondda Cynon Taf, said: “We are
looking forward to working with the new joint venture, continuing
and progressing further still the excellent collaborative
arrangements of the GEC. The introduction of a private sector
partner will significantly enhance existing arrangements by
providing additional flexibility and a much larger resource base.
Capita Symonds’ proposals will enable us to obtain competitive
rates for this important service area whilst benefiting from
genuine expertise of local and national developments in highways
and related engineering works.”