WORDS: JOANNE BARRETT
PICTURE: TOM BANKS
New funding
programme to boost
County Durham
construction firms
A
new business support programme
has been launched to help
construction industry firms in
County Durham win more work.
Called Construction Routes to Contract
Success, it will run for two years and is
targeting SMEs in the sector and its extensive
supply chain.
The programme is commissioned by
Business Durham’s Durham Business
Opportunities Programme (DBOP) and
funded through the European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF)
The programme will offer tailored support
to firms through a number of events and
initiatives with a focus on helping companies
sharpen their approach to bidding for new
contracts and winning new sales orders.
It launched at the end of July with a virtual
event and 27 businesses have already signed
up to take part.
“We are hands-on to help people win work,”
said Garry Stone, managing director of B2B
North, the company which will deliver the
DBOP project managed by Business Durham.
“The programme will run workshops,
consult with all the different representative
groups and make sure we focus on what’s
needed at the right time.
“Any business in the sector in County
Durham can get involved.
“We delivered a successful programme last
year to all businesses in Durham, it ran over
10 months and construction was a strong part
of it.
“There is real potential for local businesses
Business Durham’s business
engagement officer Guy
Bashford, B2B North managing
director Garry Stone and
associate director Andrew
Wilson are excited about
new support programme for
construction companies.
to step up, and for us to help with whatever
they need to win more work – whether it’s
taking the step from domestic into contract
work, securing subcontracting, winning that
first tender, or making that next move up as
an established business.”
DBOP will offer a combination of tailored
activities both online and face to face, when
Covid safety regulations allow. There’ll be
expert briefings and one-to-one sessions as
well as networking events to open up tender
processes and brief businesses on how best to
position themselves to win contracts.
It will connect to the supply chain and
subcontracting opportunities in a bid to join
up needs with the right suppliers and help
firms develop tender, proposal and quotation
writing skills.
The programme aims to build on the
success of another DBOP project called
Routes to Success which has already helped
firms win in excess of £2m worth of new
contracts.
DBOP Construction is aimed at the
county’s construction industry and its supply
chain – including all specialist consultancy,
supply and support services through every
stage of planning, build and fitting out across
all types of projects.
In 2017 the accumulated value of all UK
construction businesses measured through
gross value added (GVA) was £97 billion. The
North-East region contributed £3.2 billion
BUILDING
BLOCKS
and in County Durham, the figure was put at
£611m.
A survey identified barriers to companies
bidding for and winning work from a
procurement perspective.
This programme will help ensure that
when opportunities do come around, County
Durham firms have all they skills they need
to bid for and win contracts, said Business
Durham’s business engagement officer Guy
Bashford.
“This project builds on our experiences
with the 50 businesses we supported last year.
To help them raise their aspirations and build
the confidence they needed to encourage
them to bid for and win contracts in both the
public and private sectors,” added Guy.
“The programme ran for 10 months and
a lot of businesses involved belonged to the
construction sector so we felt that there was a
demand there.
“County Durham and the North-East offers
a whole host of opportunities so we feel it is
very important to work with local suppliers to
ensure those opportunities are accessible.”
The two-year programme is open to SMEs
with up to 250 employees across County
Durham.
To find out more about how to get involved
and what support is available, head to
businessdurham.co.uk/dbop or
b2bnorth.co.uk.
The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 13