CIVILS AND INFRASTRUCTURE
SHARING IDEAS AND BEST PRACTICE THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS
We have been honoured to commence several new partnerships in 2024, and we spoke about the Westminster Advisory Board of the Policy Liaison Group (PLG) on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), UKREiiF and others on pages 4 and 5. Industry bodies and clients within the Civils and Infrastructure sector have also been welcoming our input, so we are again seizing the opportunity to educate and advise. By leveraging our private sector experience in areas such as digital construction, sustainability and social value, and sharing it with industry bodies and contractors alike, we are helping to enhance highways schemes and develop more positive outcomes in the public sector.
CHARTERED INSTITUTION OF HIGHWAYS AND TRANSPORATION (CIHT) Winvic is an Associate member of the CIHT, a non-profit which represents and qualifies professionals who plan, design, build, manage, maintain, and operate transport and infrastructure, and we regularly get involved with their events and initiatives. We hosted a private roundtable event with Members in November on Decarbonisation, which you can read about in the January issue of Transportation Professional magazine, and our C&I team members hosted clients at the annual CIHT Luncheon in mid-December and networked with other industry professionals. Which you can read about in the January issue of Transportation Professional magazine. We have also supported the CIHT by sponsoring the Luncheon as well as the CIHT National Collaboration Award category, the CIHT West Midlands Innovation Award and the CIHT East Midlands Climate Action Award.


LOCAL COUNCIL ROADS INNOVATION GROUP (LCRIG) In January, we were thrilled to become an Associate Member of the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG), which is a Community Interest Company that ensures ongoing improvements in the highways sector by focusing on collaboration, innovation, skills and decarbonisation. LCRIG provides a vital link between central and local government, supply chain and the wider highways community, and it organises the Strictly Highways event, which we talk about below.
CIVIL ENGINEERING CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION (CECA)
CECA is the representative body for companies who work day-to-day to deliver, upgrade, and maintain the country’s infrastructure and we are members of CECA Midlands and CECA Yorkshire and The Humber. In July we were delighted to announce that Heidi Salmons, our Head of Marketing, Communications and Social Responsibility, had been appointed as the new Chair of the CECA Midlands Foundations Group, which supports organisations with their social sustainability journey. Justin Fitzgerald, Business Development Manager for Civils & Infrastructure also sits on the CECA Midlands Council.
The Foundations Group is made up of member employees in social value roles and Heidi will be helping to bring forward innovative solutions to benefit the whole industry and provide CECA members with the support, tools and resources they need to deliver social value impact, and not least to promote the civil engineering industry as a career of choice to future generations. The Group helped to generate over £30k of social value through the Tabor Living project in Birmingham, which provides support to those homeless or at risk of losing their home. They have also developed a social value toolkit and a free bespoke measuring tool, which is particularly helpful for SMEs that face barriers to accessing social value tools and resources. We were also please to support the CECA Midlands Awards in sponsoring the Lifetime Achievement Award and were proud to receive two commendations - Project of the Year Award (over £3m) and Most Promising Apprentice of the Year - which you can read about on page 15.


NATIONAL HIGHWAYS’ SUPPLY CHAIN COLLABORATIVE WORKING GROUPS
Our collaborative efforts with a total of 29 other contractors who have a place – like us – on the National Highways (NH) Scheme Delivery Framework (SDF) are industry leading. NH required all contractors in the north and south regions to join social value working groups and our Social Value Manager, Emma Rhymes, stepped up, to lead by example and enhance outcomes. She became Chair of the southeast group and Vice Chair or the north group, and then Chair in April 2024.
Emma shared Winvic’s tried and tested approach that focuses on local needs and promoted collaboration, gave one-to-one help to those with less experience, embedded new processes and created best practice resources. Emma and her working group colleagues have developed together, and their one goal approach has resulted in more ideas, more projects and more people’s lives changed. Plus, we are extremely proud that the Judges of the Highways Heroes Awards 2024 recognised Emma’s remarkable contributions, awarding her a prestigious Personal Impact Medal. The awards ethos is that no good deed or selfless act should go unnoticed, and you just can’t miss Emma’s tenacity for social value success. Winvic’s Head of Marketing, Communications and Social Responsibility, Heidi Salmons, who leads our Customer and Stakeholder work became Chair of the Asset Community East (ACE) Customer Working Group in November. Heidi will guide the group working closely with National Highways Supplier Relationship Team to enhance regional collaboration and promote best practice sharing within the ACE. Heidi has been working alongside Winvic’s SDF team, National Highways’ Strategic Customer Experience team, and other supply chain contractors as part of our ongoing Customer Maturity journey.
In October, at the start of National Customer Service Week, we were honoured to host a market stall at the National Highways Supply Chain Customer Best Practice Conference in Leicester, where we shared our best practice with other contractors. Since beginning our SDF journey, we are proud to have seen our Customer Maturity score improve, exceeding National Highways target in line with the Supply Chain Customer Maturity Model. We look forward to bringing fresh ideas and value to the ACE, further enhancing customer service excellence across the sector.

CHA-CHA-CHATTING WITH THE INDUSTRY AT STRICTLY HIGHWAYS
We were very excited to be exhibiting at the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG) Strictly Highways event at the start of October, which was held in the home of ballroom dancing, Blackpool, hence the name! We spoke to hundreds of people over the three-day event, sharing our project experience and innovative and sustainable insights.
On Day two, Winvic’s Civils and Infrastructure MD, Rob Cook participated in an insightful fireside chat with other industry leaders, sharing their journeys, leadership styles, and discussing the dynamics of the highways sector. We were also honoured to sponsor the Best of Britain Award at the Department for Transport (DfT) Special Recognition Awards, which took place during the event. Congratulations to Michael Hansford, former Highways Asset Management Team Leader at Dorset Council who won the award. We’re also proud to have been recognised finalists for Net Zero Project of the Year and Employer Initiative of the Year. Highways UK, just two weeks later, was also a fantastic event attended by Rob and our Civils and Infrastructure team. Members of our Social Value and Sustainability teams also attended and helped with the many meaningful conversations that took place on our busy stand about these important topics.


Having a spot right in front of the keynote theatre meant we connected with so many industry professionals and we heard all the interesting panel sessions and insightful talks from the likes of National Highways CEO Nick Harris and the Future of Roads Minister, Lilian Greenwood MP. Hot topics on the agenda included the future of infrastructure, sustainability, and the role of technology in shaping- our industry. Here are some of our stand highlights:
- Our visitors contributed to a greener future by scanning the QR code on our coffee cup sleeves to plant a tree.
- We supported social enterprise Half the Story by offering free biscuits, helping create job opportunities for people overcoming barriers like homelessness.
- We couldn’t be prouder of our apprentices, Viktoriia Grachova and Mohammed Sammad, who demonstrated the HP SitePrint robot as part of our innovation showcase which also include the Skyline Cockpit and Gamma AR as featured on page 5.
