Construction firm pumps £36m into local economy

More than £36m has been injected into the East Midlands construction supply chain in the last 12 months, thanks to a local construction company.

GF Tomlinson has established a long-term partnership with the Local Supply Chain (LSC) to ensure that small businesses and construction SMEs can secure work on future projects in the region.

Since launching the initiative 18 months ago, more than 1,000 opportunities for new business have been made available to the local supply chain and GF Tomlinson says it has secured almost 500 supply chain partners.

Local trade specialists such as groundworks, steelwork, bricklaying and plumbing businesses have been engaged to work with on future projects and in the last three months alone 65 new supply chain partners have been added to its supplier list.

Terry Milton, supply chain manager from GF Tomlinson said the partnership has helped to speed up the procurement process, resulting in better value for money for clients.

“As one of the leading construction companies in the region, we have become much more efficient in the use of our supply chain, with savings in time alone of nearly 30%, which we have been able to pass on to our clients,” said Milton.

“Because this new way of working allows greater transparency of supply chain partners, who have undergone the appropriate due diligence, we have been able to reduce approval time by over 80%, and have generated more than 1,000 new job opportunities for our local supply chain.”

The Local Supply Chain online portal has been developed in partnership with the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership and collates the details of current and future construction projects for supply chain partners.

Richard Radcliffe, CEO of LSC developer Firefly, said: “This is innovative use of an IT platform where using a simple system makes savings in time for both subcontractor and main contractor whilst delivering a very transparent service at extremely low cost.

“Contractors like G F Tomlinson have assurance that they are getting the best possible price from the supply chain and are contributing to supporting local economic growth.”