Could the answer to the financial and service delivery challenges facing Scotland’s public sector organisations be right in front of them?
For the last 15-years the five hub companies set up as public-private partnerships have been delivering community infrastructure projects for the local authorities, health boards and wider public sector bodies.
Part of the original premise for the hubcos was to use private investment to help finance badly needed schools, hospitals and health centres, community and emergency services facilities through Design, Build, Finance and Maintain (DBFM) schemes.
That resulted in more than £2.2bn of DBFM projects successfully delivered by the hubcos and currently in operation.
Undaunted, the hubcos continued to work with their public sector partners on delivering capital projects and evolving their offer to more than just buildings.
The hubcos have become development partners now offering support and advice on key areas such as economic strategies, service reform planning, masterplanning and place-making in the context of infrastructure.
They are also supporting crucial national, regional and local policy matters such as place-making, net zero carbon, inclusive economic growth, and social impact.
That has allowed each hub to tailor its services to meet the specific needs of their own territory but more importantly they are now working together in a ‘Hub Scotland’ approach which can also deliver nationally.
The hub model has a track record in delivering projects, the required local expertise and can operate nationally at scale
- Richard Park
A recent illustration of that was at this year’s UK Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) in Leeds in May where the hubcos worked with the Scottish Cities Alliance to create an ambitious housing prospectus offering investors the opportunity to unlock 170,000 new homes across Scotland over 20-years.
Richard Park, chief executive of hub North Scotland, described the prospectus, as the most exciting opportunity he has seen since the hubcos were first created.
He explained: “The hub model is perfect for opportunities like this. It has a well-proven track record in delivering projects, the required local expertise and can operate nationally at scale.”
Hub South West Scotland has already delivered more than 1000 affordable homes while neighbouring Hub West Scotland is currently developing more than 800, including almost 400
energy efficient family homes
as part of the Wyndford regeneration for Wheatley Homes in Glasgow.
Other pioneering initiatives include the North Schools Programme created with local authority partners to deliver new learning estate in a single programme of work which has allowed the sharing of best practice and design to bring significant savings opportunities and social impact benefits.
Hub North has also been appointed by the Highland Council to deliver the new Highland Investment Plan, a £2.1bn programme of work over 20-years with the development of the first £750m of projects already under way.
The current national hub programme is worth £6b with £3.5b of that already built and in operation. The key deliverable from that has been social impact with more than £1b of added value benefits including over 700 apprenticeships, local supply chain spend and supporting 6,000 jobs during construction.
Brian Craig, chief executive of hub East Central Scotland points out the hub approach brings cost certainty by de-risking development costs and accelerating delivery while sharing learning across the hub Scotland collaboration.
His opposite number at hub West Scotland, Iain Marley, believes the hubs can add even more value as the public sector reform agenda speeds up: “Reform will demand stronger collaboration, smarter use of public assets and delivery models that improve outcomes while controlling whole-life cost.”
On top of all that there is also the question of how to fund future public sector investment in the face of increasing costs and restrictive budget pressures.
Park is clear in his view: “We need infrastructure investment to help achieve the best health, education and economic outcomes as outlined within the recently published Programme for Government.
“The hubs can deliver that at pace to meet those needs – but we need the political consensus to make that happen.”