We recently signed up for a two day expo in Manchester called “North England Build 2016”. In truth however, we only attended the first day to learn more about the Northern Powerhouse. After all, you could spend your life attending conferences but is that best use of your time, is it really adding value? Well this expo did do all of that as it was local, it was free and it was informative. It did not take me out of the business for days, so answered all my objectives for time well spent.

We heard the opening Keynote presentation from Dr David Hancock – Head of Construction, The Cabinet Office. The main headlines from David were:

1. Government Construction Strategy was published on 23^rd March 2016 and was on the website.
2. We need to save £1.7 billion – it is achievable if we identify new ways of working.
3. Government needs to be a better Client.
4. Government want to bring industry together and share best practice.
5. Emphasised the importance of the industry but warned we need to be more efficient.
6. Biggest challenge is with skills – we need 100,000 more people but must retain 250,000 to deliver programme.
7. £163 billion in construction and £400 billion in infrastructure.
8. Need to improve image issue within the industry – we need to make it more attractive.
9. Not enough women in the industry it remains at 17%.
10. Require long term relationships – it’s about collaboration.

So against this backcloth we heard from a panel of speakers about the Northern Powerhouse. The panel were:

1. Ben Harrison – Director of Partnerships, Centre for Cities.
2. Alison Gordon – Director of Project Development, New Economy.
3. Councillor James Lewis – Deputy Leader, Leeds City Council.

There followed a very interesting panel debate with questions from the floor and the moderator for the session. Here are some of the headlines from the debate:

1. Northern Powerhouse is still a concept.
2. It has constantly changed over the last 18 months and we will have to wait to see what it becomes.
3. Devolution will have a major impact with respect to investment internally & overseas and planned transport plans linking cities.
4. We need to brand regions both nationally and internationally.
5. New relationships between cities will determine the scale of ambition.
6. We do not know how Northern Powerhouse & Devolution will fit together.
7. The real prize is when we get real collaboration between cities in the Northern Powerhouse.
8. Principle of Devolution is that one size does not fit all.
9. What power will Mayors have in the deal and what power do combined authorities retain?
10. We need to understand where growth is and unlock the potential in northern cities.

The event was very good for obtaining a fresh perspective and was a very good local event at no cost, which added real value.