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About The Construction & Property Advisory Service
The IPF Construction & Property Advisory Service (CPAS) run in association with SCALA has now been running for over 10 years and has become the first port of call for many Public Sector Construction and Property Professionals across England and Wales seeking information and advice. Our growing Membership demonstrates the continuing value and relevance of the Service and the growing importance that professional development plays for Public Sector Construction and Property Professionals.
The strong and active membership also means that on your behalf we have been able to develop contacts and gain influence on a whole range of government and non-government bodies in relation to Construction and Property issues. This gives CPAS Members a community voice and the opportunity to influence debate and change.
CPAS is a resource that many Local Government Practitioners find invaluable. The rapid pace of Public Sector reform makes it difficult to keep up-to-date with all the latest developments in relation to Construction and Property. This is where the CPAS Forum comes into its own keeping you abreast of the very latest in legislation, government initiatives and best practice. It filters the mountains of paper, consultation documents, policies and strategies that land on your desk week by week. It tells you what they say, what you should do about them, what to read and maybe most importantly, what not to read!
If you work in the Construction or Property field within the Public Sector and you want to keep up to date, then CPAS is an essential tool.
Here is a summary of the wide range of topics that we have covered at our regional events over the past couple of years:
- Advanced Option Appraisal
- Legionella
- Strategic Whole Life Appraisal
- Business Models
- Sustainable Construction
- EU Procurement Regulations
- Procuring Buildings for Integrated Service Delivery
- Partnering Contracts
- Risk Management
- Project Management Tools (PRINCE2 v Gateway)
- IT in Construction
- Prudential Code for Dummies
- Freedom of Information Act
The challenges ahead do not discriminate between size or type of Authority, these challenges face all local authority construction and property professionals and everyone can draw upon the strengths of the Service in meeting them head-on.
Some of the challenges include:
- Tackling the growing repair & maintenance backlog issue by exploring different approaches to making a step change.
- The impact of landmark Health & Safety prosecutions within Construction & Property.
- The increasingly difficult task of identifying construction & property Efficiencies that can contribute to organisational efficiency targets under Gershon and Making the Connections.
- Measuring and Benchmarking building and Property Services performance using both National and Local Performance measures.
- The rising importance of Emergency & Contingency Planning.
- The critical role of Option Appraisal in project planning, including analysis of risk and sensitivity.
- Understanding and reducing the impact of our buildings on climate change.
- Changes to legislation, including the shift of emphasis in the Building Regulations, from ‘Specification’ to ‘Building Performance’.
- Responding to the continuing challenge of best use of resources under Comprehensive Performance Assessment and Wales Programme for Improvement.
- Applying whole life costing and appraisal techniques and tools
- Continuing to exploit the freedoms presented by the Prudential Code by developing robust business case approaches.
- Responding to increased demand for shared services and shared buildings.
- Responding to the ‘challenges’ that might arise from the potentially major changes to the structure of Local Government across England and Wales.
Through our links with SCALA, the Federation of Property Societies, CLAW, The Audit Commission, DCLG, IDeA, The Welsh Assembly, The Scottish Executive, RICS, Local Government Task Force, Regional Centres of Excellence and our own experience of supporting many individual Authorities over several years, CPAS can provide unparalleled support to face these challenges.
Membership of CPAS is considered essential in order to move forward on this journey. It will help in providing a ‘road map’ to developing construction & property professionals and real improvement in the delivery of Property Services.
One of the strengths of the Service is that the content of events and presentations is directly influenced by the things you say you want us to cover and we will continue to respond to ensure that all the events throughout the year are as lively, informative and useful as ever.
We understand the changes that you need to make and the outcomes you have to achieve and we also understand the constraints, barriers and difficulties that you face.
The advantages to you are clear:
- You will always be up to date with information
- You will have access to best practice from across the Country
- You will have access to specialist expertise
- You will be part of the process able to assist in its development
- You will have a readily available range of topical events to help you develop you and your workforce and keep up-to-date with latest developments – servicing architects, quantity surveyors, property managers, facilities managers, procurement officers, and other professional, technical and administrative staff.
The benefits of joining the IPF Construction & Property Advisory Service:
- Flexibility to ‘spend’ your annual allocation of FREE DELEGATE PLACES at any of the three UpdatePlus+ series of regional events or any of the additional specific training events during your membership year.
- FREE online access to all presentations and supporting materials from current and past events in the ‘Members Only’ areas of the web site (even the events you didn’t attend).
- FREE advice, guidance and information over the telephone, from our web site, by email and in person at our events - the support we provide does not end when the event has finished!
- FREE online Discussion Forum.
- FREE CD Rom at every event, containing full course materials.
- FREE online Job Pages.
- The opportunity to network with other construction and property professionals to share experience and best practice.
- Regular FREE e-alerts on important issues
- Discounts to a number of other IPF Property related products and services
And finally, please remember that membership belongs to the Local Authority. We do not limit your free places and other membership benefits to just Construction & Property professionals. You can send or bring along to events; Finance Managers, Service Managers, Procurement Managers and Elected Members – in fact anyone whom you think would benefit from attending and that would improve the integration of Construction and Property within your Organisation.
We do hope that you will consider becoming a member of the IPF Construction & Property Advisory Service, should you require a subscription form or details of any of our other services please contact:-
Denise Edwards
Senior Business Support Officer
 01244 394600
If you would like an informal discussion with one of our expert Construction & Property Consultants please contact either:
David Bentley
IPF / CIPFA Head of Asset Management
07710 368711
Or
Chris Brain
Senior Consultant
07919 018 753
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