FM Conway - Going the Extra Mile

Going the Extra Mile

With our developing emphasis on self-delivery and our commitment to recycling, we were positioned to sweep the board with the competition. And that’s pretty much what we did.

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nd our investment in recycling proved its worth from the very first day. At the same time that we were installing our new crusher, the London Boroughs were making some very important changes to their Term Contracts. Their main aim, of course, was to reduce their costs by outsourcing and reducing their own direct labour organisations. But they were also keen to respond to the new political atmosphere, which was increasingly in favour of ‘green’ development. So, they were making three key changes. Firstly, they were actively looking for and rewarding ‘green’ initiatives such as recycling. Secondly, they were penalising the tipping of waste by increasing their landfill charges. And thirdly, they were looking for savings on their contractors’ bills by bundling the Term Contracts together, and by extending the duration of the contracts from the customary two years to as long as six, seven, or even ten years. So, where we had previously had to tender separately for Highways, Carriageways, Cleansing, etc., we could now tender for them all in one go. And if we managed to get the contract, we would have it for anything from six to ten years. The changes put a huge amount of pressure on the tendering process. The stakes were enormous: winning or losing could make or break a company’s fortunes. But it couldn’t have suited us better. With our developing emphasis on self-delivery and our commitment to recycling, we were positioned to sweep the board with the competition. And that’s pretty much what we did. The first of these new ‘super contracts’ had already happened a couple of years earlier in 1998 with the London Borough of Lewisham. In addition to extending the term of the contract and the range of services, Lewisham was also laying off its own direct labour force. We

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