By appointing Walter Lilly you will be engaging our fully integrated Supply Chain. It is Walter Lilly’s aim to build strong relationships with all subcontractors and suppliers within our Supply Chain. Put simply, Walter Lilly promotes an environment of mutual trust and co-operation to achieve best value in all areas of pre, during and post construction. This enables us to accomplish the following:

• Achieve long-term, sustainable, competitive advantage.
• Develop a no blame pro-active culture.
• Open two-way communication and a forum to shared knowledge, information and best practice.
• Improve performance in respect of time, cost and quality.
• Support and encourage continuous improvement both internally and in all areas of our Supply Chain.

Capital spend with our Supply Chain equates to around 80% of Walter Lilly’s turnover, and the selection of appropriate subcontractors and suppliers directly influences how competitive we are in the market.

Before consideration for inclusion on the Supply Chain, all subcontractors must have submitted acceptable Health & Safety information for approval by the Health and Safety advisor. Credit checks are also carried out on all subcontractors and suppliers as a matter of course.

Before inclusion Walter Lilly’s Supply Chain team make a full assessment of all subcontractors and suppliers using information submitted in the pre-qualification questionnaire and visits to their place of work. This includes:

• Name and applicable addresses
• Contact details
• Activities / scopes of work undertaken
• Geographical coverage
• Health and Safety record (based on Health and Safety advisors approval for database)
• Technical abilities
• Trade and financial references
• Tax and insurance details

It is also important to take into account that certain labour intensive activities draw on locally sourced labour. This mostly applies to the more traditional trades within the Supply Chain.

Quality impacts on all areas of our business, along with time and cost. Walter Lilly prides itself on the quality of its work and the quality of the service offered by our Supply Chain and is assessed in the following areas:

• Quality of tender service and quotations
• Adherence to specification
• Quality of works as they proceed
• Quality of operatives
• Quality of supervision
• Quality of commercial information and price build ups
• Quality of finished works

In order to deliver the objectives of our Supply Chain policy and procedures, it is necessary to establish performance criteria in all areas of our business for each of the subcontractors, suppliers and Walter Lilly itself. The results of this 360 degree feedback enable us to improve performance and, where necessary, take corrective action or put improvement plans in place.

Performance assessments are carried out monthly. The Supply Chain team issue collated results both internally and to applicable subcontractors on a quarterly basis. Should the results fall below the required performance levels, the Supply Chain team will set up meetings to discuss the issues raised and where necessary agree a corrective action plan.

The aims of performance measurement are to:

• Deliver continuous improvement
• Support subcontractor selection
• Demonstrate best value
• Allow the business to manage by fact
• Establish the causes of poor performance
• Maintain efficient performance and high motivation
• Create the basis for subcontractor development programmes

It is our collective responsibility to consider the impact of all aspects of the business on the environment and to consider more sustainable methods and materials. The subcontractors and suppliers within the Supply Chain will not only be required to comply fully with Walter Lilly’s environmental policy but also to develop their own environmental policy. In addition, the subcontractor should also offer more environmentally friendly and sustainable alternatives for consideration in their particular field of expertise.