Communication and Collaboration

PFI handback is a multi-layered project which requires comprehensive stakeholder management. As handbacks should take around a decade to complete and are part of longer-term contracts anyway, it is crucial for all relevant parties to agree on clearly defined objectives and a strategic vision of future service delivery that satisfies the contractually required conditions early on. This will take hard decisions and negotiation. But given the lack of specificity in the handback criteria, it’s a necessary step to give less room for dispute during implementation.

With so many people involved in each project, the collaboration piece is really important to ensure all parties are aligned with the needs of the handback process, alongside the business-as-usual requirements of the estate. This requires building rapport with other teams quickly. It also requires open, transparent, and honest conversations about the condition of the assets, and taking advice from the existing service provider or local authority who will already have state of the asset reports.

Leadership and Management

It’s vital that managers coming onto Handback projects from SPVs, consultancies or other service providers engage with the other teams from the off. Handback professionals report cases where several unique conditions surveys are completed for one asset by different stakeholders, as trust has not been built between the parties. This can cause real issues and additional cost for a project, including dispute from the start, and the introduction of conflicting data into what is already a complicated and often ambiguous process. Before surveys are done, teams must agree on the terms of the contract and push for one survey.

This example shows the difficulty management on these contracts can have in providing a clear way forward for all parties. Collaborative leadership is crucial to reducing waste in the project, as is quick decision making, and clarity on expected outcomes. Companies need to strongly consider the people-management skills necessary to build the trust and relationships required. This makes managerial soft skills such as communication, emotional intelligence and conflict resolution essential to successful PFI handback.

Changing Environment

It is also crucial to have leaders on handback teams who are adaptable and resilient, who will be able to deal with unforeseen circumstances and abrupt changes. Most PFI contracts cover highly dynamic, high-use public buildings with substantial maintenance requirements, heavy footfall, and critical provision. Careful consideration needs to be taken on every contract to understand whether the 7-year advisory period will be long enough for that unique contract.

Stakeholders will also need to account for asset maintenance to meet the conditions stipulated in contract for expiry, alongside what needs to be done to update the building. Updates could include those to meet various sustainability obligations and targets intended to deliver on decarbonisation initiatives, those used to shape future service delivery, and to meet new safety requirements that will be put in place and updated over the next decade, to cause minimal disruption to the users and business as usual functioning of the buildings.

Successful handback is people-orientated, with close collaboration between all parties and flexibility to meet the changing nature of the assets, and bring that in line with the contract requirements. Part of this will come from learning from others, and sharing case studies from a centralised space within the industry on successful handbacks and best practice, which will benefit the whole industry going forward.