News

“An exceptional past and an exceptional future” is how LHC’s Group Managing Director, Clive Feeney, opened day one of our annual staff summer conference.  

Almost 70 colleagues from each of our regions across the UK gathered to meet, greet and collaborate as we celebrated our first full year as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. 

Our momentum of growth and investment in people has been demonstrated with a 20% increase in employee numbers this year, and a further 13 imminent appointments in the coming months, making the event another great occasion to welcome new starters to the LHC family. In line with our growth, we have also been proud to prioritise equal opportunities and a diverse workforce achieving a gender profile split of 43% male and 57% female across all levels, including the Board and senior management, and 29% representing multiple nationalities and rich cultures.  

Plans for the future, with a nod to our past  

The two-day conference was the perfect opportunity to hear important business updates from the past 12 months, and learn more about our vision and future plans from the senior executive team and department heads. We were delighted to also welcome our Board Chairman, Simon Wilson, to join us.  

As day one commenced, there was a celebratory feel in the air combined with an underlying buzz of the events ahead. The conference opened with a welcome address from Simon Wilson, followed by Clive Feeney who gave a reminder of where LHC began almost 60 years ago – with a pledge to establish common social and technical standards within the industry – something which we still remain committed to today. LHC’s Chief Operating Officer, Jennifer Castle, continued with  business and organisational updates from the group and the vision and plans for the next phase of growth. 

Our Director of Communities, George Stevens, held a Q and A session of what lies at the very core of everything we do, social value, and the impact areas of our Social Value strategy. George shared how the values of the strategy can be carried through our day-to-day roles to ensure we all deliver on our commitments of improving lives and places and impacting the local communities around us.  

We also heard from our newly appointed Director of Innovation, Shona Snow, who shared her visions for the future and untapped opportunities for growth.  

Unique updates  

Interjected by the evenings dinner, drinks and a touch of light hearted entertainment, day two continued with updates from each of our regional teams and their exciting plans for the next 12 months and beyond. Each team delivered their updates in unique and engaging ways that reflected the personality of each region. We had Rocky videos, super heroes and even had a grand entrance to the sound of the Bagpipes from Scottish Procurement Alliance!  

To close the event we had everyone on their feet with a marketing and brand workshop delivered by Head of Marketing, Justin Costello and our PR agency. We heard from the regions with some real-life, social value stories demonstrating how the community benefit fund and charity partnerships have delivered projects and positive impact to local communities and how those projects have made a real difference to people within them.  

Proud of our people  

Celebrating our teams and acknowledging their commitments is important at LHC as we recognise that all our people share something in common; incredible talent and a drive and desire to truly improve the lives and places of people in local communities. We foster innovation and technical excellence and encourage our people to impart LHC’s values. The event gave a perfect opportunity to bring that talent together to collaborate and share ideas for our growth going forward.  

Jennifer Castle, Chief Operating Officer, commented: “The conference provided a fantastic opportunity to bring all our people together under one roof and share our ideas and visions for LHC’s future. The aptitude and dedication of our people is clear to see in the stories they shared during the conference, and the obvious enthusiasm they all hold to deliver our mission of improving lives and places and the local communities they are all placed in.” 

“We appreciate the hard work and collective abilities that drives our business forward and makes our achievements possible and a thanks must go out to each and every one of the LHC family.  

Above all, we left the event excited for the next phase of our growth and a drive to continuously deliver positive changes to the local communities around us.” 

 
The two-day conference closed with team photos under the summer sun as we bid a fond farewell to colleagues and returned to our regions to continue the good work, taking with us the inspiration to really make a difference.  
 
A fantastic time was had by all…until next time! 

If you’re interested in joining LHC and working to really make a difference, you can view our latest vacancies here:  

https://www.lhcprocure.org.uk/about-us/work-with-us/