Ardal, an innovative procurement service led by Cardiff Council has announced two new appointments to support its collaborative procurement delivery – Jemma Downes joins as Framework Manager and Erin Ryan-Phillips as Senior Strategy Officer for Carbon.
Key regional procurement frameworks including the well-established SEWSCAP (buildings construction framework), SEWH (highways framework), and SEWTAPS (South East Wales Technical and Professional Services), all sit under the Ardal umbrella.
Jemma joins Ardal with responsibility for leading and coordinating framework activities, ensuring effective management across the collaborative frameworks and will play an important role in continuing the success of the frameworks on a regional, all-Wales, and national level.
Erin is leading Ardal’s work in decarbonising its supply chain to support the Welsh Government’s ambition of achieving a carbon neutral public sector by 2030. Ardal aims to embed and promote low-carbon choices and circular economy principles into all procurement opportunities, ensuring sustainable procurement is considered at all parts of the procurement lifecycle.
Commenting on the appointments, Gemma Ellis, Interim Head of Procurement at Cardiff Councils says: “I am delighted to welcome Jemma and Erin to the team; Ardal has strong aspirations to deliver procurement differently, meeting the real challenges society faces, and these appointments are crucial to reinforcing our strategy, and meeting our aims and objectives.
“Not only are we focusing on carbon reduction and bringing our supply chain and contractors on that journey, but we aim to lead by example in delivering socially responsible procurement, increased collaboration, and greater community impact. These are our core objectives and the appointment of Jemma and Erin will help us deliver on those.”
Ardal is a collaborative procurement partnership between Cardiff Council, Monmouthshire County Council, Torfaen County Borough Council, and the Vale of Glamorgan Council and was formed to meet the needs of a rapidly evolving procurement landscape. It uses its shared collective expertise to provide solutions in line with Welsh Government legislation, including the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023.
