We believe procurement should do more than secure infrastructure; it should actively shape better places and stronger communities. The St Helens Digital Infrastructure Programme (DIP) is a clear example of how procurement, when designed with intent, can become a powerful mechanism for delivering measurable social value alongside commercial and technical success.
Delivered in partnership with St Helens Borough Council and Elevate, the programme demonstrates how social value can be embedded end‑to‑end, from business case and procurement strategy through to delivery, governance and long‑term legacy.
The St Helens DIP set out to deliver an open‑access, town‑centre‑wide full‑fibre network connecting over 2,000 businesses and surrounding homes. However, the Council’s ambition went further, using digital investment as a catalyst for inclusion, skills development and regeneration in a town centre where analysis showed 56% of residents were classed as “e‑Withdrawn”.
Founds Group supported the Council as Procurement and Programme Lead specialists, ensuring social value was not treated as a reporting add‑on, but embedded into the business case, procurement design and governance framework from day one.
An innovative competitive procedure with negotiation was adopted, enabling structured engagement with bidders, early alignment with place‑based objectives and the refinement of social value commitments before final tender submission. Social value was weighted at 20% of quality scoring and assessed with the same rigour as technical and commercial proposals.
Crucially, commitments were required to be defined, costed, deliverable and measurable, supported by a delivery framework and robust Governance structure through the build phase. This ensured that social value was contractually binding and actively governed throughout the programme’s lifecycle.
The results demonstrate how procurement‑led delivery can translate infrastructure investment into tangible outcomes for people, place and public services.
Infrastructure and economic outcomes
- Delivered three months ahead of schedule
- 12.6km of new fibre installed
- 85% town‑centre coverage
- Connectivity enabled for 2,243 businesses and 1,000 homes
- Over £1.2m of industry investment, alongside £2.1m of Govt funding
Social value outcomes
- Over £600k of social value delivered, independently assessed via the Social Value Portal
- 10 temporary FTE construction jobs and 3 permanent FTE roles
- 1,000+ hours of school and college engagement, supporting digital education and careers awareness
- £40k invested in skills, employment and digital learning initiatives
Digital inclusion
- Introduction of an affordable social tariff (£20/month) for residents in receipt of benefits
- Targeted outreach supporting vulnerable and digitally excluded residents
- A free lifetime 1Gbps community connection donated to a local town‑centre charity, providing long‑term benefit to the voluntary sector
Environmental impact
- 2,101.78 tCO₂e savings, achieved through material reuse, recycling, and a coordinated “dig‑once” approach aligned with other town‑centre works
The programme has also received national recognition, after being named a finalist in the Let’s Celebrate Towns Competition by VISA and the British Retail Consortium for connectivity and place‑based awards, validating the approach as best practice beyond the borough.
What sets the St Helens DIP apart is how far it moved beyond standard contractual expectations.
Local employment was embedded directly into programme delivery, not only through supplier commitments, but through Founds Group’s own actions. Rainhill resident Josh Abley was appointed to the project team as a Project Support Officer. Josh supported governance, coordination and delivery across project phases, ensuring local people were not just beneficiaries of the infrastructure, but part of delivering it.
Governance also extended beyond the contract boundary. Social value decisions were aligned through Town Deal and Smart Borough governance, involving elected members and community representatives in determining how benefits were allocated, including merit‑based selection of voluntary organisations to receive lifetime digital connectivity.
The success of affordability and inclusion measures has since acted as a catalyst for further Council investment, supporting the development of an open‑access town‑centre Wi‑Fi network and extending digital inclusion benefits across multiple public‑sector services.
The St Helens Digital Infrastructure Programme shows what is possible when procurement is used deliberately to deliver place‑based outcomes. By embedding social value into how projects are procured, governed and delivered, infrastructure investment can create lasting economic, social and digital inclusion benefits.
At Founds Group, this approach underpins our work across digital infrastructure, highways, transport, and placemaking, helping public‑sector partners move from compliance to impact, and from delivery to long‑term legacy.
Hayley O’Brien, MSc, the Senior Project Manager in charge of the delivery, sums up the delivery by commenting
“This Project, and the partnership between Founds Group, Elevate and St Helens Council, is the foundation for the whole Town Centre regeneration. The innovative use of procurement with negotiation ensured that the needs and aspirations of all partners were not only met, but exceeded, which in turn has had monumental benefits for the people of St Helens. This is the perfect example of how working collaboratively from the offset can bring true, meaningful change stemming from infrastructure projects more widely”.