The University of Bath has teamed up with French power giant EDF Energy to launch a pioneering research partnership aimed at improving the management of supply chains in major capital schemes and including more local firms.
The Hinkley Point C Supply Chain Innovation Lab will be based in the university’s School of Management and will bring together academics, managers and policy-makers. 
EDF Energy is behind the next-generation Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset, pictured right in a CGI image, which is now under construction.
As one of the UK’s most complex infrastructure projects, it faces huge challenges of orchestrating a global supply chain to deliver it on time, to specification and on budget.
EDF Energy is committed to devising innovative ways of working and has developed a consortia approach for its suppliers, enabling local companies to join forces to bid for contracts that would otherwise remain out of reach.
The new Innovation Lab will analyse how this model could help inform future UK capital projects and potentially give local suppliers bigger roles in the construction process.
EDF Energy’s funding of the lab will lead to a number of new research posts at the university.
School of Management dean Prof Veronica Hope Hailey said: “We are delighted to enter into a partnership with EDF Energy. We are working with them on many different projects, all of which demonstrate that big business can be a 'force for good' in the social and economic development of a region.”
University president and vice-chancellor Prof Dame Glynis Breakwell added: “Our School of Management is a world leader in supply chain research and education. The size, spend and complexity of Hinkley Point C presents an outstanding opportunity to study and analyse a truly global supply chain.”
The Hinkley Point C project has already led to 650 jobs and will create 25,000 employment opportunities over the construction period. When fully operational it will generate enough electricity for around 6m homes.
Innovation Lab director Prof Brian Squire said: “First, we want to create new knowledge by examining the behaviours and structures of complex supply networks.
“Second, we want to disseminate that knowledge for the purposes of improving industry practice, creating better policy and inspiring the next generation of supply chain professionals.”
EDF Energy Hinkley Point C commercial director Ken Owen added: “EDF Energy’s partnership with the University of Bath will enable other major infrastructure projects to learn from our approach to procurement for Hinkley Point C, where we have created a global supply chain while still supporting businesses local to the project.
“We have already put £465m into local and family-owned firms when we could easily have just gone to national companies to take on some of the project’s most important contracts.
“Instead, we worked to build-up local companies to do the same jobs, effectively creating national companies from local businesses by helping them work together.”
