Our Swimming with the Matchmaker Service is all about building relationships that lead to long-term collaboration between the ‘Big Fish’ and SMEs.

While our focus is on helping SMEs to secure framework agreements with Programme and Project Partners’ appointed to Key Delivery Partners, we’re also working hard to identify other opportunities for the SMEs and microbusinesses that have been through the Matchmaker process. This includes encouraging collaboration between SMEs and microbusinesses, particularly through our Quarterly Connect meetings, as well as identifying and promoting opportunities to secure work on other major projects with major contractors.

That’s why a number of Matchmaker businesses will be heading to Sir Robert McAlpine’s ‘Meet the Buyer’ event for the exciting Carlisle Citadels campus project on Tuesday, June 13. The Matchmaker Service has built a strong working relationship with Sir Robert McAlpine as the Key Delivery Partner for KDP8 Concrete Structures, Groundworks and Blockwork package. The business is also the sole contractor for the University of Cumbria project, which has £75m worth of supply chain opportunities that are particularly relevant to SMEs.

Given the phased nature of the project, combining elements of new build, refurbishment and works to heritage structures, there are many opportunities to take part in this exciting scheme for business with existing experience and skills in the following trades:

• Acoustic Walls/Ceiling/Panels
• Aluminium Windows
• Architectural Metalwork
• Asbestos/Contaminates Removal
• Asphalt Roofing
• Bulk Excavation & Fill
• Ceramic Tiling
• Curtain Walling
• Decorations
• Demolition
• Diamond Drilling
• Drainage Brickwork/Blockwork
• External Doors & Roller Shutters
• Fencing
• Fire Protection
• Floor Finishes
• Furniture/Fittings
• Glazed Screens
• Hard Landscaping
• Highway Works
• Hoardings
• Hygienic Wall Cladding
• Insitu Concrete Frame
• Internal Doors & General Joinery
• Lifts
• Lightning Protection
• Louvres
• M & E Services
• Metal Cladding
• Metal Decking
• Partitions/Dry lining/ Suspended Ceilings
• Piling
• Pre-cast Concrete (Superstructure)
• Raised Access Flooring
• Roof Safety Access Systems
• Rooflights
• Scaffolding
• Secondary Steelwork
• Site Establishment
• Soft Landscaping/Planting
• Stone Feature Cladding
• Street Furniture
• Structural Steelwork
• Temporary Electrics
• Temporary Works
• Toilet Cubicles/IPS

If you can help deliver this project, the details for the Meet the Buyer event are below.

Date: Tuesday, 13th June 2023
Location: Carlisle Station Hotel (in the Ballroom) Court Square, Carlisle, CA1 1QY
Time: 9am-2pm
Programme: Start on site January 2024 – potential early start October 2023
Value: £75m supply chain opportunities
Scope: New educational and amenity space for students and staff at the University of Cumbria
RSVP: rachel.lloyd-moseley@srm.com or phil.armstrong@srm.com

You can read the latest media coverage about the event by clicking here.

And you can discover more about the Swimming with the Matchmaker Service and its progress so far by clicking here.