What PlaceSense does
In six weeks I built the eligibility framework for a £1bn national fund, designed the assessment process, and opened it to applications. High stakes, political complexity, and no room for error: that is what PlaceSense is built for.
The work falls into three areas: securing funding, mobilising programmes, and keeping programmes honest. Most engagements draw on more than one of them.
There are three ways to engage. A focused sprint with a clear scope and a written output, typically days or weeks. An ongoing senior advisory relationship, retained. Or as a named senior specialist within a larger consultancy or contractor team, where Green Book, governance, or programme expertise needs to be credibly present in the offer. All engagements are scoped tightly, with clear decision points.
I work with public bodies and with the consultancies and contractors working alongside them. Most of my work sits at the intersections where major programmes stall: between policy and delivery, between public and private, between local and national, between the organisation and its projects. Those are the places where the decisions that determine whether a programme succeeds or fails actually happen.
Securing funding
Investment cases written, stress-tested, or reframed so they secure approval. Strategic Outline Cases through Full Business Cases, against the Green Book and the Five Case Model. Funding bids and applications to UK Government, devolved governments, and strategic authorities.
Most cases that fail don't fail on the economics. They fail because the framing is wrong.
I have written Green Book business cases that secured HM Treasury approval and Scottish Government funding. I have sat on the approving side at DfE and MHCLG. I know what passes and why across the full Five Case Model: strategic, economic, commercial, financial, and management cases.
Sprint: Investment Readiness Review. A structured assessment of your case against Green Book requirements, with a written evaluation and prioritised recommendations. Suitable at any stage from SOC to FBC. Typically two to three weeks.
Advisory: Direct, ongoing support for senior leaders working through investment decisions, funding negotiations, or business case development.
Partnership: Specialist Green Book, economics, or investment appraisal expertise within a broader engagement, working alongside your team as a named subcontract specialist.
Mobilising programmes
Standing programmes up so they go live ready to deliver. Operating models, governance frameworks, decision routes, assurance arrangements, and the operational infrastructure that means the programme works on day one rather than three months in.
The goal is always structures that give senior responsible owners the confidence to make decisions, without adding process weight.
I mobilised the £1bn Building Safety Fund for MHCLG in six weeks. I designed and launched the £440m Condition Improvement Fund at DfE and also played key roles in the mobilisation of the Free Schools and Priority Schools Building Programmes.
Sprint: Day One Readiness Review. A rapid assessment of what needs to be in place before your programme goes live: governance, operating model, delivery confidence, and the decisions that can't wait. Typically three to five days, with a written assessment and a clear action list for the first phase.
Advisory: Retained senior support for programme leaders navigating a live mobilisation or critical delivery phase.
Partnership: Senior advisory capacity at pace within a live programme mobilisation, working as a named subcontract partner inside your team.
Keeping programmes honest
Holding programmes in flight to the outcomes they were set up to achieve. Independent assurance and governance refresh for senior responsible owners who want an outside voice testing whether the programme is still on the path it was set up for. And reframing the case when conditions change, so a programme that has drifted can recover its grip without losing its funding base.
Political pressure and organisational drift pull most major programmes off course. The question is usually not whether it is happening but how far it has gone and what it takes to correct it. I have briefed ministers, advised expert panels, and worked at the interface between political intent and operational reality. That experience is what makes the difference when a programme is under pressure.
I have provided independent assurance and governance support for Parliamentary Estates, the Government Property Agency Hubs Programme, the Royal Household, and multiple local authorities. I am currently advising the Scottish Government on a building safety case and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh on a funding annex reframing the case ahead of a Spending Review decision.
Sprint: Portfolio Diagnostic. A structured review of the programme and the organisational capacity behind it, with a written assessment of where it is most exposed and what needs to change. Typically three to five days.
Advisory: Direct, ongoing strategic support for SROs and executive teams navigating complex programmes.
Partnership: Specialist senior capacity outside your core team on a complex programme, working as a named subcontract and advisory partner.
How to engage
The right starting point usually becomes clear in a 30-minute conversation. Email Andrew to set one up.
PlaceSense is available through Constellia and Bloom procurement frameworks for public sector clients who want to engage without a separate competitive tender.