WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AN ADVISORY PARTNER – NOT JUST A PROVIDER

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June 30th, 2025

Here we explore what it means to be a true advisory partner, drawing on our work with National Highways to demonstrate the value of enabling lasting change.

Creating Sector-Wide Impact with National Highways

As an Advisory Partner, we thrive on collaboration and shared purpose. Our work with National Highways is a prime example of this. Rather than delivering isolated reports or off-the-shelf frameworks, we work side by side with client teams and stakeholders across the sector to:

1. Drive sector-wide transformation
2. Create collaborative tools for self-improvement
3. Enable long-term benefits potentially worth billions of pounds

We don’t just offer a solution—we help build systems that now drive continuous improvement across the highways sector.

Enabling Supplier Ownership Through the SDS

The Supplier Development System (SDS) illustrates the difference between advising and enabling. Rather than conducting assessments on behalf of suppliers, we designed a maturity model that:

1. Allows suppliers to self-assess against key criteria
2. Automatically recommends improvement pathways
3. Links to free, accessible learning materials

Over 200 suppliers have already completed the self-assessment and begun activating their own improvement plans. This is what sustainable improvement looks like—client-led, capability-building, and future-focused.

Raising the Bar on Quality

In collaboration with the National Highways Quality Group, we co-developed a Quality Maturity Assessment tool to help suppliers raise their standards and reduce the cost of poor quality, which GIRI (Get It Right Initiative) estimates accounts for 10–25% of project costs.

For National Highways, this equates to £2.3 to £5.8 billion across Roads Period 2. Every 1% improvement represents £46 million in value.

Our advisory partner role isn’t about delivering a diagnosis—it’s about helping our clients and their suppliers elevate quality as a shared responsibility.

Sustaining Lean Excellence with HELMA

Lean transformation isn’t one-size-fits-all. Through our refresh of the Highways Excellence Lean Maturity Assessment (HELMA), we are reinforcing Lean thinking as a continuous journey, not a checklist.

Working closely with stakeholders across National Highways, academia, and the supply chain, we:

1. Modernised the HELMA model to reflect current best practices
2. Addressed concerns around subjectivity and scoring
3. Created momentum for future Lean capability development

The results speak volumes: £1.5 billion in Lean-related capital efficiencies are now recorded in the National Highways Lean register.

A Final Word from Rob Walley, Partner

Being an advisory partner means walking the journey with our clients—not just delivering recommendations but building their confidence and capability to lead change from within. It’s about co-creating outcomes that are practical, people-focused, and built to last. That’s how real transformation happens.

Partnering for Performance

We’re proud to have been shortlisted for Advisory Services Provider of the Year at the 2025 New Civil Engineer Awards. This recognition is more than a badge of honour – it represents a validation of our belief that advisory work should be transformational, not transactional.  It also reminds us, advisory work should be measured not just in outputs, but in how well it enables others to deliver their own success.

At Bourton Group, we’re not just here to advise—we’re here to empower.

📩 To learn more about how we support infrastructure, defence, and manufacturing clients in achieving operational excellence, get in touch.

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