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Alan McVicker

Alan McVicker is one of that rare breed. He’s a senior private sector executive who has made the jump to the public sector.

And, in McVickers case, he’s in a public sector role which comes with quite a challenge.

A challenge which impacts on all 1.7 million of us in Northern Ireland.

The Director of the Programme Delivery Support Unit (PDSU) is one of the central players as Northern Ireland strives to build a waste infrastructure that will meet some ultra-tough EU directives over the coming years.

“We have a vital role”, he says with commendable understatement. “The 26 local authorities here in Northern Ireland have responsibility for waste disposal and management and they now face some serious pressure from the EU to markedly change they way they do this”.

“That’s where the PDSU comes in. We’re here to help them do just that, but, given the very tight timescales, it’s going to be quite a task”.

The tough targets (more of which later) loom large. But some steps have already been taken.

NI’s local authorities have formed themselves into three strategic groups – arc21 covering Belfast and the eastern seaboard, the North West Region Waste Management Group and the Southern Waste Management Partnership.

All three are acutely aware of the scale of the project, and when it comes to central government, they have the support of the Belfast-based PDSU which, in turn, receives its funding from the Department of the Environment and Strategic Investment Board.

The PDSU Team

“Our role is to provide whatever specific expertise and advice they might need and to support them along the way”, says Alan McVicker. “We’re all working towards the same objectives and this has been a significant factor in the development of the strong ‘can-do’ attitude and sense of team-work that is evident across all the groups”.

He comes to the role from a lengthy spell with private sector Shanks Waste Management, most of which was spent in Scotland, where McVicker graduated from Edinburgh’s Heriot Watt University before commencing his career in the industry.

In a nutshell, the challenging European Union Directives governing the management of household waste set out to eliminate the use of landfill as far as possible as a means of disposal. That, of course, means much more recycling and the use of newer disposal technologies will be required to meet the targets.

There are key target deadlines in 2010, 2013 and then again in 2020.

“Miss any one of those and our local authority groups here in Northern Ireland could face some very severe financial penalties as a result”, says McVicker.

“These are very serious European targets with very serious penalties for those who fail to meet them”.

The Programme Delivery Support Unit sets out to help the local groups in a number of different ways including the following key areas:-

• Co-ordinating procurement activities
• Assisting with planning applications and securing sites
• Co-ordinating a communications strategy
• Assisting with business cases and funding
• Assisting with external advisors

Aside from Alan McVicker, the Unit already has planning, communications and procurement specialists on board. In the near future, it will appoint additional advisors as well as administrative personnel.

“We also have access to legal, financial and insurance specialists as well as a number of other experts”, adds Alan McVicker.

He reckons that a lot of progress has already been made on improving waste management in Northern Ireland.

Many householders already have three-bin collection systems to encourage recycling, and further measures are being rolled out all the time.

“But our message is that a lot of work remains to be done to meet the EU directives. Householders, and businesses, will see more changes occurring to the way they have to dispose of their waste”.

Both business and consumers, he says, can do their bit by careful waste management.

Alan McVicker urges us all to think about cutting down on unnecessary packaging, and to keep recycling to front of mind.

“Think about it this way”, he says. “By the 2013 target year, Northern Ireland has to have cut down on its use of landfill for the disposal of bio-degradable municipal waste (BMW) by 50% That’s a lot of waste, and it means that we all have a lot of work to do”.

That 2013 date is concentrating the specialist waste management minds on what is known as residual household waste. For the layman (and that’s most of us….), that’s the waste which doesn’t go into the blue or brown recycling containers.

“There are lots of alternative solutions available, but we have to look at those which are best for Northern Ireland, we have to look at the costs involved, at the timescales and at a lot more than that. It’s a hugely complex area”.

One thing is for sure. The close partnership between this new unit and Northern Ireland’s local authorities is rightly being held up as a prime example of joined up government in action.

“And it is this collaborative approach that is producing real results and will help us succeed”, adds Alan McVicker.

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‘Northern Ireland is open for business’ seems to have become something of a mantra in recent years. Even the most hardened of commentators cannot help but have been taken aback at the pace of change there.
Notwithstanding the new political landscape, which has seen former foes putting their differences behind them to form the NI Assembly, there is a deeper change to life in the province – one that is a little harder to get a handle on.

Recent visitors have remarked on how the place just feels different and has a more positive, upbeat approach. What they seem to have tapped into is the new vibrancy that political stability has brought with it. One very clear manifestation of this has been the reversal of the well documented NI ‘brain-drain’ that has seen many of the best and brightest from all walks of life in the Province leave to develop their careers in other countries.

Luckily, NI is starting to see many of its sons and daughters returning and bringing with them valuable business experience that is being used to bolster the economic life of the province.
One such person is Alan McVicker, Director of the Programme Delivery Support Unit (PDSU), a body formed to help NI’s three Waste Management Groups (WMG’s) deliver the necessary infrastructure to help meet their landfill targets.

Joined-up Government thinking and teamwork are producing real results in Northern Ireland. Alan McVicker is pictured second from the right.

Alan is a graduate of Heriot-Watt and Paisley Universities and it was at the latter that he completed his Masters degree in Environmental and Waste Management in 1993. A native of Portrush, Co. Antrim, Alan has worked in the Waste and Resource Management Industry for fifteen years across a range of disciplines. He has held a number of senior positions with Shanks Waste Management including that of Regional Director for Scotland. During his time with Shanks, he gained valuable experience in hazardous waste management, collections and materials recovery and the delivery and running of long-term integrated PPP waste contracts. Prior to taking up the position with the PDSU, he set up the Waste Management arm within IKM Consulting, during which time he worked on a range of infrastructure projects within the waste industry.

“The waste infrastructure programme will affect every one of us here in Northern Ireland”, says Alan, “so I’m really excited to be a part of something that has such a wide-ranging impact”.
Alan’s take on the scale of the project is well-founded.

The public sector here accounts for 63% of the economy of Northern Ireland, which is substantially higher than 43% of the United Kingdom as a whole. In total, the British Government subvention totals £5,000m, or 20% of Northern Ireland’s economic output.

Add to that twenty-six Local Councils, numerous Health and Education Boards and the Stormont administration itself to govern an area roughly the size of Yorkshire with a population of 1.7 million and one starts to see the huge impact public services have on day-to-day life there.

So, what is the PDSU and how will it help to move such a large and deadline-dependent project forward?

“Our role is crucial”, comments Alan. “The twenty-six local authorities in NI have responsibility for the collection and disposal of household waste and are under serious pressure from the EU to change how they do that”.
“That’s where the PDSU comes in. We’re here to help them hit some very tough targets. We’re making headway but no-one should underestimate the scale of the challenge before us”.
Some steps have already been taken that bode well for the future.

“We’re all working towards the same objectives and this has built a strong ‘can-do’ attitude and sense of teamwork across the project”

The 26 local authorities have organised themselves into three strategic groups – Arc21 covering Belfast and the Eastern seaboard, the North West Region Waste Management Group and the Southern Waste Management Partnership. All three of the groups have the support of the PDSU which, in turn, receives its funding from the Department of the Environment and the Strategic Investment Board. “It is this joined-up Government approach that is producing real results and will help us succeed”, says Alan. “Our role is to provide the specific advice and expertise the WMG’s need and to support them along the way. We’re all working towards the same objectives and this has built a strong ‘can-do’ attitude and sense of teamwork across the project”.

As Northern Ireland's Landmarks improve so to do its waste management operations

Central Government’s role is underlined not just by the creation of the PDSU but also through what’s become known as the SWIF – the Strategic Waste Infrastructure Fund. This is a capital grant of almost £200m and is proof, if proof were needed, of Governments commitment to the project. “Under the EU Landfill Directive there are key target deadlines to meet in 2010, 2013 and 2020 for the diversion of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) from landfill. Missing any one of these could incur some very severe financial penalties, warns Alan. An additional driver for diverting waste from landfill is the fact that Landfill tax will be £48.00 per tonne from 2010″.

At the present time, the PDSU is procuring Client Side teams with expertise in the legal, financial and technical arenas. In addition to this, the Unit already has on board experts from the Communications, Procurement and Planning fields.

“We established early on in the programme that Planning could be a potential risk”, said Mr. McVicker. “Planning risk in NI usually refers to a delay in getting a decision rather than an outright refusal. There are a number of factors that can contribute to this ranging from public perception issues right through to incomplete documentation”. “The PDSU is helping to minimise that risk. We’ve found that these issues are best handled through a pre-application discussion between applicants, Planning Service and consultees. It’s just one of the ways that we aim to keep the project on track”, adds Alan. This approach has been formalised in the Pre- Application Discussion (PAD) process that will result in the issuing of a planning decision within six months of formal submission provided all the stakeholders are content with the final draft proposal.

Northern Ireland's improving waste management operations

In NI there is a single planning authority headed up by a Chief Executive who reports to the permanent Secretary at the Department of the Environment and the Environment Minister. The system is comparatively simple when compared with that of mainland UK, where the planning requirements of 362 councils have to be co-ordinated at a local level and then passed through further Government tiers at the regional and central levels.
Apart from a more streamlined planning process in Northern Ireland, the three WMG’s are taking on much of the planning risk associated with delivering the new plants, which will make the projects more attractive, particularly at a time when many new projects are coming to the market.

“It’s an exciting and challenging time for waste management in NI but I’m confident that we’re up to the job”, commented Alan. “We’ve got some very talented people working on this project and there’s a tremendous sense of purpose surrounding them. It’s my belief that we’ve got everything in place to take our plans through to a successful conclusion that will benefit everyone in Northern Ireland”.