Applying Project and Programme Management Principles for PFI Expiry

Leeds City Council’s award-winning PFI Expiry Team outline the strategic development of their innovative programme, demonstrating how their management of PFI Expiry aligns with APM competencies and best practice. This webinar was held on 18 March 2026.

The Leeds City Council PFI Portfolio, valued at almost £1bn., comprises critical public assets such as schools, street lighting and leisure centres, all of which return to local authority ownership over the coming years. Managing the expiry and transition of these long-term contracts is complex and involves a wide variety of stakeholders and risk. PFI expiry is a relatively new concept in the industry.  The Leeds PFI Expiry team is continuing to refine a delivery programme to achieve best value from the remaining contracts.

This presentation considered the challenges of delivering this expiry programme including resourcing, scheduling, risk and stakeholder management.

PFI (Private Finance Initiative) is a form of public private partnership which was utilised to invest in public sector infrastructure from 1990s-2018.  These are long term partnerships with the contract term varying in length where the private sector would typically be responsible for the design, build, operation and maintenance of the asset through the concession plus the associated financing.

Leeds City Council has a portfolio of 12 PFI contracts for key public infrastructure assets including schools, street lighting, housing, leisure centres and a waste incinerator. The first of these facilities handed back in September 2025 and expiry will continue over the coming decade.

To drive success, the LCC PFI Expiry Team were formed in 2023 to manage PFI Expiry as a project, setting out to apply best practice and project management principles in developing a bespoke and high-quality strategic framework.

The speakers have very kindly allowed their presented material to be made available for viewing. The slides on Slideshare and the webinar recording on Vimeo is now available in our APM resources area for reference.

Speakers:

Mike Diskin - LCC PFI Expiry Programme Manager

Mike is a Fellow of the APM and Deputy Lead for the Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire Regional Branch.  Mike is the PFI Expiry Programme Manager working for Leeds City Council and has worked in a project capacity within local government for 25 years.

Aimee Clark - LCC PFI Expiry Project Management Officer

Aimée joined Leeds City Council in November 2023 and has since completed the APM Associate Project Manager Level 4 Apprenticeship with Distinction… and at time of writing awaits the results of the PMQ exam! She has prior experience in Continual Improvement Service Management, Risk Management, coordination and administration roles within education, non-profit and private sector.

Becky Townesend - LCC PFI Expiry Project Management Officer

Becky is currently working on finishing her APM Associate Project Manager Level 4 apprenticeship. She has worked in 2 councils in total for 15 years and has also worked in higher education, in retail and for a charity. Her background before joining PFI expiry was largely in client and customer facing roles and she is a level 4 qualified guidance practitioner. She has also worked on events organisation and with businesses.