About Us

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We established CBF Consulting in 2020 against the backdrop of unprecedented uncertainty and challenge in almost every aspect of daily life. Our mission quite simply is to work with our public sector partners and their stakeholders to optimise their physical environment in a way that enables them to Create a Better Future for all who access their services.

The social and economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has and will continue to have a fundamental impact on the demand for public services for years to come. How those services are delivered in the future, the physical, virtual and operational environment needed to enable that delivery and the budget available to allow that transition will all take time to emerge. CBF can provide its clients with vital support on their journey. 

In many cases the answers will be different to those already being worked towards and in others it’s the journey itself that will change. At the heart of these changes will be how we all now choose to live our lives, our approach to how and where we work, how we travel and how we interact with one another. In amongst the massive challenges presented by lockdown, a positive by-product has been society behaving and operating in way that is more supportive of a meaningful response to Climate Emergency.

As the economic uncertainty clears, the nature and shape of the private sector's ability, capacity and financial strength to efficiently respond to and deliver for the public sector will also evolve. The reality is that the right resources, knowledge and skills still exist, but the sources of these resources have become more fragmented as companies have unavoidably streamlined. CBF  can  help clients access  the  necessary  resources  in  a coordinated  way.  

CBF's founding director, Ian Wolstenholme has spent the past 30 years working in partnership with the public sector. He brings a sensitive understanding of how the different parts of the public sector operate, the challenges they have faced and the solutions that have been found. Critically, he has a track record of bringing together the right people, to work in the right way, to find the right answer and deliver those answers  successfully.  He has a reputation for working  with professionalism, integrity and placing  value on  positive  relationships  and  behaviours.

Ian’s experience comes from  his  time  with  leading  private  sector  organisations  Amec, Land Securities Trillium  and  Robertson. He has held  senior  roles  on  many  multi million pound projects, including  major  flagship  healthcare  PPPs  such as the £250m University  College London  Hospitals  Redevelopment, the  ground  breaking  £375m  South Lanarkshire Schools bundle and  over  £1bn  of   other  public  service  and  infrastructure projects. Ian  has  sat at Executive level on company,  SPC and JV Co  Boards.  He has  led  involvement  in major  national  government procurements  such  Building  Schools for  the Future and been responsible for  strategic  consulting services under  Scottish  Hub. Ian also led the team in England that bid,  secured  and  mobilised  CLEAR Futures, a multi-million  pound   20  year energy and  sustainability  partnership  between  public  and private  sectors.

Ian is  Chartered  Quantity  Surveyor, a  Chartered  Builder  and  holds  an  Exec  MBA  from Cranfield  University.

CBF recognises that as a small business it may not have all the answers in-house so it has established a network of like minded industry specialists on whom it can call as and when required bringing both knowledge and capacity.