The summer round is nearly done — HyNet in Wrexham is next week — and the autumn diary is already filling. If you're a contractor, subcontractor or community organisation selling into the Welsh public sector, two dates deserve a spot in the calendar now, and there's one reason this autumn's conversations will feel different from last year's.
Last call: HyNet, next Wednesday
HyNet Supply Chain Summit 2026 · 15 July · Wrexham
One week out. William Aston Hall, University of Wrexham, 9am–4:30pm — Tier 1 contractors presenting supply-chain opportunities across the country's most advanced industrial decarbonisation cluster. We covered it in full in the summer roundup.
Details & booking →The autumn dates
North Wales Autumn Business Expo · 22 October · Deeside
North Wales Social's autumn expo at Deeside Leisure Centre, Queensferry (CH5 1SA), 10am–2:30pm. Smaller and more local than the big procurement days — which is exactly why it's useful. This is where North East Wales firms meet the businesses and organisations they'll end up subcontracting with.
Details & booking →Procurex Wales 2026 · 11 November · Utilita Arena Cardiff
The national gathering for Wales' public procurement community — public sector buyers, procurement teams and suppliers in one room for a day, backed by Welsh Government. If you only make one long trip this autumn, this is the one: direct access to the people scoring your next bid.
Details & booking →We keep a running list — free, updated as events are confirmed — at owlimpact.wales/meetthebuyer. Organisers can submit events there too.
The pipeline behind the events
The reason these rooms are worth the diesel: the money is real and it's moving. Great British Energy – Nuclear confirmed in June that it has now awarded nearly £900m in contracts for the SMR programme at Wylfa, with more than 70% going to UK-registered companies — and billions of pounds still to be procured. Around 3,000 jobs are expected on site at peak construction. North Wales firms that register interest early, and turn up where the buyers are, will be in those conversations first.
Why this autumn is different
Since April, in-scope Welsh public bodies have been required to publish annual socially responsible procurement reports under the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act — the duties commenced on 25 March 2026, with the reporting requirement live from 1 April. Buyers now have to publish what their procurement actually delivered — which means the social value promises in your bid don't disappear after award. They get reported on.
So when a buyer at Procurex or Deeside asks what social value you deliver, they're not making small talk. They're looking for suppliers who make their annual report easier to write. Anecdotes don't flow into a report. Costed evidence does.
Walk in ready
If your firm already does the work — apprenticeships, school visits, careers talks, volunteering, community projects — the only missing piece is the record. Log the activity in two minutes and a costed, professional social value report lands in your inbox, ready for the meet-the-buyer pack, the framework return and the tender.
Book the dates. Bring the evidence.
Log a session now and see your social value in pounds — it takes two minutes, and your report is emailed to you instantly.
Log a session → Why social value wins bids →Get this in your inbox
Meet-the-buyer dates and social value changes in Welsh procurement — short, useful, no spam.