THE BOY DONE GOOD

If Sir Michael Latham were asked by Government to share his morning bath with a shoal of piranhas for a week, he would consult widely, then convert them to vegetarianism before emerging sleek, dapper and eager for his next public engagement (Conservative Party chairman, no doubt). It would be a piece of cake after cudgelling his brain to synthesise his experiences of the past 12 months.

Extravagant praise, indeed. But not over-extravagant in the light of the wholly admirable report published this week, which not only coolly outlines the root causes of the industry's ills, but also - and this is the remarkable bit - proposes a visionary yet hard-headed strategy for reform that has instantly won support across the entire spectrum of the construction industry. Even the calls for contract legislation, through a Construction Contracts Bill, with all that implies for extermination of unfair conditions, are not dividing trade organisations.

Cynics may suspect that support is less than wholly genuine: no one, they suggest, likes to appear a party pooper when euphoria is all around. But such a view sits uneasily with the testament of various contracting parties, by nature sworn enemies, whose participation in this great exercise seems to have brought them together. Sir Michael speaks of a 'tremendous spirit of cooperation and mutual confidence' emerging during his consultations, which for those who know the parties he refers to, and recall their habitual behaviour around a JCT table, is astonishing. We have catharsis, it seems, where we might normally expect catatonia.

There is even agreement that this is not purely a 'fair weather' document - that it can cope with recession, and would have lessened the collective pain had its main framework been in place four years ago. As long as clients resist the siren call of impossibly low tenders - and Sir Michael specifically adjures this - the document's insistence on teamwork, trust funds, ongoing adjudication and avoidance of unfair contract terms would have assuaged much of the grief we have all lived with, or not been able to live with, in the recent past. As Martin Barnes, whose hard work over the years on the New Engineering Contract is at last receiving reward, says: 'Boom and bust cycles exacerbate the problem, but they are not its cause.'

Will the Latham Report be accepted? Will it be implemented, whole, as its author rightly insists it must be? The onus is entirely on clients. They alone, be they Government or private, have the power to ensure this unique opportunity for reform is not lost, and lamented by future generations. So far, the signs are good. Client bodies appear determined at last to grasp the nettle. And Government, the report's initiators, can hardly shrink from promoting 'best practice' throughout its ranks. It is the point to which commentators on national newspapers have been blind. They have totally underestimated the desire for change that unites most clients. And most contractors too. Their receptiveness makes this a report whose time has come.