£1bn boost for Egan Task Force

by Keren Sall



A delighted John Prescott yesterday announced £1 billion worth of demonstration projects that will showcase Sir John Egan's Rethinking Construction report.

Over 80 projects have been put forward for consideration and the methods for selecting appropriate schemes were discussed at a Government-sponsored conference addressed by Prescott earlier this week.

"Sir John called for £500 million worth of projects and the projects we have received are worth at least £600 million and are likely to be worth £1 billionn when fully assessed."

They include a portfolio of 10 projects proposed by the Construction Industry Council collectively worth around £105 million.

The CIC has heeded industry concern that small projects were in danger of being overlooked in favour of the mega schemes carried out by leading clients like BAA, Tesco and Railtrack.

The CIC has therefore put forward two £0.5 million schemes - one for refurbishing a country house, the other for a research agency facility which will be compared with a similar recently completed facility.

At the other end of the scale is a £50 million office refurbishment programme in the centre of London. Also included are a small partnering arrangement for a £3.5 million housing renovation scheme in Camden, and an innovative procurement strategy adopted for a £13 million water project.

Construction manager Mace put forward a £25 million headquarters building project for client Wessex Water. "It will demonstrate site productivity and sustainable construction. We will be using grey water even in the toilets," said Ian Macpherson. chairman of Mace, who was speaking at yesterday's conference.

Mace also put forward a £1.5 million fit-out of a leisure centre to demonstrate big productivity gains by involving the whole of the supply chain in the project from day one.

"The time to philosophise is over. We cannot leave clients to take the lead - it is time for the supply chain to start taking the lead," said Macpherson.

Slough Estates has put forward the construction of a £3.1 million, 7,000m2 industrial building where multi-skilled gangs will be used to undertake roofing, cladding and finishes.

"Our project will show that a much more integrated and streamlined approach can be achieved with considerable benefits to both client and contractor, said Dr Bernard Rimmer, construction director at Slough Estates.