Partnering helps projects finish on time and to budget

The adoption of partnering and collaborative approaches in construction work has helped government departments and agencies complete more projects on time and to cost.

That is the welcome conclusion by the National Audit Office (NAO) in a report looking at the construction delivery performances of agencies and departments.

Improving Public Services through Better Construction, the follow-up to the NAO’s Modernising Construction report from 2001, reveals that between April 2003 and December 2004 55% of construction projects were delivered to budget, compared with just 25% in 1999. 

And 63% of projects were delivered on time compared with just a third (34%) in 1999.

Based on NAO estimates, between £500m and £2.6bn in annual public sector construction expenditure could be saved if similar good practice procedures were applied across all of the public sector.

The report also recommended departments need to: create more certainty in the market by providing long-term funding to maximise the benefits of collaborative working; strengthen the leadership of construction programmes; put in place strategies for developing construction management capabilities; and make construction procurement decisions based on whole-life value.