New targets to boost sign up for Construction Commitments

The Strategic Forum is planning to boost the sluggish rate at which new members sign up to the Construction Commitments by setting targets in the New Year.

The Commitments, originally set up in conjunction with the Olympic Delivery Authority in July 2006 for Olympic projects only, were widened out to include all public sector projects in June this year.

But the initiative, which was launched to coincide with the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's (BERR) Strategy for Sustainable Construction, which the Commitments are intended to enforce, has only attracted an extra 121 members.

There are now a total of around 550 members, including those companies that signed up to the 2012 Construction Commitments. New members are signing up at the rate of around 40 a month.

Graham Watts, Construction Industry Council chief executive, admitted that it was harder to draw numerous clients and contractors into the scheme than it had been when the Commitments were purely an Olympic initiative, particularly while the economic climate is tougher.

He said: "There are potentially a very large number of companies that ought to be signing the Construction Commitments.

"There is a Strategic Forum meeting early next year about targets and measurements and I am quite certain there will be a proposal at that meeting that there should be an annual target for the take-up of the Construction Commitments so that it doesn't get forgotten about and sit on a shelf."

What are the Construction Commitments?

The Commitments is a charter that sets out six principles which aim to create a better industry and promote best practice. They are designed for clients, contractors and consultants alike, and include pledges to 30-day payment, integration, and use of local employment.

Click here to view the full Commitments.