Constructing Excellence speaks out on construction industry reform

Time and time again the industry has been told to reform. Constructing Excellence task force chairman Andrew Wolstenholme of Balfour Beatty has some quick-wins that could reignite the stalled Egan reform process. Aaron Morby  reports.

Andrew Wolstenhome's verdict on the industry's attempts to implement the Sir John Egan rethinking construction challenge is fairly damning.

More than a decade on from Egan, the industry is doing little more than scratching the surface of real change with only a minority of firms really walking the talk, warns Wolstenholme.

He also pointed out that the Egan principles for improving outputs are not new. A glance at the Banwell report in the 1950s and Finneston report in the '70s reveals that the calls to raise productivity through collaborative working, greater leadership and better education have echoed through the decades.

Egan may have done better than most, but with probably little more than 1.5% of total work currently carried out under the best practice principles, the task remains a mammoth one.

Of course the CJ awards show many firms have embraced change and take on the challenges ahead with a positive attitude, but sadly they are in the minority.

Wolstenholme has had the benefit of seeing it from all sides, working as client, consultant and now contractor. And his warning that clients can no longer be relied on to drive improvement is a stark one for all contractors facing the harshest tendering condition in living memory.

The fact is contractors must evolve to survive in the current trading environment. Equally, government must fulfil its role of creating a regulatory environment that favours those who take a longer term view.

Wolstenholme recommendations

Contract Journal lists some the of Wolstenholme’s quick-win recommendations from his report Never Waste a Good Crisis.

INDUSTRY LEADERS

1. Seek profits funded by real value and productivity.
2. Seek client incentives for delivering innovation.
3. Attract, train and retain your future leaders.
4. Develop talent management as a core skill
5. Support efforts to improve industry's image

GOVERNMENT

1. Deliver a vision for a sustainable UK built environment.
2. Develop policies to incentivise innovation
3. Build on regulatory and PFI models to aid the change agenda.
4. Develop an integrated and funded future infrastructure plan.
5. Choose a Minister for the built environment who has real purpose and stays put.

CLIENTS

1. Assume much tougher laws are coming to meet the environmental agenda.
2. Avoid specifying one-offs and late changes
3. Challenge your consultants to develop more options for risk transfer.
4. Incentivise real improvements in output in return for a 'pipeline of opportunity'.
5. Incentivise teams to find radical savings in whole-life operational costs.