CIC Cascade

3 April 2003

London Remade Workshops

Professional indemnity insurance – the dangers of changing insurers

Harmonising Building Regulations

The Public Accounts Committee at the House of Commons
Oral Evidence by CIC and OGC

Rewarding Innovation for Sustainable Communities

London Remade Workshops

The London Remade initiative that, under the Mayor’s office, is aiming to make London a sustainable city is keen to hear the views of CIC members in relation to recycling issues.

London Remade is hosting a series of Design Workshops (sponsored by HOK International) and the workshop on 15 April will specifically deal with construction/building issues.

Other workshops scheduled for 7, 8 and 14 April will look at recycling issues in relation to textiles, plastics/consumer products and furniture/interiors. All workshops will be held at HOKs offices, 216 Oxford Street from 9.30am to 1pm. Please contact Suna Stoddard at suna@londonremade.com for more information or to reserve a place on any of the workshops.

London Remade has also produced a questionnaire addressing recycling in design and they are particularly keen to find out more about recycling and waste disposal in the construction industry. You can access the questionnaire via the London Remade web site at www.londonremade.com

Later this month the Minister for Energy and Construction, Brian Wilson, will open a London Remade initiated construction and demolition reprocessing plant in Greenwich.

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Professional indemnity insurance – the dangers of changing insurers

The Construction Industry Council Liability Committee have released the Liability Alert number three ‘Professional indemnity insurance – the dangers of changing insurers’.

This is the third in the series which provide information on contemporary liability issues affecting our industry and further Alerts are planned to follow shortly.

We actively encourage you to disseminate these Liability Alerts to your members/colleagues and to help with this we have made them available to download from CIC’s website. Additionally please feel free to reproduce the Alerts on your website and in your publications.

Liability Alert

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Harmonising Building Regulations

The Construction Industry Council met Christopher Leslie MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on 26th March 2003 to discuss CIC’s Regulations Review Working Group’s report ‘Regulation for Buildings: Harmonisation of Legislation’ report.

This follows an initial meeting which took place in June 2002 where a delegation from CIC, met with Christopher Leslie MP to discuss ideas regarding greater harmonisation of regulations and legislation affecting the construction industry. Following the meeting, CIC undertook to prepare a report detailing recommendations for meeting current and future needs for the industry to contribute fully to the wider work of the government in delivering improved efficiency in the economy of the UK.

The report sets out the industry’s recommendations for change to the existing regulatory regimes affecting building to produce a cohesive and integrated framework for all legislation and its implementation in order to eliminate overlap and waste.

Peter Rogers, Chairman of the Strategic Forum for Construction, comments in a Foreword to the report that he firmly believed that the adoption of the recommendations will provide beneficial changes and help in achieving the objectives of the Strategic Forum.

The report was presented to Christopher Leslie MP by CIC RRWG Chairman David Lush OBE who asked if the Minister accepted the report’s recommendations in principle and if so what will would be the next steps, both within ODPM and within inter-departmentally? and how can CIC assist? He said that CIC would be pleased to offer their assistance in any implementation of the proposals

The Minister responded by expressing his support in principle and promising a further detailed response to the report. He also invited CIC to continue to draw attention to short-comings in the regulatory framework applicable to construction.

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The Public Accounts Committee at the House of Commons
Oral Evidence by CIC and OGC

CIC Chairman Turlogh O’Brien and the Chairman of CIC’s Public Sector Procurement Panel, Alan Gilbertson, presented oral evidence on the Auditor General’s Report ‘PFI: Construction Performance’ for the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on 24 March 2003. Both Chairmen were witnesses at the hearing together with Peter Gershon, Chief Executive of OGC.

The Committee concentrated on questioning the results of the survey on which the report was based; those results showing that most PFI projects studied have shown significant progress in achieving price certainty, delivery on time, and satisfaction with quality.

Witnesses affirmed through their answers that PFI should not be conceived as the best procurement route but rather used where it can achieve more Value For Money and successful service delivery. Quality can be improved through adopting the Design Quality Indicator (DQI) tool, which prompts the involvement of all users and stakeholders in evaluating the building during all its stages.

A report on the hearing will be issued by the PAC. For further information please contact Jobran Hammoud on 02076378692, jhammoud@cic.org.uk

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Rewarding Innovation for Sustainable Communities

The UK’s most innovative regeneration schemes will get the recognition they deserve, with a new Award for Sustainable Communities announced by Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott.
The award, which was launched at the BURA reception at the House of Commons, will showcase success and pay tribute to the commitment and enthusiasm of leading innovators who are making a significant contribution towards the building of thriving and successful sustainable communities.
John Prescott said:

"This new award underlines our commitment to delivering Sustainable Communities. It will build on the success of the Award for Urban Renaissance, which I presented at the Urban Summit in Birmingham last year, and will reflect the themes behind the Sustainable Communities Plan, which I launched last month.
"Importantly, it will also help us to identify best practice examples that others can learn from. And we plan to make sure that these are widely disseminated.”

Nominations are invited from projects that are contributing to making towns and cities better places in which to live and work and that are meeting some or all of the following criteria:

• improving the quality of life for local people, by addressing a need or dealing with a challenge identified by the community;
• contributing effectively to a wider strategy for sustainable communities, including the creation of a safer, cleaner and more efficient environment;
• demonstrating a high quality of design for spaces and/or buildings;
• demonstrating sustainability through innovation and inspiration in construction processes and procurement;
• demonstrating imaginative ways of creating employment and affordable homes for key workers and the local community, and bringing them closer together, especially in 'growth areas' and/or to encourage occupancy in 'low demand areas';
• demonstrating the active involvement of the community including business and residents;
• demonstrating the creation of appropriate high density housing;
• implementing or demonstrating a strategic and integrated approach to transport and traffic management;
• promoting diversity and social inclusion;
• tackling labour shortages and improving the provision of urban renaissance skills at all levels; and in all cases completed to a point where there is a record of success with demonstrable results.

The award is for initiatives of all types and sizes in England, which are advanced to a stage where there is a record of demonstrable results and success.

Any person can nominate an initiative for this award including those directly connected it. Nominations are due by Tuesday 22 April.

Nominations for the award will be considered by a panel of independent judges with a wide level of expertise in regeneration matters. The whole process will be administered, on behalf of the ODPM, by BURA, whose objective is the promotion of best practice in urban regeneration. An award ceremony, acknowledging the achievements of the finalists, will be held towards the end of this year.

Further information on and nomination forms for the award can be obtained by contacting:

BURA - Shah Hosein:

Telephone: (020)-7539-4030.
Fax: (020)-7404-9614.
E-mail: shah@bura.org.uk

ODPM - P R Bloomfield:

Telephone: (020)-7944-3745.
E-mail: peter.bloomfield@odpm.gsi.gov.uk

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