CIC Members support the Government’s construction strategy and action plan

Meeting as a Council on 9 June, members of the Construction Industry Council (CIC) gave their full support to the Government’s new Construction Strategy, which was launched recently by the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude. The strategy will reform the way in which government procures construction across all sectors, and in doing so will reduce costs by up to 20% by the end of this parliament.
To provide effective co-ordination and alignment of procurement across the Government’s construction and infrastructure programme a new Government Construction Board, chaired by Paul Morrell, the Government’s Chief Construction Adviser, will be established.

Paul Morrell, Government’s Chief Construction Adviser said:
“The Government Construction Board will help strengthen the public sector’s client power in the scoping, design, procurement and delivery of all construction projects. We will work with the Government and the construction industry to enable more effective relationships between the two in order to enable growth and sustainability across the sectors.
The strategy sets out challenging new ways of working that will deliver considerable benefits not only to the taxpayer, but also enabling growth in the industry and better understanding of the future direction for public sector construction.”

A steering group drawn from Government and industry will be established to provide industry joint leadership in implementing this Construction Strategy.

RIBA President Ruth Reed said:
“The RIBA welcomes the Government’s new Construction Strategy, which presents a genuine opportunity for the construction industry to take a joined up approach and work towards achieving important efficiencies together.
However it should be recognised that real value and carbon efficiency can only be achieved if innovative thinking is brought to bear on key decisions made at the briefing stage before projects commence; good design and effective joined-up thinking are only part of the picture.”

Chris Blythe Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Building said:
“The strategy set out by the government should have a big impact on the industry’s ability to deliver public projects effectively and efficiently. The key to success will be benchmarking and the introduction of BIM across government work. This will give the UK industry the opportunity to be a world leader in BIM and seriously enhance its international competiveness. The strategy is clear in that it puts the contractor and the professional construction manager at the heart of delivery.”

Gary Strong, Director of Practice Standards & Technical Guidance at RICS said:
“The new Construction Strategy represents an excellent opportunity for the Government and the industry to work together to ensure value for money across public construction and infrastructure projects.
New developments such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) will help this process along with the move to a more collaborative approach to relationships between the public and private sector. The rolling two year forward programme of projects will demonstrate the Government’s ongoing commitment to this process and will provide the certainty needed by the industry to take long term business planning and investment decisions.

Recognising that the public procurement system needs reform is the first step and it is now up to all those involved in the process to ensure value for money for taxpayers, efficient delivery of projects and a system that encourages effective collaboration.”