IUK’s Implementation Plan sets out a programme of activity through 2011 and beyond to realise the savings first identified in the Infrastructure Cost Report of December 2010.
Key elements of the plan include a charter between the construction industry and government that sets out the behaviours expected in future relationships. The measures are focused on civil engineering works in the water, waste, transport, energy and telecoms sectors.
Further detail is given on measures announced in the budget and plan for growth last week. The government says they will:
- improve the ability of industry to plan effectively, by government publishing a rolling forward programme for investment;
- encourage greater innovation by introducing new models of competition and procurement;
- increase industry confidence by developing more effective governance for public sector projects and programmes;
- reduce waste, for example by establishing a common set of principles for the management of contingency budgets; and
- improve value for money by establishing a data group between the public sector and industry practitioners to develop the extended use of cost benchmarking in infrastructure delivery.
A joint programme management board chaired by Paul Morrell, the government’s chief construction adviser, will seek to ensure that the activities are implemented consistently with measures across the wider public sector.
Mr Morrell said: "Government is striving to speak with a coherent voice to the construction industry, whilst recognising the different challenges that face different sectors - in infrastructure, house building and the wider built environment. Developing the joint programme board will enable this essential programme for infrastructure reform to be implemented in a way that is integrated with wider initiatives for construction as a whole."
The government said that it will publish further detail on measures relating to wider public sector construction and procurement before the end of May 2011.
IUK will continue to lead the implementation plan Iand is already working with the Highways Agency, High Speed 2, the Environment Agency and with private sector companies in the water industry to help embed new practice in forthcoming major programmes.
Commercial secretary to the treasury Lord Sassoon said: "Investment in the UK’s infrastructure is running at about £40bn a year. We must ensure that we use public funding more efficiently and the Infrastructure Cost Review has identified savings of up to £3bn a year. This report provides detailed measures that will unlock these savings, redefining the way in which government, regulated utilities and the construction industry do business together."
Institution of Civil Engineers president Peter Hansford said: “For these measures to be successful it will require the public and private sectors to continue to work together and ICE will be coordinating a series of implementation groups, each headed by a ‘champion’ drawn from across industry. These designated working groups will be the focus for collaboration going forwards."
ICE has named Simon Kirby, Professor Brian Collins and Stephen Fox as industry champions.
Costain managing director Darren James backed the plan, saying: “The actions in this plan represent an excellent opportunity for the whole construction industry to improve the efficiency in delivering infrastructure projects and to develop more effective relationships throughout all levels of the supply chain."
The Civil Engineering Contractors Association national director Rosemary Beales said: “There are a lot of good ideas contained within the Implementation Plan, in particular the move to develop a visible long-term project pipeline and the plans to alter and extend regulatory cycles. Both these changes can offer contractors the certainty to plan and invest in skills and materials for the future, without the stop-start investment that has often prevented them from doing so in the past, driving up costs for industry, and prices for government.
“Involving contractors earlier in the procurement process will also allow them to utilise their expertise in the field to help to cut out overheads and lower costs and prices.
“However, much of the plan at this stage is based on aspiration and intention, and only when progress toward these immediate goals is reported on next year, will it be possible to tell if the government is truly committed to helping industry deliver the savings that can undoubtedly be made.”
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