However, at the time of writing this column, the CCG still has no chairman and has not taken any public steps to launch itself upon the construction stage. It is sensible for it to wait until it has all its ducks in a row before seeking publicity. But the emergence of an effective clients group is essential if the strategic forum is to have any lasting impact. Without real clients, the forum is the industry talking to itself, which is not a particularly useful exercise. If clients are at the table, and fully committed to the best value and partnering process, that is a different matter. Things will then change because clients will insist on better processes to deliver their projects.
This was an essential theme running through my Constructing the Team report. It is also at the heart of Sir John Egan's Rethinking Construction in 1998 and Egan part two, Constructing Excellence, in 2002. When I advocated the client being at the heart of the process, which was a firm recommendation made to me in my review by both the British Property Federation and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, I was surprised that it was seen as a controversial proposal. Some people in the supply side did not want the client at the core of the process. One consulting engineer described the client to me as "a nuisance".
The thinking was that the task of the client, as lord mayor, company chairman or some other dignitary, was to come onto the site on day one and dig the first piece of grass, then come back in two years' time to cut the opening ribbon – and not to appear in between. The client's role, it seemed, was to pay.
Professional repeat clients were never satisfied with such a non-existent "role" in their own project, and some of them have been driving best practice in recent years. A major task for the CCG will be to reach out to one-off clients, who are far and away the most numerous for the industry, although the repeat clients have a large volume of business. CCG will not be talking to Mrs Jones about her new porch, garage or conservatory, but it will need to reach out to the small industrialist who wishes to extend or replace the family factory, the local businessman who sees an opportunity to build two retail units to replace derelict ones in a town centre, or the charitable trust that is intending the significant refurbishment of a former stately home to convert it to residential care.
None of those people is normally involved in the construction industry. None will ever have heard of Egan. They will have no knowledge of alternative procurement routes. They will be, in every sense, lay clients, and they need to hear about best practice.
How can CCG reach them? They will not be members of any organisations represented on the strategic forum and they are highly unlikely to be in the CBI. CCG, in discussion with its members, should seek to identify areas of contact – local Chambers of Commerce, Rotary Clubs, golf clubs, small business organisations, collective bodies representing charities or any others which could pass on CCG advice on how construction supply chains can effectively be preassembled to drive out waste and inefficiency. The expert clients could help with advice and guidance, especially if the smaller companies are their suppliers.
The formation of the Construction Clients Forum was one of the most important outcomes from Constructing the Team. It did much good work, but later changed into the Confederation of Construction Clients, a very different body.
The CCG will be more like the CCF – a wide-ranging organisation. The industry needs it to succeed and wishes it well.
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