Rethinking Construction set out to revolutionise the construction industry. In this introductory article to our extended feature on Sir John Egan's initiative, we reveal the strategy for building's New Deal.
The next 12 months could witness a radical change in the way buildings are procured, designed and built. If Sir John Egan has his way, projects will be cheaper, they will rely heavily on prefabricated standard components, they will be delivered on time, to budget and with far fewer defects.

The eponymous airport boss and chairman-designate of property firm MEPC laid down his challenge to the construction industry in the report Rethinking Construction. Intended to be the "how" in response to Sir Michael Latham's "what", the report demanded that the construction industry improve in seven key areas:

  • reducing capital cost by 10%;
  • cutting construction time, from client approval to practical completion, by 10%;
  • increasing by 20% the number of projects completed on time and to budget;
  • reducing by 20% defects on handover;
  • cutting back on reportable accidents by 20%;
  • increasing in value-added productivity (per head) by 10%;
  • increasing turnover and profits of construction firms by 10%.

    "My vision is of a construction industry that is easy to do business with," said Egan, "with consultants, contractors and manufacturers coming together in permanent teams that specialise in particular types of facility.

    "Project teams will...have standard designs, using standard components with demonstrated performance and reliability," he added.

    With Deputy Prime Minister and DETR Secretary of State John Prescott at the helm, the Government's response has been swift. On 3 November the Rethinking Construction Task Force Conference attracted 300 clients, builders and industry bodies to hammer out the agenda for change.

    The DETR has also reorganised its sponsorship of the construction industry around the Movement for Innovation, formed under the aegis of the CIB to help industry and Government co-ordinate the wide range of different benchmarking initiatives.

    The core of the Movement will be around 100 demonstration projects, aimed at testing the seven key process improvements proposed by the Egan report. The demonstration projects will form the centrepiece of the newly launched Construction Best Practice Programme.

    Government is vesting a lot of faith in these projects acting as the primary catalyst for change. But although the projects represent £1 billion of construction activity, no extra money has been pledged to pay for independent auditing of the 100 or so schemes currently on the DETR's books.

    Instead, participants in the demonstration projects will be asked to audit their own performance, which raises interesting questions of veracity, accuracy and data compatibility. On the up side, £6 million has been granted to the Construction Best Practice programme to help collate and publish the results.

    At the 3 November conference, clients and constructors discussed the criteria under which the demonstration projects will be measured. These so-called key performance indicators will cover the Egan reduction targets for time, defects and client changes.

    Among a raft of suggestions, delegates at the Rethinking Construction Conference felt strongly that the demonstration projects should be grouped into clusters of communities of 8-10 projects. Each community of projects should represent both small and large projects.

    DLE's John Connaughton warned that performance indicators will need to be client-related, rather than construction-related. "There is a strong concern that whole life cycle costing, functionality, serviceability and client satisfaction should be the basis of measurement," said Connaughton. "We need indicators to track cause and effect right through projects so that we know the beneficial effects of certain actions," he added.

    A three tier hierarchy of indicators was proposed: headline indicators covering time, cost and satisfaction, operational indicators focusing on particular processes and diagnostic indicators to analyse particular events.

    Whither sustainability?

    Those who have complained that Egan's world view is rather myopic on sustainability issues would have left the Rethinking Construction Conference convinced that energy efficiency is still a footnote to the lean construction agenda.

    John Hobson, director of the DETR's Construction Directorate and the man heading up the newly-constituted Construction Best Practice Programme, made a noble effort to weave sustainability into the Movement for Change. "We would like to see some demonstration projects pulling out issues of sustainability," said Hobson.

    Hobson added that Egan's themes of reducing waste, improving site conditions and sponsoring better design all have a sustainability angle. However, when the conference "breakout groups" reported back with their proposals for key performance indicators, sustainability had not only become unstuck but had left by the nearest window.

    As none of the breakout groups addressed sustainability specifically, one suspects it will be left to the bodies charged with setting the criteria for the demonstration projects – the Construction Round Table, the Construction Research Innovation Strategy Panel (CRISP) and the Construction Clients' Forum (see box) to ensure that the indicators are put in an energy efficient and sustainable context.

    Movers and shakers

    Movement for Innovation A network of industry and Government bodies designed to promote collaboration and to apply shared expertise to the shared challenges and devise shared solutions. The Construction Industry Board is the umbrella body for the subsidiary bodies like the Construction Clients Forum and the Construction Industry Council (tel: 0171-636 2256, web site: http://www.ciboard.org.uk). The Construction Clients Forum represents both private and public sector client interests, carrying out research into issues important to construction industry clients. The Forum has completed a report Increasing value for small and occasional clients and is currently working on Avoiding expensive defects. The Construction Clients Forum can be contacted on (tel) 0171-931 9749. The Construction Industry Council represents the views of construction institutions like the CIBSE, the RIBA and the HVCA. The CIC has a ten-point action plan which includes the development of a client satisfaction survey, the identification of small projects to demonstrate Egan principles, the establishment of key performance indicators and the identification of “champions” within the CIC membership who will be tasked with taking action on specific recommendations. The Construction Round Table is an eclectic gathering of major clients who together spend £6 billion a year on construction. It’s small but influential membership includes Marks & Spencer and BAA. It is a member of the Construction Clients Forum. Telephone 01923 664378 for more details.

    • Source

    Building Sustainable Design