Equal opportunities

Some ECA members are hardly involved in the construction industry; others do much of their work as subcontractors to builders. That subcontractor role is unlikely to disappear, especially with the wishes of major clients for single-point responsibility and the strong support from Government for a prime contractors procurement route.

Whatever the role of the specialist within the procurement process, its voice must be heard by clients and government. It must be listened to directly, not filtered through main contractors.

It was in order to assist that process that the Constructors Liaison Group (CLG) was first formed in the autumn of 1993. It brought together three recently founded organisations – the Specialist Engineering Contractors Group (SECG), the National Specialist Contractors Council (NSCC) and the Building Structures Group (BSG). The BSG dissolved a year ago, but the others remain active within the CLG.

Those who formed the CLG could not have known it at the time, but their creation was soon to assume even greater significance. The SECG and the NSCC both provided assessors to my review. Within eight months of Constructing the team being published, the Construction Industry Board (CIB) was formed.

The CLG became a full member of CIB, in equal standing with clients, professionals, main contractors and the Government and, in 1996, with manufacturers and materials producers when their new organisation joined.

The specialist voice must be heard by clients and government. It must be listened to directly not filtered through main contractors

All of the CIB's working groups and panels had specialist members. Some of them were chaired by CLG nominees. Chris Sneath, former president of the HVCA and SECG assessor, was serving as the CIB's deputy chairman when it was finally dissolved in June.

The decision to scrap the CIB after six-and-a-half years of very valuable work arose because the newly formed Confederation of Construction Clients was not prepared to support it financially. That was a strange decision. Its predecessor, the Construction Clients Forum, had been fully engaged in the CIB. The new clients confederation has large members to whom the CIB subscription is pocket money. Fortunately, the Government persuaded Sir John Egan to chair a new Strategic Forum for Construction. It should turn out to be a son of the CIB, with full specialist representation.

There are other positive signs of specialist contractors being taken seriously. Partnering is spreading and some clients appreciate the need for early involvement of specialist design. Outside the m&e sector, Peter Rogerson, a specialist roofing contractor, has been appointed deputy chairman of the Construction Industry Training Board.

The CLG's campaign in Parliament to abolish retentions has produced significant support from MPs. When the motion was first tabled in the last Parliament by a Tory MP, I was asked by a very senior Labour MP if it was a proper motion for him to add his name in support. I advised him that it was certainly proper. Retentions are frequently misused and are seen as onerous and unnecessary by specialist contractors. I warned him that the Government did not support the motion because it did not have client or main contractor backing, but I also pointed out that motions of this kind were specifically tabled by backbenchers to influence Government thinking.

Similar political pressure by specialists led to the setting up of the 1993 Review. It also provided political muscle for the introduction into Parliament of the Construction Act, and its actual implementation in 1998, despite ferocious opposition from some prominent lawyers and others connected with the construction process. National campaigns intended to influence MPs need central co-ordination, which the CLG provides.