Month in numbers

12

The number of contractor-led teams selected to bid for healthcare projects under the ProCure 21 scheme.

NHS Trusts will be able to select from the 12 for all projects over £1m in value which aren't PFI. They won't have to advertise in the Official Journal. The government has given the trusts a target to slash nine months off procurement times by using this route.

The successful consortia, or national principal supply chain partners, are led by ACM Healthcare, Balfour Beatty, Carrillion Building, HBG Construction, Laing O'Rourke, Interserve, Kier Group, Medicor (Pearce Health), Medicinq, Wates Construction, Integrated Health Projects and Taylor Woodrow. Galliford Try, Skanska and Willmott Dixon lost out.

These framework agreements will run for five years.

20

The number of new hospital projects that must start in this financial year in order for the government to keep on track with its target to build 114 hospitals by 2010.

The Construction Products Association's annual report Achievable targets: Is Government delivering? tracks whether the government has done what it promised on construction spending in the public sector: social housing, school buildings, health, roads and railways.

The report shows that there is underspending in every sector. CPD economics director Allan Wilèn rates railways as the worst performer, with a score of one out of five for new build and repairs. New roads were judged to be doing best, scoring four out of five.

For a full copy of the report, visit www.constprod.org.uk/achievabletargets

38

The percentage of operatives who routinely work more than 48 hours a week, according to a Construction Confederation survey of 600 members.

In November the European Commission will review the right of UK workers to 'opt out' of the EC's Working Time Directive, which says that people should not have to work more than 48 hours a week. The CC survey showed that 55% of construction workers have currently opted out.

The CC, which is part of a bigger Confederation of British Industry campaign to get UK ministers to lobby Europe on the issue, says that the 48 hour rule will restrict flexibility. It also claims that workers want the overtime. However, union leaders argue that construction workers should be able to make enough money from a normal working week without the need for overtime.

66

The number of companies, from a total of 88, which improved their health and safety procedures thanks to visits from roving safety reps.

The figures come from the report of a pilot scheme, carried out in the main between April and November last year. Construction was one of four sectors to take part.

The Federation of Master Builders has called for the scheme to be rolled out across the country. But the matter of who will pay – employers, union, the Government or the HSE – would have to be resolved.

The HSE targeted small employers, unlikely to have safety managers or union representatives, for the study. Reported improvements included revised or new policies and procedures and increased dialogue with workers.

750

The number of construction and property businesses that will go bust before the end of 2005, according to accountants BDO Stoy Hayward.

Industry Watch, a report commissioned by the firm, predicts that there will be 2,400 business failures in property and construction in 2003, rising to 2,500 in 2004 and 2,600 in 2005.

In the short term BDO Stoy Hayward says that three main factors will lead to failures in the sector. First house price inflation will slow, significantly reducing the number of new houses in the private sector. Second, there will be weaker consumer spending which will hit the retail and leisure sectors. And finally, the office market will remain weak as sectors like media, business services and financial services continue to struggle.

250m

Pounds. The amount of cash the government has targeted itself to save between 2003 and 2006 by using eProcurement; that's right across the board, not just for construction contracts.

One of the ways favoured by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) is 'reverse' - or dutch - auctions. Peter Court, eProcurement Programme director at OGC, horrified delegates at the Construction Industry Computing Association annual convention last month, when he told them that reverse auctions were good, particularly for well-defined commodities.

Costain chief exec Stuart Doughty voiced everyone's concerns: "There's a danger of going back 20 years to a cost-oriented system. It's very, very dangerous," he warned. "It's an absolute reverse of what we are trying to do."

400m

Pounds. The value of the contract up for grabs at Paradise Street in Liverpool, one of many jobs to be built before the city, home of the Lambanana (left) is the European Capital of Culture in 2008.

Bovis Lend Lease, Laing O'Rourke and Sir Robert McAlpine are reported to be in the running for the mixed-use scheme, which will have an overall value of £750m. Liverpool council and Grosvenor are jointly debeloping the 17 hectare site which will include 148,000 sq m of shopping, 21,500 sq m of leisure and 364 homes.

Liverpool won the title of European Capital of Culture in June, and is hoping to attract £2bn worth of investment and one million tourists.

A public inquiry into Paradise Street is underway after there were objections from local businesses. A decision is expected early next year.