The proposal is expected to be unveiled when the CIB, which is one of the Egan bodies, presents its strategic review later this month. The move comes after Building revealed that the National Audit Office has expressed misgivings about the number of construction initiatives that the government has funded (28 January). The single body would co-ordinate the work of groups such as the Movement for Innovation, the Construction Best Practice Programme and the CIB to ensure that they do not duplicate each other’s work.
CIB deputy chairman Christopher Vickers aid: “The current bodies need to be rationalised. Clearly, the government is interested in the number of initiatives currently on the run and how they could be orchestrated better. There’s a perception that there are too many initiatives and a confusion as to what they’re all doing.
“The Construction Best Practice Programme has a long life, but whether the Movement for Innovation has a long life is a moot point. It’s more about short, sharp shock treatment that the industry needed at the time.”
He added: “We’re not looking for a mega body to absorb everything, but for a truly representative industry body that can set out a precise brief for groups to work to.”
CIB chief executive Don Ward added: “We’re keen on the NAO study, and if they identify the issue that industry bodies could be more joined up, we would take that advice. It could be a case of putting all the initiatives under a completely new body and abandoning the CIB altogether.”
Ward said discussions had taken place between Movement for Innovation chairman Alan Crane and the CIB’s Vickers about the possibility of merging some of the initiatives. Crane said: “As part of the CIB review, we have discussed linkages of initiatives across the industry
to better co-ordinate their work, but that is all. As far as the Movement for Innovation is concerned, we are in the process of drawing up a long-term business plan that will take us through to the end of next year. The debate about how long it should continue after that is ongoing.”
The CIB will present its review findings within the next two weeks and will put its proposals out to consultation to the industry for eight weeks.
