The Movement for Innovation is to launch a one-stop procurement advice service for one-off construction clients.
It will be aimed at organisations that occasionally procure large buildings, such as financial corporations or arts clients.
A movement insider said the service would provide one-off clients with a “firm template” explaining what they should expect from a contractor and consultant and how best to get a scheme from design to construction.
The movement is also considering launching a series of one-day seminars next year to teach occasional clients how to manage a project along the lines of the Egan report.
Industry sources say the proposed services are part of the movement’s bid to extend its life beyond 2001.
It is understood that the Construction Best Practice Programme, the Construction Industry Board’s Egan implementation body, is also drawing up detailed guidance for clients, which will be published later in the year.
The only way to really improve the industry is to target the big occasional clients
Movement for Innovation
The CBPP guidance will provide a detailed list of the services clients should expect from the construction team, as well as information on how to manage large one-off schemes.
It will also discuss how the construction team and client should interact in the post-Egan era.
The insider said: “The only way to really improve the industry along the lines outlined in the Egan report is to target the big occasional clients.”
He added: “Egan identified the importance of the client in the process of change the industry needs to undergo. All one-off clients have advisers for construction projects, but clients still tend to be very inexperienced about the entire process. These moves will hopefully change that.”
Clive Turner, information manager at the CBPP, said cost and quality were not clients’ only concerns. “They want open relationships with their construction team and want to ensure they know exactly what each part of the team should be delivering. This, along with other issues, is the type of thing the guidance will look to address,” he said.
