The Prime Minister’s “Build back better and greener” slogan chimes well with the recommendations published recently in the Construction Innovation Hub’s report: Driving Innovation Delivering Value.
The first of those recommendations is that ‘commissioning bodies should assess value in a different way, shifting from cost of construction to broader approaches based on whole life value, performance, social impact and carbon reduction.
The report also points out that while the onset of COVID-19 didn’t change its recommendations it does increase the need to implement these recommendations at pace to drive a faster recovery and sustainable long term transformation.
We will have to see whether the sector can adapt quickly and walk this talk to stop repeating the approach to procurement, design and build that has barely changed since the pyramids were built.
The Government’s message is clear and with an infrastructure pipeline that includes 340 procurement contracts, across more than 260 projects, there is a real opportunity to implement change now.
It is up to the sector as a whole to act quickly to promote change and educate clients on the value of a collaborative approach to procurement. It will drive the innovation required to increase productivity and whole life value while ending the perpetual race to the lowest price.