Construction Leadership Council (CLC), in collaboration with the Cabinet Office and Infrastructure & Projects Authority, and with input from across the public sector, has developed and published the Construction Playbook.
As the description on gov.uk says, the Construction Playbook captures commercial best practices and specific sector reforms outlining the government’s expectations of how contracting authorities and suppliers, including the supply chain, should engage with each other.
These are set out in 14 key policies for how the government should assess, procure and deliver public works projects and programmes which all central government departments and their arms’ length bodies are expected to follow on a ‘comply or explain’ basis.
The following is a description of the story behind the Construction Playbook, from Andy Mitchell, Co-Chair of the CLC:
Government Departments, other public bodies and the wider public sector represent key construction clients, investing in nationally significant infrastructure projects, capital programmes such as those in education and healthcare, projects that improve our cities and towns, and supporting the delivery of new homes. This spectrum of activity across the sector means the public sector has the potential to drive industry transformation, and how it approaches the development and delivery of construction can provide a powerful impetus for changes in industry practice and culture that extends beyond the projects it funds directly.
That is why the publication of the Construction Playbook is significant. It aims to embed a new approach to the procurement and delivery of construction projects and programmes, which is more collaborative, engages the whole supply chain, encourages investment in innovation and skills, and supports a more sustainable, resilient and profitable industry, capable of delivering higher-quality, safer and better performing built assets for its clients. It will create the foundation for a new approach to construction, where we can utilise digital and offsite manufacturing technologies to increase the capability of the industry, and accelerate the delivery of built assets.
It will also aim to deliver a better and fairer industry, with stronger and more open relationships between the industry and its clients, fewer disputes, and more equitable contractual terms, that ensure prompt and fair payment and a balanced allocation of risk, where these are managed by the organisation best placed to do so. Finally, it will help ensure that investment in construction projects creates the greatest economic, social and environmental value possible, and contributes to the delivery of strategic policy objectives such as our legal obligation to achieve net zero carbon by 2050 and levelling up across the UK.
SAEMA is wholly behind the concept of the Construction Playbook, an initiative that aims to involve all parts of the construction sector and supply chain towards a more sustainable future.
SAEMA (Specialist Access Engineering & Maintenance Association) delivers the best training and guidance in the temporary and permanent suspended access industry. Our aim is to advance safety through raising the standards in best practice amongst at-height workers.
Image: constructionleadershipcouncil.co.uk