Spec Finish

ROUNDTABLE 24 www.thefis.org work and front-end investment that is often underestimated. “However collaborative you want to be, your professional indemnity insurer will be sitting on your shoulder saying ‘don’t tell anybody that’,” said Ann. “Unless you can get over that issue of where the liability will sit if something goes wrong, it is amassive barrier to collaboration.” Iain McIlwee asked about the potential of Integrated Project Insurance (IPI). Ann felt this would be a positive step. Nigel echoed this and he could not understand why more companies weren’t using IPI. He said this change needed to be driven by clients, with the government/public sector leading the way. “There are plenty of integrated insurance packages out there that have been available for years. We need to educate clients about these options. At the end of the day they are making the decisions and we are advising them,” he said. Competency challenges In terms of how installers wouldmanage competency and havemore control over quality going forwards, both Angela and Helen said this boiled down to clearer and longer pipelines of work and earlier engagement. “We deal in subcontract labour because we don’t have visibility that far in advance of what labour we will need. Three to six months isn’t enough,” said Angela. Going forward, she feels there will bemore direct employment, which will allowmore control over labour and hence quality. Helen said as a fit-out contractor, Tapper Interiors could not have a complete PAYE workforce either, but a solid core helps tomaintain quality. Predictability would enable better planning of labour, a healthier ratio of employed to sub-contract labour and ability to control quality. Brian recognised this challenge, stating that his company does try to directly employ, but this is a challenge, particularly when things are uncertain. Brian agreedmore control was possible if people are “books in” and emphasised the incentives to invest in and train people are far more apparent when people are on the books. Shiftingmore to employment would have a positive impact, but learning the lessons on sequencing and better programming will also improve quality moving forward, he said. ‘The GoldenThread’, drawn from Building a Safer Future is a key catalyst for change. Mike felt this was linked intrinsically to competence. British Gypsumnow has five levels of competency defined internally to cover advice on fire but spreading to other critical performance requirements. This involves escalation of how far an individual can go in advising a client, designer, architect or installer. There is a huge amount also being spent on product testing. Innovation RichardWaterhouse noted the emphasis within the roadmap on embracing innovation being key to taking us into a new era. Areas isolated as having greatest potential to deliver productivity throughout the construction sector were off-site, automation and digital advancements. Automation was also being looked at more seriously – the challenge was ensuring you had the correct equipment, Mike said. Some trialled solutions, such as robotic equipment for lifting to ceilings, had proved unpopular in the past, but there was nowmore pressure to make it work. Angela said it would be “nice to feel that a building had been designed by the time we arrive on site”, making it easier to keep track of everything, but if this involved sharing information on projects, there are currently toomany different ways of doing this, this is a huge challenge. Todd emphasised the challenge of exchanging information when substitution is so rife. “We test things extensively, but we have no control over how things are actually used,” he said. He experienced this first-hand in the refurb of their own office and reflected that themajority of installation issues are linked to substituting elements with no proper assessment or record. Helen felt this was already changing and most specialist contractors now recognised the need to install a system that had been thoroughly tested beforehand. Opinions weremixed over the effectiveness of digital solutions at themoment. Angela and Brian felt this boils down to toomany options available. Eachmajor contractor was going their own way, but none of the applications talked to each other. The huge array of choice was not a positive and it was felt that some consolidation and focus on integration would support adoption. The trust equation The discussion on information soon turned to trust and the need for accurate and transparent exchange of information. Iain reflected that 90% of construction projects are delayed by over 10% and variations typically account for 20% of final contract value - the whole process of quoting to win work and then trying to work to make money on variations and substitutions needs to change. The question remains as to whether COVID-19 will be a tipping point, but if we start to learn from the better control required to support social distancing and get the detail right, there will be greater control of programming and sequencing and ultimately the process will improve for all. The discussion concluded that credit was key to oil the wheels of evolution and early engagement and clear pipelines are critical as they will ultimately support the confidence of investors and ensure construction business can raise the credit needed to invest more effectively. Goals for 2022 Over the next two years, a number of changes could come into effect to improve the industry, drawing on our recent experiences and the panel’s wish list for sector improvements was definitive: · Taking eye off the capital cost and look at the first five years (at least of occupation). · Re-engineering the procurement process, with earlier involvement of the entire supply chain. · Far better PR for the construction sector, we spend too long talking the industry down and not enough time reflecting on our achievements. It is a great industry to work in and people need to know this. · A refocus on useable off-site solutions, better leadership and real collaboration. · Understanding the value added at each stage of the supply chain and respecting better the contribution that is made at each level. · Early engagement is critical and positive, proactive engagement. · Better collaboration driven by use of project bank accounts and project insurance. · Standardisation of contracts – accepting amending contracts is often about risk avoidance rather than risk management. · Strong leadership and the courage to embrace change. “We are seeing the UK coming back quite strongly. People are up-spec’ing, especially in London, to get properties they own up and running.” Todd Altman - Chief Executive, SAS International “Design-wise we are not just working internally, we are collaborating with other architects.” Nigel Ostime - Delivery Director, Hawkins Brown