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Legislation The financial cost of disputes in the construction industry is measured in billions of pounds. Conflict can cause immeasurable harm to business relationships and brand reputations, so FIS and other leading construction groups have signed the RICS Conflict Avoidance Pledge. CREATING A BETTER ENVIRONMENT FOR THE FIT-OUT SUPPLY CHAIN “Signing the pledge underpins our commitment to creating a better environment for our supply chain and it talks about many of the values we expect of the FIS community.” 24 www.thefis.org Try to resolve differences of opinion before they escalate into disputes ‘We believe in collaborative working and the use of early intervention techniques throughout the supply chain, to try to resolve differences of opinion before they escalate into disputes. ‘We recognise the importance of embedding conflict avoidance mechanisms into projects with the aim of identifying, controlling and managing potential conflict, whilst preventing the need for formal, adversarial dispute resolution procedures. We commit our resources to embedding these into our projects. ‘We commit to working proactively to avoid conflict and to facilitate early resolution of potential disputes. ‘We commit to developing our capability in the early identification of potential disputes and in the use of conflict avoidance measures. We will promote the value of collaborative working to prevent issues developing into disputes. ‘We commit to work with our industry partners to identify, promote and utilise conflict avoidance mechanisms.’ FIS CEO, Iain McIlwee said: “Signing the pledge underpins our commitment to creating a better environment for our supply chain. It talks about many of the values we expect of the FIS community and is about creating and maintaining good business relationships, dealing with problems early and amicably and working collaboratively to ensure projects are delivered on time, on budget and without the need to waste huge amounts of money on legal disputes. “The construction industry spends around 1.6% of its total expenditure in the UK on legal services, which compares unfavourably to the UK economy’s median spend of 0.8%. This is because we have created an adversarial environment built on win/lose contract negotiations. We have made the contract more important than the project – and this 20th Century thinking should be consigned to the past as it stands in the way of progress and undermines attempts to drive up quality and reduce waste. The RICS Avoidance Pledge and corresponding Conflict Avoidance Process are part of an industry- wide commitment to change this and we are eager to support and encourage others in and around our community to do the same”. Martin Burns, Head of Dispute Resolution Services (DRS), Research & Development at the RICS said: “It is great that we have leading trade bodies like FIS supporting the pledge and actively encouraging their members to sign and adhere to the terms laid out. The culture in construction needs to change, but change will openly happen when enough people take that first step to being better and believe that others can and will change too.” Support the pledge The FIS believes in collaborative working and the use of early intervention techniques throughout the supply chain, to try to resolve differences of opinion before they escalate into disputes, so it is encouraging all members to sign the CAP and is working with industry groups to ensure that the core principles are embedded in future editions of standard construction contracts. Businesses can sign the RICS Conflict Avoidance Pledge at www.rics.org/uk/products/ dispute-resolution-service/ conflict-avoidance-pledge Visit the FIS Contractual and Legal Hub at www.thefis.org/knowledge- hub/contractual-and-legal The Conflict Avoidance Pledge (CAP) states: