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Executive Summary

• The UK construction industry at its best is excellent. Its capability to deliver the most difficult and innovative projects matches that of any other construction industry in the world (paragraph 3).
• Nonetheless, there is deep concern that the industry as a whole is under-achieving.It has low profitability and invests too little in capital, research and development and training. Too many of the industry's clients are dissatisfied with its overall performance (paragraphs 4-6).
• The Task Force's ambition for construction is informed by our experience of radical change and improvement in other industries, and by our experience of delivering improvements in quality and efficiency within our own construction programmes. We are convinced that these improvements can be spread throughout the construction industry and made available to all its clients (paragraphs 15, 16 and 18).
• We have identified five key drivers of change which need to set the agenda for the construction industry at large: committed leadership, a focus on the customer, integrated processes and teams, a quality driven agenda and commitment to people (paragraph 17).
• Our experience tells us that ambitious targets and effective measurement of performance are essential to deliver improvement. We have proposed a series of targets for annual improvement and we would like to see more extensive use of performance data by the industry to inform its clients (paragraphs 19-22).
• Our targets are based on our own experience and evidence that we have obtained from projects in the UK and overseas. Our targets include annual reductions of 10% in construction cost and construction time. We also propose that defects in projects should be reduced by 20% per year (paragraphs 23-26).
• To achieve these targets the industry will need to make radical changes to the processes through which it delivers its projects. These processes should be explicit and transparent to the industry and its clients. The industry should create an integrated project process around the four key elements of product development, project implementation, partnering the supply chain and production of components. Sustained improvement should then be delivered through use of techniques for eliminating waste and increasing value for the customer (chapter 3).
• If the industry is to achieve its full potential, substantial changes in its culture and structure are also required to support improvement. The industry must provide decent and safe working conditions and improve management and supervisory skills at all levels. The industry must design projects for ease of construction making maximum use of standard components and processes (paragraphs 53-61).
• The industry must replace competitive tendering with long term relationships based on clear measurement of performance and sustained improvements in quality and efficiency (paragraphs 67-71).
• The Task Force has looked specifically at housebuilding. We believe that the main initial opportunities for improvements in housebuilding performance exist in the social housing sector for the simple reason that most social housing is commissioned by a few major clients. Corporate clients -housing associations and local authorities - can work with the housebuilding industry to improve processes and technologies and develop quality products. We propose that a forum for improving performance in housebuilding is established (paragraphs 75-79).
• The Task force has concluded that the major clients of the construction industry must give leadership by implementing projects which will demonstrate the approach that we have described. We want other clients, including those from across the public sector, to join us in sponsoring demonstration projects. We also wish to see the construction industry join us in these projects and devise its own means of making improved performance available to all its clients. Our ambition is to make a start with at least £500 million of demonstration projects (paragraphs 82-83).
• In sum, we propose to initiate a movement for change in the construction industry, for radical improvement in the process of construction. This movement will be the means of sustaining improvement and sharing learning (paragraph 84).
• We invite the Deputy Prime Minister to turn his Department's Best Practice Programme into a knowledge centre for construction which will give the whole industry and all of its clients access to information and learning from the demonstration projects. There is a real opportunity for the industry to develop independent and objective assessments of completed projects and of the performance of companies (paragraph 85).
• The public sector has a vital role to play in leading development of a more sophisticated and demanding customer base for construction. The Task Force invites the Government to commit itself to leading public sector bodies towards the goal of becoming best practice clients seeking improvements in efficiency and quality through the methods that we have proposed (paragraphs 86-87).
• The members of the Task Force and other major clients will continue their drive for improved performance, and will focus their efforts on the demonstration projects.We ask the Government and the industry to join with us in rethinking construction.

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