---

CHAPTER 6
The Way Forward

Public Sector Clients

86. The public sector is the largest client of the construction industry. The Task Force recommends that the Government commits itself to leading public sector bodies towards becoming best practice clients. We believe that this process must begin with substantial improvements in the way that the public sector procures construction. In our view this can be achieved while still meeting the need for public accountability.
87. The Government has already demonstrated through Public-Private Partnerships and the PFI its ability to make radical and successful changes in its procurement policies. By defining precisely what is wanted from facilities and allowing the construction industry to respond in innovative ways, Government Departments and Agencies have begun to tap a rich seam of ingenuity which previously had been stifled by the traditional processes of prescriptive design and tendering. We wish to see this approach become the norm throughout the public sector.

Occasional Clients

88. This report is largely presented from the point of view of clients who are knowledgeable about the construction process. That is appropriate, since it is these clients who can give leadership to improvement in construction. We are conscious, however, that much new construction and repair and maintenance work is done for occasional and inexperienced clients, many of whom commission major projects. Such clients are often unfamiliar with the construction process and unable to provide the environment in which the industry can meet their needs efficiently. This is of great concern to the Task Force, since we wish to see significant performance improvements across the whole industry.

Branded Products

89. The Task Force believes that the construction industry must grasp the opportunity for improvement that is being offered by major clients, and take responsibility for delivering these improvements to all of its customers. The industry must create supply chains for one-off clients and a single-point of contact on projects. It must develop products and brands which exceed customers' expectations and give customers confidence in the reliability and integrity of industry.
90. The construction industry must also introduce independent and objective assessments of performance, comparable with the Which report or the JD Power survey, that can be used by its customers to understand the industry's products and choose between them. We recognise the scale of this challenge and that it will take many years to achieve. We see no other practical strategy that the industry can adopt to escape from the debilitating cycle of competitive tendering, conflict, low margins and dissatisfied clients.
91. We have included few specific recommendations in our report, though we have frequently suggested a way forward. This approach is deliberate; what the Task Force is looking for is a change of style, culture and process, not just a series of mechanistic activities. We look to clients, the industry and Government to put in place the necessary plan of detailed actions to deliver change. The Task Force's objective will have been achieved if the spirit of change becomes genuinely embedded in this deeply conservative industry. The members of the Task Force stand ready to help with the vital process of implementing change.

Summary

92. To summarise, the Task Force wishes to emphasise that we are not inviting UK construction to look at what it does already and do it better: we are asking the industry and Government to join with major clients to do it entirely differently. What we are proposing is a radical change in the way we build. We wish to see, within five years, the construction industry deliver its products to its customers in the same way as the best consumer-lead manufacturing and service industries. To achieve the dramatic increases in efficiency and quality that are both possible and necessary we must all rethink construction.

---