Is collaborative procurement just a cuddly notion that fails to reflect life’s realities, or does it comprise the improved commercial practices that are essential to avoiding another Grenfell Tower disaster? Dame Judith Hackitt was in no doubt in her 2017 independent review, which found: “The way in which procurement is often managed can reduce the likelihood that a building will be safe […] Issues at this stage, for example inadequate specification, focus on low cost or adversarial contracting, can make it difficult (and most likely, more expensive) to produce a safe building.”

Preventing another Grenfell Tower disaster depends in part on a complete break from what Dame Judith Hackitt describes as a “race to the bottom” through which the pursuit of lowest prices can undermine safety and quality. King’s College London Centre of Construction Law had pressed the government to end these failings in housing procurement. As a result, I was appointed pro bono by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to lead development of the Collaborative Procurement Guidance for Design and Construction to Support Building Safety, working with Russell Poynter-Brown of On-Pole and a cross-industry procurement working group.

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