Maude calls for 20% 'or better' savings on public building projects

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has called on the construction industry to increase collaboration to achieve savings of 15-20% “or better” on public building projects.

Maude made the call as he launched the government’s One Year On progress report on its construction strategy.

Maude challenged the sector to “take on more collaborative working” and not to “argue amongst themselves” when working with government.

He said the government was on course to make 15-20% savings but challenged suppliers to let government departments know “if you can do better”.

He said all government departments had now established cost benchmarks for building projects, which showed potential for “great savings”.

He said the government’s target of BIM level two on all public projects by 2016 “will see the UK become a world leader in the digitally built era”.

He said the government was committed to standardised procurement and prompt paying and encouraged suppliers to use the government’s ‘mystery shopper’ service where this was not happening.

He said the government is committed to extending the use of project bank accounts from £1.1bn today to £4bn by 2014 to improve payment times.

He said the government had made progress in “improving our skills as a client” but could do more to be “the best client there is”.

Francis Maude’s speech is available in full here.

The government’s Construction Strategy progess report is available here.