Skanska boss is brought in to carry out pilot study into improving the construction industyry's service to clients

The chief executive of Skanska UK is leading an investigation on behalf of the Major Contractors Group into how the construction industry can improve its service to clients.

David Fison said the process would begin with a pilot study but that the long-term aim would be to change culture and attitude.

He added that the model for the scheme was the MCG’s use of CSCS cards to improve health and safety.

Fison said the pilot study would examine what clients expected from the industry. He said: “Look at hospitals. Ten years ago contractors looked at them as bricks and mortar but now we are looking at the purpose of hospitals.”

For the study Fison will personally visit four clients, from both public and private sectors, to discuss “how we could do better”.

Fison would not reveal the identities of the four but said they were important clients for most of the MCG’s membership, which includes Skanska, Bovis Lend Lease, Costain, Galliford Try, HBG, Kier, Morgan Sindall, Morrison, Shepherd,

Sir Robert McAlpine, Taylor Woodrow, Miller Group, Vinci and Wates.

Fison said: “We need some confidentiality as I need them to speak openly. The questions will be deliberately broad so that we can establish some common themes.”

Fison envisaged that the pilot study would take about three months. If it was decided that the format had worked, more clients would be approached.

The MCG aims to have compiled sufficient feedback by next autumn and to make the results public then.

“This is not a revolution,” said Fison. “It is more about slowly adjusting the culture.”