OGC reforms ‘not enough’, says CIOB

As the UK’s biggest client of construction services, the government has long been criticised for impeding industry’s attempts to improve its image, safety and reliability by letting projects on lowest price alone and resorting to adversarial methods of project delivery.

But now, bodies procuring schools, hospitals, roads and other public facilities may be compelled to embrace a variety of reforms all at once. A draft of the rules has been presented to ministers for consideration, and the Office of Government Commerce expects to announce them by the summer. The measures will cover:

• Minimum standards of aesthetic design
• Assessments of the environmental and social impact of projects
• Sustainable timber and related products
• The energy performance of buildings
• Compulsory CSCS membership for everyone working on a public sector site
• Compulsory membership of the Considerate Constructors’ Scheme for contractors
• Involvement of stakeholders, including eventual occupiers and neighbours
• Value for money.

The government as client will also commit to making prompt payments to principal contractors.

The changes will establish minimum standards for public sector work with the aim of better integrating policy on the built environment.

An OGC spokesperson said: “Ministers are committed to obtaining value for money through improvements to the procurement of built environments that provide facilities for the public sector. As and when the draft is signed off, these standards will become mandatory across all public sector projects.”

The standards will apply to any procurement of a built environment project carried out for a central public sector client. The standards are also likely to be insisted upon across the rest of the public sector, including local authorities and the police.

CIOB chief executive Chris Blythe praised the rules as pulling together fragmented requirements into a central policy. But he said the government was in a position to do more on safety and training.

“Successful projects in respect of health and safety happen where the client’s own ethos and brand protection is strong enough to overcome the structural inertia in construction which militates against good health and safety practice,” he said.

“If the government adopted a policy of employing contactors with a minimum training requirement on each project this would only have a positive impact on the skills shortages issue we currently face. Furthermore if the proposed regulations also included minimum standards for site conditions we would see a knock on benefit, not only in health and safety, but also in the image of the industry.”