BAM today strongly welcomes the UK Government’s new commitment to a more productive, lower carbon and more profitable construction and building management industry.
With the publication of the new
Construction Playbook, UK Government has set out a better way of commissioning new buildings and infrastructure. The new approach means building net-zero carbon assets will be faster, clients’ operations are more effective, and the construction sector - which is one of the country’s biggest employer - will become more profitable and less vulnerable to financial collapse.
In a joint statement, BAM Construct UK Chief Executive James Wimpenny and BAM Nuttall’s Chief Executive Adrian Savory said: “Great buildings make a great difference to people, whether someone’s learning in school, receiving treatment in hospital or at work. But the way buildings are commissioned means they consume too much time, money and carbon, and the sector has seen too many companies collapse into liquidation.
“The same can be said of the infrastructure sector. Critically, the UK Government is now saying that it wants the sector to be more profitable. Too many companies have failed, and jobs lost, because the risks firms have taken on were too high for the wafer-thin margins made. That has to change and BAM welcomes the Government’s recognition that using longer term and fairer contracting arrangements, so companies in the sector can make a proper return.
“The new Construction Playbook promises a better future as long as its principles are adopted. One company and one client can’t do this on its own and we encourage all clients, the contracting sector and the supply chain to get behind this.
“For some time, BAM has been investing in changing how we work, reducing carbon and cost. We have developed product platforms and modern construction techniques and encourage clients to let us design in better energy systems to reduce the lifetime costs of a building. We have also pioneered better forms of contracting. The Playbook will help us accelerate that work and will support our supply chain in adapting and adopting these new principles.”
Key improvements embedded in the Playbook include:
- bundling projects into portfolios with longer term contracts, which will increase visibility of revenue, and improve both programme management and procurement to enable lower costs
- standardised designs , systems and materials used in similar types of building, which will help develop more low carbon techniques, ‘kit-of-part’ approaches and industrialised construction to support achieving net-zero by 2050
- government commitment to change procurement, focusing on the outcomes of a contract, including more social value delivered to society, improved health and safety